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Sleepwalking (also called somnambulism or noctambulism) is a parasomnia (not to be confused with psychosis) or sleep disorder where the sufferer engages in activities normally associated with wakefulness while asleep or in a sleep-like state. Sleepwalking is usually defined by or involves the person affected apparently shifting from their prior sleeping position and moving around and performing normal actions as if awake (cleaning, walking and other activities).
Explanation
Somnambulists (those who sleepwalk) are not exactly unconscious during their sleepwalking episodes, but are not conscious of their actions on a level where memory of the sleepwalking episode can be recalled. Because of this, unless the sleepwalker is discovered by someone else, the sleep disorder can go unnoticed. Sleepwalking is more commonly experienced in people with high levels of stress, anxiety or psychological factors, and in people with genetic factors (family history), or sometimes a combination of both.
A common misconception is that sleepwalking is acting out the physical movements within a dream, but in fact, sleepwalking occurs earlier in sleep cycle, during stage 3 or stage 4 sleep. (Dreams occur during the night when rapid eye movement (REM).) REM behavior disorder is the proper term for the condition that occurs when a person "acts out" his or her dreams.
Sleepwalking can affect people of any age. It generally occurs when an individual moves during slow wave sleep or SWS (during stage 3 or 4 of slow wave sleep—deep sleep) (Horne, 1992; Kales & Kales, 1975). In children and young adults, up to 80% of the night is spent in SWS (50% in infants). However, this decreases as the person ages, until none can be measured in the geriatric individual. For this reason, children and young adults (or anyone else with a high amount of slow wave sleep ) are more likely to be woken up and, for the same reasons, they are witnessed to have many more episodes than the older individuals.
Drug-related sleepwalking
Use of the sleep aid zolpidem (sold under the brand name Ambien) has been associated with an increased likelihood to sleepwalk and sleep eat, as well as more complex behaviors such as sleep driving, sleep shopping, and sleep sex.
Statistics
According to a Finnish study published in 1997, children sleepwalk more frequently than adults. Sleepwalking was reported for 6.9% of female children and 5.7% of male children, compared to rates of 3.1% for adult women and 3.9% for adult men.
Activities
Activities such as eating, bathing, urinating, talking, dressing/undressing, texting, emailing, exercising, walking a dog, driving cars, painting, cleaning, whistling, dancing, committing murder, and/or engaging in sexual intercourse are some of the activities that have been reported or claimed to have occurred during sleepwalking. In December 2008, reports were published of a woman who sent semi-coherent emails while sleepwalking, including one inviting a friend around for dinner and drinks. Episodes of sleepwalking can last from a few seconds to over half an hour in length.
Contrary to popular belief, most cases of sleepwalking do not consist of walking around (without the conscious knowledge of the subject). Most cases of somnambulism occur when the person is "awakened" or disturbed (something or someone disturbs their SWS); the person may sit up, look around and immediately go back to sleep. But these kinds of incidences are rarely noticed or reported unless recorded in a sleep clinic.
Sleepwalkers engage in their activities with their eyes open so they can navigate their surroundings, not with their eyes closed and their arms outstretched, as often parodied in cartoons and films. The subject's eyes may have a glazed or empty appearance. Sleepwalkers can respond to questions but their answers may be slow, simple, or nonsensical.
It is a common belief that sleepwalkers should not be awakened and simply steered back to bed without awakening them. While it is true that a person may be confused or disoriented for a short time after awakening, it is not dangerous to awaken a person while they are sleepwalking. While a sleepwalking person can put them selves or others in danger. It is common for sleepwalkers to injure themselves by tripping or losing their balance. Sleepwalkers have died by falling out of tall buildings.
Automatism
In some rare cases, a person may enter into the behaviors consistent with sleepwalking from a state of being awake and alert. This disorder is usually diagnosed as a form of epilepsy known as automatism. An attack usually begins with little or no warning. The subject may engage in simple gestures or small movements, or less commonly, complex behaviors like cooking or driving, performing the activity as if fully alert. After the seizure ends, the subject has no memory of the event, and often feels disoriented.
In art and culture
The 19th-century German chemist and parapsychologist Baron Karl Ludwig von Reichenbach made extensive studies of sleepwalkers and used his discoveries to formulate his theory of the Odic force.
Sleepwalking has been found as a theme in many dramatic works. It is a major plot element in the classic silent German Expressionist film Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (English title: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth sleepwalks because of her overwhelming guilt and insanity. Sleepwalking is also central for Charles Brockden Brown's 1799 novel Edgar Huntly, Or, Memoirs of a Sleepwalker.
In the film version of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Luna Lovegood claims that she sleepwalks at night and, as a result, wears her shoes to bed. Also, in the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban film Harry Potter uses this as an excuse as to why he was out of bed after hours, when he was really looking for Peter Pettigrew on the Mauarders Map.
Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini's opera La Sonnambula is named after its heroine, a sleepwalker. In Dario Argento's Phenomena (1985), the protagonist, Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly), witnesses a murder while sleepwalking. In the film adaptation of Silent Hill, the protagonist's daughter suffers from sleepwalking. In the House episode "Role Model", a woman has sex with her ex-husband while sleepwalking and gets pregnant. In the movie Step Brothers, the main characters, Brennan and Dale, both sleepwalk to quite comic antics. In the 1947 Disney animated short Sleepy Time Donald, Donald Duck was a prolonged sleepwalker, and Daisy Duck had to steer him away from many hazards.
Dr. John William Polidori, a friend of Lord Byron's, earned his medical degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1815 with a treatise on sleepwalking. He was present at the famous gathering at the Villa Diodati on 16 June 1816 when Byron issued a challenge to him, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin and Claire Clairmont to write a ghost story. Polidori wrote "The Vampyre", the first vampire story in English.
Legal defense
Main article: Homicidal somnambulismSleepwalking has from time to time been proposed as a defense against criminal charges—sometimes successfully, sometimes not.
- In Massachusetts, United States in 1846, Albert Tirrell was found not guilty of murder and arson, arguing that if he did do it, he was sleepwalking at the time. This was the first successful acquittal using a sleepwalking defense in American legal history.
- In Ontario, Canada, Kenneth Parks was acquitted of all charges in 1987 killing of his in-laws, after evidence presented at his trial pointed to sleepwalking as the only possible explanation for his actions. He did not serve time in a mental ward because "noninsane automatism" (i.e., sleepwalking) was not legally viewed as a mental disorder in Canada.
- In Arizona, United States in 1999, Scott Falater was convicted of murdering his wife. His sleepwalking defense was countered by prosecution arguments that his actions during the killing had been too complex to have been carried out while sleepwalking.
- In the Northern Territory of Australia Mike Spence was acquitted in 2008 of gross indecency and sexual intercourse without consent after he claimed he was sleepwalking when he raped a 21-year-old house guest.
See also
- Automatism
- Dream
- Night terror
- Nightmare
- Sleep paralysis
- Somniloquy (sleep-talking)
- Sleepeating
- Sleep sex
- Sleepwalking scene (Macbeth)
- Sleepdriving
References
- That is, somn-ambulism, sleep-walking, walking in one's sleep, or noct-ambulism, night-walking, walking in the night.
- ^ "Sleepwalking: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments". MedicineNet, Inc. Retrieved 2009-05-10.
- Attention: This template ({{cite pmid}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by PMID 18998740, please use {{cite journal}} with
|pmid=18998740instead. - ..C. Hublin, MD, J. Kaprio, MD, M. Partinen, MD, K. Heikkila, BSc and M. Koskenvuo, MD 1997. "Prevalence and Genetics of Sleepwalking: A Population-based Twin Study". abstract at www.neurology.org
- Sleepwalk to Murder
- Sleepwalking, sleep murder, sleep walking, automatism, sleep apnea, insanity defense, obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, insomnia, cataplexy, sleepiness, sleep walking, daytime sleepiness, upper airway, CPAP, hypoxemia, UVVP, uvula, Somnoplasty, ob...
- CNN - Sleepwalking defense in Arizona murder trial - May 25, 1999
- Rachel Nowak (2004-10-15). "Sleepwalking woman had sex with strangers". New Scientist. Retrieved 2007-04-30.
- Telegraph, December 17, 2008.
- "Lucky Escape: German Sleepwalker Steps Out of 4th-Floor Window". Spiegel Online. 2007-08-28.
{{cite web}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); Missing or empty|url=(help); Unknown parameter|usr=ignored (help) - Houlihan, Liam (2008-01-06). "Star's sleepwalk death". Sunday Mail. Retrieved 2008-01-06.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - http://www.epilepsy.dk/Handbook/Types-of-seizes-uk.asp
- Kappman (ed), Edward W. (1994). Great American Trials. Detroit, MI: Visible Ink Press. pp. 101–104. ISBN 0-8103-9134-1.
{{cite book}}:|last=has generic name (help) - http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_4792.aspx Man Acquitted Of Sleepwalking Murder Running For School Trustee In Durham
- Martin, Lawrence. Can sleepwalking be a murder defense? 26 Apr. 2008. <http://www.lakesidepress.com/pulmonary/Sleep/sleep-murder.htm>.
- 8 May 2009, 'Sexsomnia' case sparks law change <http://www.theage.com.au/national/sexsomnia-case-sparks-law-change-20090508-axqx.html>.
External links
- A Sleep Disorder Theory
- Sleepwalking Woman Had Sex With Strangers—15 October 2004
- 'Sleepwalker' accused of murder—BBC news article dated 10 March 2005
- Teen 'sleepwalks to top of crane'—BBC news article dated 6 July 2005
- Man Records Himself Talking and Walking in His Sleep at Nate At Night
- Safety of waking sleepwalkers—Straight Dope Staff Report