|
Types of Sleeping Disorders
|
Sleeping Problems (Home) > Types of Sleeping Disorders > Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking (Noctambulism or Somnambulism): Information, Symptoms and Causes
Sleepwalking (also written as Sleep Walking and also called Noctambulism and Somnambulism) is a parasomnia sleep disorder where the sufferer engages in activities that are normally associated with wakefulness (such as eating, dressing, or walking) while asleep or in a sleep-like state, without the conscious knowledge of the person.
Most cases of Sleepwalking occur when the person is woken up as a result of something or someone disturbing their Short Wave Sleep (SWS). In the vast majority of these cases, the person may sit up, look around, and immediately go back to sleep. It is much rarer for a person to perform various activities before returning to sleep.
Symptoms
The main symptom of Sleepwalking is engaging in activities that are normally associated with wakefulness (such as eating, dressing, or walking) while asleep or in a sleep-like state, without the conscious knowledge of the person.
Sleepwalkers engage in these activities with their eyes open, meaning that they can navigate in their surroundings.
 |
Random Sleeping Tip |
 |
| During the cold weather it is important that you make sure that your heating system is not making the environment too dry because if your heating system is making the environment dry then that would cause you to have a dry throat and that in turn can cause episodes of coughing that will disturb your sleep patterns greatly. Therefore it is wise to see that whether your heating system is causing your room environment to be dry or humid. |
A Sleepwalker's eyes may have a glazed or empty appearance, and if they are spoken to or questioned, then the Sleepwalker will be slow to answer and will be unable to respond in an intelligible manner.
Please Note: Sleepwalkers do not walk around or perform activities with their eyes closed and their arms outstretched as parodied in cartoons and various Hollywood productions.
Causes
Sleepwalking is affected by the following factors:
- Age
- Sex
- Sleepwalking can affect people of any age, and usually occurs when an individual awakes suddenly from Slow Wave Sleep (SWS), also called Stage 3 and 4 Sleep, triggering the sleepwalking episode.
- In children and young adults, up to 25% of the night is spent in SWS. However this decreases as the person ages until none can be measured in the elderly people.
- For this reason, children and young adults (or anyone else who achieves high amounts of SWS), are more likely to be woken up and, for the same reasons, they tend to have more Sleepwalking episodes than older people.
- Some research suggests that the highest prevalence of sleepwalking occurs in children of 11 to 12 years of age, and affects 16% of children in this age group.
- Boys are more likely to sleepwalk than girls.
|
More Articles |
|
1. Most Common Sleeping and Eating Disorders
The Most Common Sleeping and Eating Disorders
There are a multitude of different sleeping and eating disorders that affect a large number of [...]
|
2. Children's Snoring: Information , Treatment and Using Tips
How to Stop Children's Snoring?
Hereditary can also be the reason for snoring. If you or your spouse is snoring, your kids are also prone to the same. Medical [...]
|
3. Sleep Apnea and Snoring
Sleep Apnea and Snoring: No Single Treatment For The Both!
Sleep apnea is found among 90% of people and many don't aware that they do have such type [...]
|
4. Glossary of Terms
Glossary of Terms
The following definitions are either used within this book, or are relevant or related to the topics covered [...]
|
|
Bookmark This Page:
Send Page to a Friend Resources: Health and Healing Mental Health Natural Health Relaxation Self Help Sleep Better |
