When I was little, I used to sleepwalk. I have always been pretty active during sleep. That may sound ridiculous, but it is true. I would sleep walk as a child, I have had many lucid dreams (where you are aware in your dream that you are, in fact, dreaming), and even now, I have very busy dreams. But, that’s for another blog.
I remember my mother telling me once that our dog stopped me from going down the stairs one night when I was sleepwalking by barking until my parents woke up. One night not too long ago, I was watching television while getting ready for bed and our son came into our bedroom. I asked him what was wrong, but he didn’t answer. He stumbled around and finally mumbled something about an itch and my husband said, “He’s sleepwalking.” Sure enough he was. He had never done that before. I gently led him back to his bed and spent the next hour worrying because, for the first time in my son’s life, we are living in a two-story house. And, our dog sleeps in a cage each night!
I read the other day that sleepwalking is more common than you might think. A study by a group of researchers determined that about 1 in 3 have had a sleepwalking experience. Dr. Maurice Ohayon of Stanford Univeristy and his colleagues involved in the study didn’t ease my fears any when they mentioned that sleepwalking can be dangerous.
Based on the study, which will appear in the journal Neurology, sleepwalking is more common in children than adults and there didn’t seem to be much of a difference between men and women. However, genetics seems to play a role in sleepwalking – something I had wondered that night my son did it.
If you take sleeping pills (even over the counter) or tricyclic antidepressants, you are more likely to sleepwalk. But then again, maybe you are trying to wake up, but the drugs won’t let you.
So how can you prevent sleepwalking? Well, there may be no sure way to do it, but the doctors suggest that it may help to keep a regular sleep schedule, reduce noise and light in the bedroom (like the television), and avoid stress. That last one is easier said than done in my case!