How Sleepwalking Works

science.howstuffworks.com

5 ideas

1.58K reads

Health

Learn more about health with this collection

How to Be Happy

How to find purpose and meaning in life

How to cultivate gratitude

Techniques for managing negative thoughts

Discover 100 similar ideas in

How to Be Happy

It takes just

13 mins to read

Defining Sleepwalking

Sleepwalking is known as somnambulism. It's classified as an abnormal behavior during sleep that's disruptive.

The handbook for mental health professionals, the DSM-IV, defines sleepwalking by the following criteria:

You leave your bed while sleeping.
Others find it difficult to wake you during an episode of sleepwalking.
You can't remember what happened while you were sleepwalking.
When you do wake up from an episode, you're confused.
You don't suffer from dementia or another physical disorder.
It impairs your work or social life.

436 reads

When Sleepwalking Happens

During the first third of sleep, your body is in non-REM - your deepest stage of sleep. Your brain quiets down and you aren't dreaming. Your body is active, and you tend to toss and turn.

People usually sleepwalk during the first third of their sleep pattern. Sleepwalking episodes can last from a few seconds to half an hour. Sleepwalkers can perform many activities, from walking around to driving a car or playing an instrument.

325 reads

Why People Sleepwalk

People used to think that sleepwalkers acted out their dreams. However, sleepwalking occurs during the deepest stages of sleep when you are not dreaming.

Mental health professionals state that sleepwalking is an arousal disorder, meaning that something triggers the brain, so the person is in a transition state between sleeping and waking.
Most sleepwalkers are children. It could be because their brains outpace others in development or that a child's brain is too immature to understand waking and sleeping cycles.
Children tend to sleepwalk more when they are overly tired or stressed. The same factors affect adult sleepwalkers, as well as medicines, alcohol, and fever illnesses.
Sleepwalking has been linked to seizures, REM sleep disorders, and brain disorders like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's.

283 reads

Sleepwalking and the Arts

In the arts, sleepwalking is linked to blood, danger, the occult, and loss of control.

Shakespeare used a sleepwalking scene in Macbeth to reveal a key element in Lady Macbeth's character development. She plots a murder but doesn't want to pull it off. In a sleepwalking episode, she confesses her sins.
In Bellini's opera "La Sonnambula," a sleepwalking woman is accused of being unfaithful to her husband when she innocently wakes up in another man's room.
The plot of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" centers on the idea of a murderer sleepwalker controlled by an evil doctor.
In "Dracula," the vampire sinks his teeth into Lucy during a bout of sleepwalking.

277 reads

Other Parasomnias, Besides Sleepwalking

Sleepwalking isn't the only parasomnia.

There is sleep sex - sexual behavior during sleep.
Sleep-eating is associated with the sleep aid Ambien, where people eat anything, from tubs of margarine, eating cigarettes and raw meat.
Bruxism is where some people clench or grind their teeth while they sleep. It can damage the teeth, give you headaches, and make your jaw hurt.
Sleeptalking, also named somniloquy, is where the person could just make noises, or could have a long one-sided conversation.
Sleep enuresis, or bed-wetting.