Blogpost 2: Sleeping Disorder: Somnambulism (Sleep Walking)

Have you ever woke up and wondered, “How did that get there? Who ate all the ice-cream? Why is the television still on?" or even, "I don't remember texting that!"

Have you ever come across this situation where you see a kid walking around few hours later after their sleep? Or even may be one of your family members or your friends told you that you urinated on their bed last night but you don’t remember a thing? Have you ever heard of murder while sleepwalking?

I read an article entitled "Sleepwalking" by National Sleep Foundation in sleepfoundation.org. According to the article Sleepwalking, formally known as somnambulism is a behavior disorder that originates during deep sleep and results in walking or performing other complex behaviors while asleep.

Sleepwalking is when a person is completely sleeping and their brain waves are very fast, exactly like a person awake; so, if they are dreaming, they could sleepwalk, or if the brain thinks the person is awake, then that could cause a sleepwalking episode. When a person sleepwalks it is their brain that controls their movement. It is like the body shuts down and the brain is the controller. When people sleepwalk, they just walk to the bathroom, or they could kill a person or even kill themselves.

I've read another article entitled "Sleepwalking" in medicinenet.com. The article stated that the person’s eyes are commonly open, but have a characteristic glassy "look right through you" character. This activity most commonly occurs during middle childhood and young adolescence.

Sleepwalkers do not seem to be under any distress. It may seem as though they are looking for something, but are in no hurry to find it and do not cry out. They say that, normally, the sleepwalker rises from bed and begins to wander slowly around the room. Their actions are very deliberate, but slow and methodical. The sleepwalker looks straight ahead and "seems to be on some kind of auto pilot, there is a sense of purpose in the activity, some goal for the journey." A sleepwalker’s articulation is poor. Sleepwalkers do not usually speak, unless spoken to. It seems that in sleepwalking, the body wakes before the mind.