A sleepwalker is someone who gets out of bed while sleeping and walks around.About one-tenth of all people will sleepwalk at some point in their lives.Mostly, it is children who experience it; however, when an adult sleepwalks, it is typically more frequent and severe.Children are more likely to have isolated incidents of sleepwalking.I remember an experience of my own.When I was about eight-years old, my parents were repainting the bedroom that my sister and I shared, and so we were sleeping in the guest bedroom, which was on a floor lower than our usual bedroom.In the middle of the night, I walked in my sleep up the stairs into my usual room, where my parents found me in the morning.I had no recollection of the experience, and nothing like that ever happened to me again.While my experience with sleepwalking was a harmless one, some people have suffered injury and even death as a result.There have been many movies and television shows that have portrayed examples of tragic sleepwalking incidents.
Sleepwalking has a range of supposed causes.It can not be attributed to one source, and it is not said to be the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain in all cases.Overwhelmingly, severe sleepwalkers have a family history of sleepwalking.Something as basic as a fever can provoke sleepwalking because a fever affects the nervous system.Other reported causes include illness, stress, sleep deprivation, and alcohol and drug use.Undergoing hormonal changes can also be a trigger, such as those experienced during pregnancy, sex change surgery, menstruation, hormone replacement therapy, or puberty.Basically, if the body is feeling abnormal for any range of reasons, then it is more prone to sleepwalking.It should also be noted that sleepwalking is more frequent among people with psychiatric conditions than without them.However, there has not been a direct link established between sleepwalking and mental disorders.There are some medications that have increase the likelihood of sleepwalking, such as anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills.
Sleepwalking episodes can be as brief as one or two minutes or as long as an hour, but generally they are less than five minutes long.Sleepwalking usually occurs during deep delta sleep or slow-wave sleep, which is at the beginning of the sleep cycle.Often, sleepwalkers will act out whatever they are dreaming about in a sleepwalking episode, and they will awaken to find themselves in the midst of an action, such as opening a door or getting dressed.It is not uncommon for a bedmate, roommate, or family member to wake up someone who is sleepwalking because the sleepwalker makes noise in the night.While sleepwalking, a person will often have their eyes open, but they will have a blank, placid stare.Most of the time, sleepwalking is harmless, but sometimes it can become dangerous.Some sleepwalkers have woken up to find themselves holding a knife or walking into a busy street.Others have become violent or enraged while asleep, and they have attacked others physically or verbally.I once saw a Lifetime Original movie based on a man who murdered his in-laws while he was having a sleepwalking episode.
If sleepwalking becomes a persistent problem, it can cause fatigue and stress because a sleepwalker will not get a satisfying night's sleep and he or she will be worried about the embarrassment or danger that could result from sleepwalking.It is understandable that frequent sleepwalkers are fearful for their safety, and for the safety of the people or pets that they live with.Treatments are limited, and they include learning relaxation techniques, undergoing psychological treatments, and sometimes taking anti-depressants.
