Sleepwalking is a spectacular and frightening event to witness. The blank expression, the seemingly purposeful movements, the automatic behavior, the overwhelming sense that the person is not in touch with reality all the lead and eerie, out of this world aura to the occurrence.

Often, it is your loved ones that you observe in this mysterious state, which makes the event all the more disturbing. It’s no wonder that sleepwalking were once felt to be possessed, drive by a force, a spirit, other then their own. That this possession occurs in the shadows of the night and leaves no memory in the mind of the sleeper the next morning makes it even more puzzling, and somehow sinister.

The medical term for sleepwalking is somnambulism derived from the Latin somnus (sleep) and ambulo (walk about). The phenomenon is not rare in fact; it’s almost universal in children. Most of us have had at least one episode of this nocturnal wandering, and some 15 percent of children have recurring episodes. Though they can occur at nay age after the child learns to crawl, most sleepwalking begins between the ages of four and twelve, with a peak incident at age ten. Through it is very common in childhood, it is not common in adult life. Fewer than one in two hundred adults are sleepwalkers.

Somnambulism seems to be developmental and related to the depth of deep sleep in children. When it persists into adult life, the chances of harm, and the underlying causes, as we shall see, are children. In childhood, the typical sleepwalking episode begins with the youngster sitting up soundlessly in bed. The child may pick at blankets or the bedclothes, look vacantly around the bedroom, and then simply lie back down and return to sleep.

More commonly, the child rises from bed and begins to wander slowly around the room. The walking itself is deliberate, with little haste. Though the child looks straight ahead and seems to be one some kind of autopilot, there is a sense of purpose in the activity, some goal for the journey. Particularly in familiar surroundings, the child is well able to navigate in the dark, and usually avoids hitting walls and other obstacles. Sometimes he or she may turn on the light, get dressed or use the bathroom (not always in the appropriate manner), though more complex actions are rare.

Sleepwalking children don’t seen to be in any distress, or in any great hurry. Though they often give the impression they are looking for something, they’re usually not agitated, and do not cry out. If they do speak at all (they rarely do unless spoken to), they articulate poorly and the words are often incomprehensible or out of sequence. Vision appears to be intact, and they are able to avoid structures in their path.

However, the brain is easily confused and certainly doesn’t have the judgment and insight of wakefulness. Accidents can and do occur, especially in strange environments. If you speak to a sleepwalking child, he or she will often respond (though not always appropriately), and you can lead the child back to sleep quite easily. A light touch is often helpful. There seems to be no memory of these events in the morning, if the sleepwalking child is awakened, simple confusion results. He or she doesn’t know what led to the journey to the hell, or what he or she was looking for.

Keywords: sleepwalking, somnambulism, sleep disorder, insomnia,

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Sleepwalking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.