5 Things That May Surpise You About Sleepwalking

It's 2:30 a.m., and Adam thinks his baby is suffocating. He's frantically searching through the bedsheets, scanning the room, and plunging his hands into his pillow. The baby is only a few months old, unable to fend for itself. Adam is sure that he can save his infant son if he can find him in time. 

For Adam's wife, this scenario has become tedious and ordinary. The baby is fine; he's sleeping in his crib a few feet away. But Adam can't be dissuaded. He can't be soothed. He's still tearing sheets off the bed, eyes wide with terror. His wife tries to reason with him. He hears her, but her words don;t make any sense to him. He looks through her.

Adam is sleepwalking.

This doesn't fit the popular conception of sleepwalking. In pop culture, sleepwalking usually involves a person with his arms outstretched, more or less bumbling aimlessly. The reality looks a lot more like someone who has lost his mind completely, if only temporarily.

I had the opportunity to talk with both a sleepwalking victim and a celebrated sleep pathologist for the podcast I launched recently. From a health and well-being perspective, few things could be as distressing to a family as an emergent sleepwalking problem. This is partly due to the fact that sleepwalking is a complex and poorly understood phenomenon. Let's break it down.

Sleepwalking doesn't just involve walking.

Sleepwalkers are poised between sleep and wakefulness. During an episode, the brains of sleepwalkers evidence high-amplitude delta waves—a phenomenon otherwise only seen in the sleeping and the psychotic. Since sleepwalkers are partially awake, in a cognitive sense, there is little limit to the tasks they can perform and the delusions they can pursue.

Sleepwalkers can run around the house, drive a car, cook, and play musical instruments. Most of these tasks, however, manifest as surreal counterparts to their everyday equivalents. A person may cook, but the meal may consist of peanut butter, honey, pasta, and tomato sauce, unstirred and burned in a pot.  

Sleepwalkers are interactive, and not clearly sleeping.

A sleepwalker can be talked to, and even respond, but will usually do so illogically. They will usually have their eyes open and be mobile, and appear awake to the uninitiated. They will usually have no memory of the episode.

Sleepwalkers are highly agitated.

Sleepwalking is a particular type of parasomnia. Night terrors are also parasomnias, and the relationship between the two is evident in the agitation of the sleepwalker. Sleepwalkers are sometimes in full physiological fight or flight mode. Like Adam, they are often convinced something terrible is imminent and it is their duty to prevent it. Spikes in heart rate, adrenaline, and cortisol mean that the sleepwalker is in Hulk mode, and accordingly difficult to control and reason with.

They can be talked off the ledge, so to speak, but dismissing their concerns—however irrational—usually serves to exacerbate their agitation. Talking them through the episode, forcing them to participate in the logic (or illogic) of their concern is best.

 Sleepwalkers are not themselves.

Adam is not generally a paranoid and fearful person, but his sleepwalking episodes transform him. That's standard for sleepwalking. There have been cases of homicide during sleepwalking incidents. While this is obviously extremely rare, it is disquieting. It's important to remember that the sleepwalker is not themselves, and may share little with their waking personality. Supervision and vigilance are essential support mechanisms for those suffering from parasomnias.  

The cause of sleepwalking. 

I bet you can see this coming: no one knows the precise cause of sleepwalking. There seems to be an underlying genetic component, but the behavior needs to be teased out by environmental factors as well. Stress and lack of sleep are the main risk factors for awaking the sleepwalker in a predisposed individual. In Adam's case, stress and sleep deprivation were in full force after the birth of his first child. This is the perfect storm to bring forth the sleepwalker in him. 

What can you do?

Try and get enough sleep, of course. That and "drink plenty of water" will never steer you wrong. Of course, staying relaxed, especially before bed, is crucial to getting good rest and preventing sleepwalking. 

Shameless plug:

If you'd like to hear Adam and his wife's own description of their ordeal, as well as an interview with a sleep doctor, this is the podcast link:

http://tinyurl.com/againsttype