You may have heard about sleepwalking. Many people walk in their sleep at night. Have you ever thought about is it considered normal to walk during your sleep? Maybe not. The reason is that the underlying condition is related to the sleep disorder.
Sleepwalking refers to getting up and walking in a sleep state. It is also called somnambulism. This condition is common in children as compared to adults. It usually appears in the teen years.
Isolated incidents of sleepwalking do not cause serious issues. In this case, treatment is not needed for sleepwalking. But if it occurs persistently then it will be included under the category of sleep disorder.
Sleepwalking in adults is highly confused or comorbid with other disorders of sleep and medical conditions. It is necessary to protect people from potential injuries who walk during sleep.
Symptoms
Symptoms of sleepwalking occur at the early time of night after one or two hours of falling asleep. It does not occur during naps. An episode of sleepwalking may occur rarely or persistently. The sleepwalking episode lasts for several minutes. But it can also last for a longer period of time.
Individual who walks in sleep may:
- Get up and start walking during sleep
- Sit up in bed, start walking or open his or her eyes
- Give glassy and glazed expressions of eye
- Not communicate or respond to others
- Be tough to wake up during the episode of sleepwalking
- Not remember the sleepwalking episode in the morning
- Having issues in performing functions at day time due to interrupted sleep
- Experience sleep terrors with sleepwalking
An individual who is sleepwalking may also:
- Do the activities of routine such as eating, talking, and dressing
- Drive a car
- Leave the house
- Engage in behavior that is unusual such as urinating in a closet
- Do sexual activities without awareness
- Get injuries for example by jumping out a window or falling down the stairs
- Become violent during a brief confusion period after or during sleepwalking
When Should You Visit A Healthcare Professional
Occasional sleepwalking episodes are not important for concern. These episodes disappear on their own. Go to visit a health care professional if episodes of sleepwalking:
- Occur persistently for example more than one or two minutes in a week or repeatedly at night
- Cause dangerous injury or behavior to the individual who sleepwalks or his or her relatives
- Lead to significant disruption of the sleep of household members or the individual who walks during sleep
- Results in experiencing symptoms of excessive sleep at daytime
- Cause problems to perform normal functioning
- Appear for the first time in adults
- Occur repeatedly in your child’s teenage years
Causes
Sleepwalking is classified as a condition of parasomnia. It is an undesirable experience or behavior that occurs during sleep. You can call it a disorder of arousal. It appears during N3 sleep that is the deepest stage of NREM or non-rapid eye movement.
Sleep terror is another NREM disorder that is comorbid with sleepwalking. Following are the factors that contribute to sleepwalking.
- Sleep Deprivation
- Stress
- Sleep schedule disruptions, sleep or travel interruptions
- Fever
Sometimes underlying conditions can trigger sleepwalking that interrupts your sleep. These conditions are given below.
Sleep-Disordered Breathing
A group of disorders that cause abnormal patterns of breathing during the hours of sleep like obstructive sleep apnea.
Medications
If you are taking specific medications like sedatives or hypnotics or the medications that are used for the different psychiatric disorders can cause interruption to your sleep.
Substance Use
An example of substance use is consuming alcohol. It also causes disturbance of sleep.
Restless Leg Syndrome
An irresistible urge to move your leg specifically in the evening refers to restless leg syndrome. It leads to sleep disturbance in many individuals.
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
It is a digestive disease in which your bile or stomach irritates the lining of the food pipe. This disease can cause interruptions in your sleep.
Treatments
Occasional sleepwalking usually does not need treatment. The condition of sleepwalking disappears in the teen years in children. Treatment may be required if sleepwalking causes embarrassment and disturbance of sleep of others and the person who sleepwalks.
Treatment generally concentrates on eliminating triggers or causes and promoting the safety of individuals who sleepwalk and others. Treatments include:
- Treating any underlying medical condition of sleep disorder if it is associated with sleepwalking
- Adjusting medications if sleepwalking occurs due to the use of drugs
- Applying the method of anticipatory awakenings in which you awake the person who sleepwalks 15 minutes before his sleepwalking and asking him or her to sleep again after few minutes
- Learning self-hypnosis
- Counseling or therapy
- Medication
