Some people also experience sleep paralysis or brief hallucinations. Sleepwalking, head-banging, night terrors, and nightmares are more common and very distressing in children. Epileptic seizures may occur in people of any age. Especially when they're under stress, people with akathisia have vaguely uncomfortable sensations in the legs, along with spontaneous, uncontrollable leg movements. The cause is unknown, but a family history of the disorder is found in a third or more of the people who have it.
Benzodiazepine drugs taken at bedtime sometimes bring relief.
Night terrors are frightening episodes during which a person screams, flails about, and often sleepwalks. These episodes usually arise during non-REM phases of the sleep cycle. Treatment with benzodiazepines, such as diazepam, may be helpful. Nightmares are vivid, frightening dreams that affect children and adults. The dreams are followed by sudden awakening.