Fighting Night Terrors, Using Something Under the Bed

Around a quarter of all children aged 2-12 will experience night terrors, according to the experts at National Sleep Foundation. In the past, there was little parents could do, other than comfort their terrified children. Now, there may be a way to prevent night terrors from happening in the first place.

Ironically, the way to prevent night terrors may be to put something under the child’s bed. (This is strange, since many children report that they are awoken at night by monsters lurking under their beds).

Nevertheless, the latest cure for night terror is a device called the Tully that sends gentle vibrations from under a child’s mattress — right before the night terrors occur.

Developed by researchers at Stamford, Lully works using a technique called “scheduled awakenings,” which is meant to proactively ensure that a child remains in safe, healthy deep sleep – and thus to prevent night terrors.

The researchers say that this method was shown to reduce night terrors by 90% in a series of clinical studies starting in 1988.

Lully is designed to sense a child’s specific sleep patterns, then use vibrations prior to the child’s transition into unhealthy deep sleep. This, the Stamford team claims, will keep the child in a healthy stage of deep sleep and, as a result, prevent a night terror.

Interrupted sleep is bad for the whole family, and the trauma of night terrors is something every parent wants to spare their children. So, perhaps this Lully is worth a shot. It’s an interesting idea that’s been developed at a world-class university. Lully retails for $169.00 and can be found here.