Sleepwalking in adults, the main hypothesis is the factors that provoke

Sleepwalking in adults: a disease or not? In the scientific community and environment, sleepwalking is called somnambulism, in medical language. This condition is shrouded in a lot of myths. The science that studies this phenomenon is psychosomatics.

This concept has a definition - sleepwalking and sleeptalking. Previously it was argued that walking in a dream is associated with the phases that the moon goes through.

Sleepwalking - why do people walk in their sleep?

Although modern scientists have long refuted this theory and given a more precise explanation of this fact.

Scientifically speaking, who is a sleepwalker?

Sleepwalking is widespread among people, affecting approximately 3.5% of the population. In the case when attacks of sleepwalking are constantly repeated, you need to consult a doctor. This condition can cause quite dangerous diseases, such as epilepsy. When somnambulism in an individual manifests itself accidentally, then the help of a specialist is not required. Sexual sleepwalking is also known; it most often occurs in young people during puberty.

Factors that provoke sleepwalking

Why do people walk in their sleep? Currently, scientists have found the main reason for the appearance of sleepwalking, but there are other specific hypotheses that explain this phenomenon.

The reason is the following - a large accumulation of carbon dioxide in the blood. In medical language it is called hypercapnia. Which occurs as a result of temporary cessation of respiratory movements.

People snore, and then they stop breathing for a while. Then they snore monstrously, as they need to draw in a portion of oxygen. These people experience such a condition.

Oxygen levels drop in the blood. Carbon dioxide levels rise. Serotonergic pathways are activated in the brain, where the hormone serotonin predominates.

Sleep, while snoring, stopping breathing. The brain tries to wake up a person, but only activates motor areas. A man gets up, walks somewhere, but sees nothing. Because the eyes are open, but they are sleeping. He is in a semi-conscious state.

Sleepwalking is accompanied by stress or fatigue

Usually, sleepwalking is characteristic of people with very high emotionality, subject to experiences and stress. In adults, the cause may be fatigue at work, insomnia, or taking medications such as sedatives and antihistamines. Sleepwalking also occurs in impressionable people when they find themselves in an environment that is unusual for them.

Other causes of somnambulism include pathologies associated with a person’s mental and physical state, which may well affect sleep. There may be physical reasons:

• head injury;
• severe migraine;
• obstructive apnea;
• convulsions and fever;
• epilepsy, its attacks;
• restless legs syndrome.

Psychological illnesses that cause attacks:

• split personality;
• panic attacks and so on.

Of course, the state of sleepwalking can be caused by drinking alcoholic drinks of various strengths and energy drinks. The mechanisms that work during sleepwalking are very simple and can be easily understood. The areas of the brain that are responsible for controlling movement have been identified. In addition, scientists have proven that somnambulism is a genetic disease and is inherited. Therefore, if parents were or are sleepwalkers, they may give birth to a child with the same disorder.

Common Misconceptions

Like any incomprehensible and spectacular phenomenon, somnambulism is overgrown with myths. Moreover, not only ordinary people are mistaken, but also doctors ( The Lancet Neurology

, 2013,12, 285–94).

The first misconception is that sleepwalking has no daytime consequences. However, the slow-wave sleep of sleepwalkers at night is disrupted, and many of them complain of daytime sleepiness. It does not accompany other slow-wave sleep disorders, such as restless legs syndrome or night awakenings; daytime sleepiness is a characteristic feature of sleepwalkers. When awake somnambulists were examined using transcranial magnetic stimulation, which allows one to study the excitability of cortical neurons, they were found to have impaired inhibition patterns, an active process that suppresses or prevents the firing of nerve cells. In other words, there is reason to assume that some neural circuits, synapses or receptors are “immature”. Thus, the clinical manifestation of sleepwalking is not limited to sleep time.

Many people mistakenly believe that somnambulism is accompanied by episodic amnesia. Kenneth Parks, for example, did not remember how he ended up in his mother-in-law's house or what he did there. He came to his senses over her lifeless body, with his hand cut, holding a bloody knife. However, not all doctors share this opinion. Neurologists from Montreal interviewed 94 patients in their clinic, and it turned out that the vast majority of sleepwalkers, upon waking up, remember that they had a nighttime episode, and even describe the emotions they experienced at that time: fear, anger, disappointment and helplessness. So there is no need to talk about complete loss of memory.

Those who consider sleepwalking to be an automatic behavior are also mistaken. In fact, consciousness operates even during slow-wave sleep and can guide patients' actions during an episode. In the eyes of Cousin Rachel and the maid, who were watching Franklin Blake, he acted quite intelligently.

Many sleepwalkers remember some dream-like reasoning after an episode, and these memories coincide with their nocturnal behavior. Obviously, it was this sleepy thinking that prompted them to act. There is evidence that the behavior of sleepwalkers is usually motivated, they do what, in their opinion, urgently needs to be done, for example, hiding a gem. During normal sleep, people do not behave this way.

The sleepy thinking of somnambulists is not a dream, their eyes are open, they answer questions and orient themselves in a familiar place. True, not always. Sleepwalkers caught behind the wheel stand confidently and move independently, but at the same time do not understand what the police want from them.

Causes of sleepwalking in adults

The symptoms of sleepwalking are different, and they are always visible to the patient’s relatives.

Symptoms that can be noticed in the patient:

• Sleep apnea. That is, snoring, loss of breath for a while;
• Restless sleep with twitching of limbs;
• Smacking, frequent swallowing, etc.;
• You can also hear the patient talking in his sleep, usually with his eyes open, and under certain circumstances he can enter into a dialogue either with someone nearby or with himself; in some cases he can shout sharply in his sleep, quite loudly.

All of these symptoms are typical for people with a hot temper and a high degree of irritability who take sedatives.

Sleepwalking girl with glassy eyes

A person suffering from sleepwalking may also grind their teeth in their sleep and sit with their eyes open but with a glassy look. Of course, one of the main signs is sleepwalking. The consequences of sleepwalking are very serious if nothing is done.

During such an attack, the individual experiences:

• moves around the house;
• begins to take different objects;
• turns on lights and various household appliances;
• gets dressed or performs other familiar activities.

There are times when a patient goes outside and the front door is open, which poses a danger and can harm himself and others. A person begins to sleepwalk in a state of deep sleep, which occurs several hours after falling asleep. In this case, in the morning the person will not remember what happened last night. In each patient suffering from this disease, sleepwalking manifests itself differently. For some, attacks begin in stressful situations and occur rarely, for others it occurs frequently, even several times in one night.

What is insomnia?

Insomnia is one of the most popular sleep disorders that most often bothers people. Somnologists do not like the term “insomnia” because it makes people think that only a complete lack of sleep can be called that. However, insomnia also happens when there is sleep, the person is simply not satisfied with its quantity or quality. Therefore, somnologists prefer the term insomnia.

Is it possible to wake up a sleepwalker?

Of course, you need to know that it is not recommended to wake a person in this state, as this can frighten and cause severe psychological distress. There is also a category of sleepwalking called “aggressive”. In this case, the sleepwalker experiences attacks of aggression towards people who are nearby at the moment.

Such people can injure themselves, be injured by household objects, or fall out of a window.

If you see such a state of sleepwalking, you need to take the person by the hand and take him to bed. You need to understand that a person can be awakened if he needs your help. Since the motor zones are awakened, and the zones responsible for consciousness are asleep. If necessary, wake him up gently.

Why is this happening

Scientists cannot yet give an exact answer to the question of what exactly neuropsychic processes cause people to walk in a sleepy state. We can only say that this disorder is provoked by incomplete awakening from the deep phase of slow-wave sleep. A person, at the moment of sleepwalking, has not yet fully woken up, but is no longer sleeping. His consciousness is confused, although he sees his surroundings well.

If a person has a predisposition to somnambulism, this does not mean that he will walk in his sleep. In order for the debut of sleepwalking to occur, predisposing factors are needed. The main causes of sleepwalking that contribute to its occurrence are the following:

• overstrain of the nervous system;
• experienced severe stress;
• chronic insomnia;
• taking certain medications (antidepressants, beta blockers, antipsychotics);
• diseases that directly or indirectly affect the quality and duration of sleep, as well as the state of the nervous system (reflux disease, Parkinson's, chronic depression, obstructive apnea, restless leg syndrome).

Important: under no circumstances should you wake up sleepwalkers while they are sleepwalking. This is especially not recommended if a person is in a dangerous situation, for example, walking along the edge of a roof. If you call him, he will wake up and probably fall - and then the consequences may be irreparable. In addition, a sleepwalker can be very frightened if he is awakened during his adventures. As a result, he will receive severe stress, which will only worsen the situation.

Alcoholic somnambulism

Sleepwalking after alcohol often occurs in cases where the dose drunk was rather large. It manifests itself not only by sleepwalking. A person in this state may shout excitedly, mutter to himself, or even try to fight with other people. After waking up, he most often does not remember anything. Usually, alcoholic sleepwalking goes away without a trace if you stop drinking alcohol.

Features of childhood somnambulism

Sleepwalking in children has almost the same causes, symptoms and treatment as in adults. But it occurs much more often, since a child’s unformed psyche is less resistant to various negative influences. The following factors can provoke the debut of sleepwalking in a baby:

• long-term illness causing weakened immunity;
• unfavorable moral atmosphere in the family (frequent conflicts, divorce of parents);
• problematic situations at school, because of which the child is very worried;
• chronic lack of sleep as a result of non-compliance with the daily routine.

In most cases, sleepwalking in children is a random episode and disappears without a trace as soon as the causes that caused it are eliminated. But if the impact of an unfavorable factor is long-lasting, the tendency to sleepwalk can take hold and remain for many years. Therefore, a child suffering from somnambulism should be shown to a doctor immediately.

Prevention of attacks and accidents associated with somnambulism

In order to avoid accidents, you need to secure the room in which the sleepwalker sleeps. To do this you need:

• remove all piercing and cutting objects from the room (knives, forks, tools and even pens and pencils);
• turn off and remove electrical appliances that are in the room and in the kitchen;
• close the windows in the house tightly;
• turn off all the lights in the room (night light, chandelier), as they can provoke somnambulism.

By using these tips, you will reduce the incidence of injury to the sleepwalker.

Sleepwalking attack

How are sleep disorders diagnosed?

In order to establish how dangerous the existing phenomenon is in this case, the doctor must know how long the episodes last, how often they are repeated, and what actions the patient performs. The presence of additional manifestations (fainting, headaches, dizziness, other sleep disorders), as well as diseases and provoking factors, is taken into account.

A brain examination using MRI or electroencephalography (a procedure during which electrical impulses emitted by various parts of the brain are recorded) may be prescribed.

An effective method for identifying the causes of sleepwalking is polysomnography. Using sensors installed on different parts of the body and computer data processing, the activity of a sleeping person’s body is studied and deviations from the norm are identified.

Diagnosis of sleepwalking

When you have an attack of sleepwalking, you may well associate it with stress or overwork, then you may not need to see a doctor right away. If such attacks happen more than once, then you should go to a neurologist, neuropsychiatrist or psychiatrist so that he can help you solve this problem.

In order for a specialist to be able to understand the cause of this phenomenon, relatives need to:

• write down on paper the time the sleepwalker falls asleep, after what period of time the walking episode begins, how long it lasts, how the patient behaves in such a situation, whether there are attacks of aggression at this time, and then indicate the time of morning awakening;
• understand the causes of attacks that were noted at the beginning of the article;
• provide a list of foods that a person eats, as well as medications that he takes.

And you need to take all this data to your doctor’s appointment, they will certainly help him.

In this case, the specialist will conduct a conversation with the sleepwalking patient, ask him certain questions, conduct an examination, and then prescribe additional examinations, if necessary, to confirm or refute the disease. After all, it is a correct diagnosis that will give the desired effect of treatment.

What is sleepwalking

Sleepwalking is also called somnambulism (or “sleepwalking”). Most often, this sleep disorder is observed in children over 4 years of age. Some of them experience periodic episodes of sleepwalking even in adolescence. This deviation can be combined with other types of parasomnia (sleep disorder). For example, a sleeping person talks and laughs under the impression of previously experienced emotions. Somnambulism has a similar nature to such manifestations as involuntary urination at night (enuresis) or nightmares.

Sleep disorder is due to the fact that the child’s brain cannot always adequately perceive the variety of information that enters it. His work continues even at night, when he is supposed to rest. The immature nervous system reacts violently to events that occur during the day, which continue to excite the brain during sleep. Impressed by a scary cartoon or movie, playing on the computer, an unpleasant or joyful meeting, or a quarrel with relatives, the child cannot fall asleep for a long time, and continues to worry in his sleep.

During normal sleep, the work of all parts of the brain, including those responsible for movement, is inhibited. Therefore, muscles relax, energy consumption decreases, and the body rests.

During episodes of sleepwalking in a child, part of the brain centers responsible for perception and awareness of reality is switched off, but the part that regulates physical activity continues to work. The brain sends false signals, and the body reacts to arousal caused by imaginary events.

How to fight - treat sleepwalking

At present, no medicine has yet been created that would help completely get rid of sleepwalking.

People suffering from sleep apnea have a device placed on their finger that shows how much carbon dioxide and oxygen is in the blood. Next, CPAP therapy is used. Forced saturation of blood with oxygen. It turned out that stopping sleep apnea cures a person from sleepwalking.

Therefore, treatment methods in other cases proceed in the order of minimizing, reducing these episodes. Somnambulism will occur quite rarely, or even stop altogether, if the person sleeps soundly and avoids stressful situations. A person should also not take strong coffee, energy drinks or alcohol. If sleepwalking is a consequence of any disease, then it should be properly treated.

Therapy is selected after a doctor has examined the patient and established the cause of somnambulism, as well as a correct diagnosis. When sleepwalking takes the aggressive form mentioned above, you have to prescribe medications to treat it.

How to cure somnambulism in adult patients

Treatment with tablets

How to get rid of sleepwalking?

If necessary, doctors prescribe medication.

The following drugs help patients:

• ProSom;
• Trazodone (Desyrel);
• Klonopin.

The specialist writes a prescription for the medicine and independently selects the appropriate dosage.

The drugs are taken immediately before bedtime. As a rule, people diagnosed with sleepwalking require a small dose.

The course of therapy is repeated several weeks later, even if there are no more attacks.

Sometimes in patients who stop taking medications, the number of episodes of sleepwalking increases briefly.

Traditional methods

How to treat sleepwalking in adults using traditional methods? Traditional medicine offers different ways to combat sleepwalking:

1. Herbal baths have a good effect . A bath with St. John's wort is taken once every 7 days; on other days, a foot bath is sufficient. This plant calms the nervous system. St. John's wort is even included in some antidepressants. To make a bath, you need to soak 100 g of dried St. John's wort herb in 1 liter of clean cold water. Before the procedure, the mixture should be boiled and added to the filled bath. The patient should be immersed in water up to the level of the kidneys. When taking foot baths, it should cover the lower limbs up to the middle of the shin. The procedure lasts no more than 20 minutes.
2. To prepare a salt bath you will need 300 g of fine sea salt, 3 drops of pine needle oil and 5 drops of patchouli oil. All this is added to a filled hot bath and taken before bed for 10-15 minutes.
3. St. John's wort infusion can be taken internally . 1 tbsp. A spoonful of medicinal raw material is poured into 1 glass of water, boiled and allowed to cool. It should not be taken in the summer as it can cause pigment spots to appear on the skin. During such treatment, allergy sufferers need to carefully monitor how their body reacts to the infusion.
4. St. John's wort oil is taken 3 times a day . To do this, add 1 teaspoon of oil to 0.25 cups of warm water.
5. Herbal tea has an excellent effect . To prepare it, take 20 g of dried linden flowers, chamomile, mint, lemon balm, and St. John's wort. The raw materials are poured with 500 ml of boiling water and left for 50 minutes, then filtered and heated in a water bath. Drink 1 glass of warm tea before bed.
6. To prepare an infusion of sweet clover and sage , take 40 g of each type of herbal raw material, add 1 liter of water, and bring to a boil in a water bath. After cooling, the infusion is poured into a glass jar and left for 3 days. After this, filter it and drink 0.5 cups immediately before bed.

Other ways include normalizing your sleep patterns.
Sometimes this is enough to solve the problem. You need to go to bed at 10 pm and wake up around 6 am. During this period, the most effective restoration of the nervous system occurs.