Somnambulism

According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sleepwalking (also called nightwalking) is a sleep disorder, classified as a parasomnia, in which that people develop automatic motor activities that can be simple or complex while they remain unconscious and without probability of communication. A sleepwalking individual may get out of bed, walk, urinate, or even leave the house. Sleepwalkers have their eyes open, but they don't see like they do when they are awake, and they often believe they are in other rooms in the house or in completely different places. Sleepwalkers tend to go back to bed on their own initiative, and the next morning they do not remember getting up at night. Sleepwalking occurs during phases 3 or 4 of sleep, that is, the stage called slow sleep or slow wave sleep (SOL) (see electroencephalogram or polysomnogram).

Overview

It is more common in children and adolescents. In general, the episodes are isolated, although they may be recurrent in one to six percent of patients. Its cause is unknown, and there is no effective treatment. A person with these symptoms is called a sleepwalker or sleepwalker. Normally the person can urinate without their own consent, a phenomenon that is also part of the parasomnias.

It is believed that waking a sleepwalker can cause mental retardation or leave them in a state of vegetation. While this is not the case, the individual may find themselves confused or disoriented for a few seconds if awakened halfway.

On the other hand, the activities that people carry out during the expression of sleepwalking are usually not very complex and do not require large doses of concentration and reasoning ability; That is why it is sometimes easy to understand what is the specific task for which they have gotten up to bed: sweeping, stretching their arms, etc. It is not about very precise movement sequences or with many differentiated phases.

It is mistakenly believed that somnambulism is the conversion, in the waking state, of the physical movements that the individual performs in the scenes that they are performing during their dreams (see dream). But the reality is that sleepwalking occurs in the deep sleep phases (Non-REM), in which there is no presence of dreams; For this reason, sleepwalking episodes are more like an altered state of consciousness in which you have a distorted view of the real environment with which you are interacting, and your imagination is mixed with what is really around you. Statistically, sleepwalking episodes usually take place during the first third of the night, as this is the period in which the Non-REM sleep stages are predominant.

Statistical data

• 18 per cent of the world ' s population is prone to sambulism.
• One study showed that the greatest prevalence of sonambulism was 16.7% in children between 11 and 16 years of age.^{[chuckles]required]}
• Some studies suggest that men tend more to sambulism than women.
• Studies have been made that if both parents suffer from sleepwalking, there is a 60% chance that the child will suffer from sleepwalking.

Risks for sleepwalkers

Sleepwalkers are more likely to harm themselves than others^{[citation needed]}. When sleepwalkers are a danger to themselves or others (for example, when going up or down stairs or trying to use a potentially dangerous tool such as a stove or knife), it is advisable to move them away from danger and back to bed. Cases of people dying or being injured as a result of sleepwalking have been documented.

Example: In the United Kingdom, a case was reported of a woman who climbed a crane that was in a construction site and fell asleep at one end. The next day the firefighters in the region had to rescue her.

How to Handle Someone Sleepwalking

Often the best way to deal with sleepwalkers safely is to direct them directly back to their beds. However, the person may continue to get up until he or she has completed the task that triggered the episode in the first place. For example, if a sleepwalker is cleaning up - a common activity in sleepwalking - assisting in the cleaning up can help end the episode. Telling the person, "Looks like you've cleaned everything up," can help them feel that the "necessary" task is complete. has been completed. Since sleepwalkers tend not to remember anything said or done during sleepwalking, there is no need to worry about embarrassment on their part or the protagonist of the episode.

Sleepwalkers are highly suggestible. Everything they see and hear can trigger other behavior. Often, something said by a person or even on a television show will make the sleepwalker want to participate in the activities mentioned, as long as it is one that he or she is used to hearing, talking about, or doing. If the sleepwalker is also talking, it may be helpful to ask him what he is trying to accomplish. How you talk during sleepwalking varies from person to person and from episode to episode. Sleepwalkers are unaware of their current surroundings, although it is very difficult for a sleepwalker to reveal information to someone who would not while awake. They may also exhibit behaviors that are considered shameful, such as urinating in inappropriate places, trying to eat invisible food, cleaning invisible furniture, or even attempting to bathe or engage in sexual intercourse. The sleepwalker is not aware of anything he is carrying out, which means that he can carry out any action, however dangerous it may be.

Sleepwalking in art and culture

In the 19th century, the German chemist and metaphysician Baron Karl Ludwig von Reichenbach made extensive studies of sleepwalking, and used his findings to formulate his theory of Odic vigor.

Sleepwalking has been found as a theme in many dramatic works. This is an important plot as an element in the classic German expressionist silent film Das Kabinett des Dr. Kaligari (titled in Spanish: The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari), by 1920. In William Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lady Macbeth is sleepwalking because of her immense guilt and madness. Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini wrote the opera The Sleepwalker, named after his heroine, a sleepwalker. In Phenomena , a film by Dario Argento (1985), the protagonist, Jennifer Corvino (Jennifer Connelly), witnesses a murder while she was having a sleepwalking episode. In the film adaptation of the horror video game Silent Hill, the protagonist's daughter suffers from sleepwalking. In the pilot episode of the television series The Chamber, a woman has sex with her ex-husband while she is sleepwalking and becomes pregnant. In the United Abominations album (United Abominations, referring to the UN) by Megadeth the first song is titled Sleepwalker, a word that means sleepwalker in English.

In the series El Chavo del Ocho, Don Ramón, Doña Florinda and Quico sleepwalk in an episode. Doña Clotilde attributes her behavior to the so-called & # 34; carrero spirits & # 34; and tries to contact them through a séance.

The animated series Tom and Jerry also addresses this phenomenon in the 1966 short Jerry, Jerry, Quite Contrary. In it, a sleepwalking Jerry ties a rope to Tom's tail and pulls him out through the chimney of the house. Desperate, Tom decides to run away, but Jerry follows him, still sleepwalking.

Some legal consequences of sleepwalking

In 1846, Albert Tirrell was found not guilty of murder and arson, arguing that he was sleepwalking in doing so. This is the first known acquittal for sleepwalking in the history of legal defense.

Kenneth Parks, a 23-year-old man, drove his car 15 miles from his home in May 1987. There he assaulted his father-in-law, knocking him unconscious and stabbing his mother-in-law, killing her. He then went to the police station saying, "I think they've killed some people." He was bloodied and his hand was severely injured. Parks could not remember anything about the murder and had no reason to commit it. He was unemployed, and he emphasized it. He went to sleep that night thinking about how he was going to visit his in-laws the next day with his wife to talk to them about his financial condition and his gambling problem. After a year, he was found not guilty of murder or attempted murder. An appeal was filed but his acquittal was upheld. He was not even admitted to a psychiatric hospital since sleepwalking (in English noninsane automatisme ) is not legally considered a mental disorder.

If the patient also has night terrors, then their acts of violence may be worse. In 1686, the British Colonel Culpeper killed one of his men by shooting him in the middle of the night, while he was making his rounds. The colonel suffered from night terrors and was also a sleepwalker, for which he was found innocent. The same thing happened to C.K., an Englishman who strangled his wife in the middle of the night while she was sleeping.