Causes of Sleepwalking
Mostly, getting no sleep can be the main reason of one’s zombie-like behavior, meaning, for sleepwalking. Sleepwalkers should keep a regular bedtime to avoid unwanted evening strolls. This somnambulism behavior is experienced by 4% of adults, and its effects can range from mental confusion to bouts of amnesia and even physical injuries. Some facts say sleepwalking is common in kids, but usually they outgrow it.
Sleepwalking is a disorder of arousal, a kind of mixed state of being. There are three states of being in the world of sleep researched — wakefulness, non-REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and REM sleep (most associated with dreams). Sleepwalking is a mixture of wakefulness and non-REM sleep. Some sort of arousal or disruption to sleep can also trigger sleepwalking. So people with sleep apnea sometimes sleepwalk, because apnea can create a state where someone is in between non-REM sleep and wakefulness.
There are instances that family genetics can also predispose one to sleepwalking. We know that sleepwalking happens more often in children than in adults, and the predisposing factor there might be the fact that kids have a lot more of slow-wave sleep, a deep non-REM sleep where sleepwalking often starts.
The main issue with the sleepwalking is the fact that the sufferers can hurt themselves. Some treatments for sleepwalking include better sleep hygiene, keeping a regular sleep schedule and avoiding an excess of alcohol and caffeine or maybe any at all, particularly in the evening. For extreme cases, medication may be prescribed.
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May 13th, 2008 at 12:27 am
It’s scary to sleepwalk. I added you to my blogroll.
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