Sleepwalking is a parasomnia, which is a form of sleep disturbance. Parasomnias are sleep disorders that cause aberrant behavior. Parasomnias are classified according to the stage of the sleep cycle in which they occur.

Sleepwalking can have major health implications. A person can sustain an injury if he or she trips and falls or collides with anything while walking or jogging. Mishandling sharp items or attempting to drive a car during an episode can be fatal. Violent conduct may endanger the sleepwalker or others.

Symptoms

During an episode, a person’s eyes may be open and glassy, with a blank expression on their face. They are typically non-responsive or incoherent in their communication.

The fact that the individual has almost no recall of the event when they wake up is a crucial characteristic of sleepwalking and other NREM parasomnias. As a result, individuals are more likely to hear about their sleepwalking from a family member or housemate.

Another feature that distinguishes NREM parasomnias is that they generally occur during the first third or half of the night when a person spends a greater proportion of time in deep NREM sleep phases.

Reasons of sleepwalking

Sleep deprivation has been linked to an increased risk of sleepwalking, which may be attributed to more time spent in deep sleep after a period of sleep loss.

Sedative medications may cause patients to go into a kind of sleep that raises their odds of experiencing a sleepwalking episode.

Drinking alcohol in the evening might disrupt a person’s sleep phases and increase the chance of sleepwalking.

Conditions that impact the brain, such as brain swelling, may be a cause of sleepwalking.

Fever has been observed to increase the likelihood of sleepwalking in children, and it may be connected to an increase in the frequency of illness-associated arousals during the night.