Mysterious and frightening sleepwalking: why does a person sleepwalk and what to do?

Sleepwalking is a common phenomenon. Some people think that it is completely harmless: just a person walking around the house at night without much meaning. Others are afraid of such unfounded movements.

At the same time, somnambulism (this is how this problem is called in modern medicine) is quite widespread: it is observed in every fiftieth person on the planet. Accordingly, you need to know about it in order to understand in which cases you need help, and in which cases it will go away on its own.

Until the end of the 18th century, sleepwalking was considered a manifestation of the activity of evil spirits. Incomprehensible behavior, out of all standards, was thought-provoking, and also usually caused fear, bewilderment and, of course, misunderstanding. It was difficult for ordinary people to rationally explain such a situation. Accordingly, they fought the enemy using improvised methods: they read prayers and repented. Punitive measures were also applied to those who acted differently: there were often cases when they were simply accused of witchcraft and fought, like with other witches. Today, no one takes drastic measures against sleepwalkers, but at the same time, sudden episodes of sleepwalking can frighten even information-savvy modern citizens.

"It is not recommended to wake up." Somnologist on how to live with a sleepwalker Read more

Sleepwalking concept

Who are sleepwalkers?

Sleepwalking (somnambulism) is a painful disorder in which people in a state of sleep perform various actions.

Foci of excitation form in areas of the brain when the body has not fully awakened from the deep phase of slow-wave sleep.

Sleepwalking is a painful condition, because during its manifestation a person can expose himself to serious danger: grab sharp objects, go out the door into the street, approach an open window, etc.

Usually sleepwalking attacks do not last long, from 30 seconds to 30 minutes. In rare cases, their duration increases to several hours.

After awakening, people do not remember anything that happened to them. If memories are present, they are abrupt and illegible.

This is explained by the fact that during seizures the memory of a sleepwalker does not record the events that occur. There is also a theory that memories are absent due to a disruption in the process of retrieving them from memory.

Statistics show that in most cases, people suffering from sleepwalking perform extremely simple actions in their unconscious state : talking, walking, sitting, etc.

However, cases of sleepwalkers committing quite complex acts have been recorded more than once: eating, driving a car, moving furniture in the house, etc.

Such cases confirm the fact that even with unconscious behavior a person is able to coordinate his actions .

Diet

Diet for the nervous system

• Efficacy: therapeutic effect after 2 months
• Timing: constantly
• Cost of food: 1700-1800 rubles per week

Both adults and children who experience such manifestations should eat properly and rationally. The diet should be varied. It is advisable not to consume alcohol. Also in the afternoon you should not drink drinks that stimulate the nervous system. It is worth giving up tea and coffee.

Reasons for sleepwalking

The causes of somnambulism in children and adults differ. The problem occurs more often in children . It is caused mainly by immaturity of the psyche, impressionability and gradually goes away with age.

Adults suffer from sleepwalking much less frequently. It occurs in the presence of primary diseases and mental problems. Thus, neurotic people are often susceptible to sleepwalking.

In children

What causes sleepwalking in a child? The problem may be systematic or appear at a specific moment due to the influence of some factor. Mostly children suffer from sleepwalking for the following reasons :

• lack of sleep,
• lack of sleep pattern,
• high temperature during illness,
• state of stress,
• increased anxiety,
• primary diseases that provoke the problem (apnea, epilepsy, restless legs syndrome),
• urge to urinate,
• nightmare,
• hereditary predisposition,
• head injuries,
• migraine,
• taking medications.

In adults

In adulthood, as a rule, the problem appears under the influence of more serious factors:

• intoxication of the body,
• alcoholism,
• addiction,
• brain dysfunction.

If severe symptoms of the disorder appear, you should seek help from specialists. In this case, treatment of the factor that provokes sleepwalking is of key importance.

Pathogenesis

There are two stages of sleep - fast and slow sleep. In the rapid stage, a person's eyes move under the eyelids. NREM sleep is divided into several stages: the process of falling asleep, light sleep, deep NREM sleep, especially deep sleep. If the deep sleep stage is suddenly disrupted, a person may perceive reality incorrectly and have difficulty concentrating. In this case, they talk about confused awakening or sleepy intoxication syndrome. In this state, a person may behave unusually. If at the same time he leaves the place where he slept, then such an episode is defined as sleepwalking.

REM and NREM sleep cycles alternate, with each cycle lasting approximately an hour and a half. Longer periods of slow-wave sleep are observed in the first half of the night, longer periods of fast sleep are observed in the second half. Episodes of sleepwalking usually occur during periods of deepest sleep, which is noted in the first third of the night. At the same time, the human brain is in a transitional state between wakefulness and sleep.

Scientists do not yet know why in some people such manifestations disappear with age, appearing only in childhood, while in others they do not.

Signs and symptoms

Symptoms of sleepwalking include the following behavior patterns that occur during sleep :

• walking, performing various actions (dressing, eating, etc.),
• active speech or unintelligible mumbling,
• performing repetitive actions or repeating the same words, phrases,
• lack of memories of one’s behavior after waking up,
• doing inappropriate, strange things,
• manifestation of aggression, cruelty,
• screams associated with nightmares,
• lack of response to other people’s requests, to the questions they ask,
• clumsiness of movements,
• if the eyes are open, they appear dull, glassy,

List of sources

• Large medical encyclopedia in 30 volumes/chapter. ed. B.V. Petrovsky. 3rd ed. M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1982. T. 23. P. 513-520.
• Golbin A.Ts., Guzeva V.I., Shepovalnikova. Unusual forms of sleep behavior as “compensatory” reactions of the body aimed at normalizing the wake-sleep cycle // Human Physiology. 2013. T. 39. No. 6. P. 83.
• Levin Ya.I. Sleep disorders. In: National Guide to Neurology. Ed. Guseva E.I., Konovalova A.N., Skvortsovoy V.I., Gekht A.B..M., “Geotar-Media”, 2009, p. 548-565.

Diagnosis of somnambulism

What to do if you are a sleepwalker? In general, somnambulism is not considered a malignant disease.

Its rare manifestations do not in any way affect the quality of life of people suffering from it. Often the problem goes away on its own without any treatment.

But you should still consult a doctor for such problems . Often, prescribing sedatives and receiving recommendations for lifestyle changes help resolve the issue.

A more complex situation arises when attacks are repeated with a certain regularity, last a long time, or during sleepwalking a person poses a danger to himself.

In this case, contacting specialists is mandatory.

To make an accurate diagnosis, the patient is prescribed the following examinations:

• electroencephalography (brain activity is studied),
• polysomnography (the patient is placed overnight in a special laboratory, where sensors are used to obtain data about the characteristics of his sleep),
• Ultrasound of cerebral vessels (the nature of blood flow is determined),
• MRI (the study is carried out to identify possible neoplasms or other pathological processes that served as a provoking factor for the appearance of sleepwalking),
• examination of related specialists (endocrinologist, cardiologist, etc.) to determine the presence of diseases that could cause the development of sleepwalking.

How to cope?

When a person or his loved ones begin to walk at night without any purpose and without consciousness, the first questions that arise are what to do about it, where to go, who will help? “If signs of sleepwalking appear more than twice a month, you should consult a specialist (neurologist or neuropsychiatrist, as well as a psychiatrist). To diagnose sleepwalking, a number of studies are carried out, including MRI of the brain, electrocardiogram, and polysomnography. Complex treatment should be carried out only with the participation of specialists, since when conducting diagnostic studies it is important to exclude organic pathologies of the nervous system,” notes the neurologist.

Sleepwalkers. Which famous people suffered from sleepwalking?

American actress Jennifer Aniston. www.globallookpress.com

American actor Chris Colfer, best known for his role as Kurt Hummel in the TV series Glee. www.globallookpress.com

The legendary Elvis Presley. Public Domain

Poet Anna Akhmatova. Public Domain

English poet and author of the novel Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë. Public Domain

Russian scientist Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky. Public Domain

Hypnotist Wolf Messing. Public Domain

Writer Mark Twain. Public Domain

First Lady Pat Nixon. Commons.wikimedia.org

German poet, statesman, thinker and naturalist Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Public Domain

Principles of treatment

How to get rid of sleepwalking?

Not all patients with this disorder require treatment.

If sleepwalking has developed under the influence of external factors, occurs quite rarely and does not cause any problems to a person, then its manifestations can be eliminated by minimizing the impact of negative factors.

How to deal with somnambulism? It is recommended to take the following measures at home:

1. Adjust your sleep schedule. Adequate sleep should be at least 7-8 hours a day for an adult. For a child, this indicator leaves 8-9 hours. At the same time, sleep should be regular, deep and of high quality.
2. Before going to bed, carry out relaxing procedures. This could be a massage, taking a bath, aromatherapy, listening to your favorite music, etc.
3. Avoid exposure to computers and TV a couple of hours before bedtime.
   A person who sits in front of a TV or computer monitor until late at night goes to bed in an excited state. This factor has a particularly negative effect on children, whose psyche is more susceptible to excitement.
4. Avoid drinking alcohol late in the evening. This type of relaxation after a hard day at work can cause sleep disorders.
5. Learn to resist stress. Modern man lives in a constant state of emotional stress: difficulties at work, everyday problems, financial difficulties, etc. It is important to learn to abstract yourself from minor troubles and not take them to heart.

How to stop constantly sleepwalking at night?

In cases where sleepwalking is the result of more serious problems , it is necessary to seek help from specialists.

In children

If a child is prone to sleepwalking, parents should behave appropriately during such episodes. If the baby tries to go somewhere, he should be calmly escorted back to bed. Interrupting his sleep should only be done as a last resort. However, you can talk to your child quietly and calmly.

It is also important to avoid conflicts in the family and try to create a trusting and warm atmosphere.

Finally, parents should not perceive their child's sleepwalking as something scary. It is important to carefully monitor him, analyze the situation, and it is quite possible that the baby will “outgrow” this disease.

Reasons why people sleepwalk at night

Sleepwalking only from the outside seems like something mysterious and even mystical, but for people suffering from this disorder, it is exclusively a cause of inconvenience, and sometimes even danger. Many somnambulists, aware of the danger looming over them, strive to prevent attacks with the help of sleeping pills, but such treatment is ineffective, because all such drugs sooner or later become addictive. Therefore, in order to cure this disorder, it is necessary to eliminate its cause. And according to doctors, in most cases the reasons why people sleepwalk at night are:

1. Impaired brain functionality and the formation of a focus of epileptic readiness in the temporal lobe of the hemispheres. The brain of a completely healthy person “rests” during sleep, and those parts of the brain that are responsible for coordination of movements, control of limbs and speech are inactive in the deep sleep phase. However, in people who have nerve disorders or early stage epilepsy, brain function may be impaired. As a result of this disorder, during sleep, areas of the brain that should “rest” actively function and control the human body. As a rule, the results of the encephalogram of sleepwalkers show areas of the brain that are not functioning correctly.
2. Severe stress. Stress, nervous breakdowns and increased anxiety negatively affect the functioning of the human nervous system, as a result of which malfunctions may occur in certain areas of the brain. Since each person’s psyche is individual, the consequences of nervous breakdowns are different for everyone - someone becomes irritable and aggressive, someone loses their ability to work, someone begins to experience memory problems, and someone “earns” sleep disorders and somnambulism .

3. 
   Excessive intellectual load.

   People who engage in intellectual work and regularly endure excessive workloads sooner or later face the fact that their brain is unable to cope with the flow of information received. As a result, even during sleep, the brain cannot rest and tries to work at full capacity. Most often, it is for this reason that sleepwalking occurs in children and adolescents who have difficulty coping with school and extracurricular activities.
4. Other sleep disturbances and deterioration in general health. Sometimes single attacks of sleepwalking occur in people suffering from chronic lack of sleep or insomnia, as well as in those who go to bed with a headache and fever. Both lack of sleep and physiological disorders in the body affect the functioning of the nervous system, which is why the brain may not completely switch to “sleep mode”, and certain parts of it will function in “wakefulness mode”.

If we consider the main reasons why people sleepwalk at night, we can conclude that the source of most of them are psychological problems - constant stress, inability to rest and relax, increased anxiety and inattention to one’s own health. And by eliminating these causes, you can significantly reduce the number of attacks of sleepwalking or completely get rid of somnambulism.

Factors contributing to the development of pathology in adults

Adult individuals rarely suffer from this disorder. As a rule, it is of a secondary nature. Why do people sleepwalk at night and talk in their sleep? The reasons for the development of the disorder in adults may be:

• chronic lack of sleep;
• psychological stress;
• hemicrania;
• neoplasms in the brain;
• neuroses;
• dementia in old age;
• Parkinson's disease;
• mechanical damage to the brain;
• epilepsy;
• severe form of arrhythmia;
• breathing disorders during sleep;
• cerebral vascular pathologies;
• gestation period and critical days;
• asthmatic attacks during sleep;
• decrease in glucose concentration in diabetes;
• eating large amounts of food at night;
• unbalanced diet;
• taking alcohol-containing products, drugs, medications.

Potential danger

Many people are interested not only in the question of why people sleepwalk at night, but also in how much this condition threatens the patient or others. Somnambulism is not a fatal illness. However, during night walks the patient poses a potential danger to himself and others. He may get injured, jump out of a window, fall from a roof, or get into a car accident. There are cases when such patients committed acts of a criminal nature. Relatives of individuals suffering from this disorder should not wake them up abruptly. Such exposure can cause stress.