How to Survive Sleepwalking

4 min read

Masked intruders broke into your house. They want to hurt you. Fast, grab something and fight back. But wait, you’re still asleep. This is just a bad dream. The reality is far worse. You’re swinging a sharp knife around you, with no sense of where you’re aiming.

Somnambulism, more commonly known as sleepwalking, is a condition in which you’re able to sit up, walk around and perform tasks while in the early stages of sleep. Your eyes would be open but you’re still dreaming, and you won’t remember a thing after the episode. Eating, preparing food and talking are among the usual activities sleepwalkers engage in, but there are hazardous things that you might find yourself doing.

A study involving 100 repeat sleepwalkers found almost 58% had been injured or had injured someone else during an episode of sleepwalking. Why should you wake up a sleepwalker? When does sleepwalking occur? Which diseases might sleepwaking be an indicator of?

Step 1. Hide the blades

In 2001, Stephen Reitz and Eva Weinfurtner were on a romantic getaway to California’s Catalina Island until it turned into a nightmare. Literally. An allegedly sleepwalking Reitz killed Weinfurtner thinking he was in a fight with a male intruder. He smashed her head with a flowerpot, stabbed her numerous times and fractured several of her bones.

He had no memory of the attack on Weinfurtner but had flashbacks about fighting the imagined intruder he shared with the police. If you want to avoid this couple’s fate it’s better to be safe than sorry. Remove any sharp objects from your bedroom, lock all windows and doors, and keep anything that might be considered a weapon out of reach.

Step 2. Just sleep

Something as simple as getting more time with your beloved pillow might help you reduce sleepwalking episodes.
Sleepwalking occurs in the deep stages of sleep, and the less you sleep, the more time you’d spend in deep sleep when you actually have time to rest. Toss on your pajamas and sleep tight.

Step 3. Set your alarm

Over the years a rumor began to spread that waking up a sleepwalker could cause brain damage, but that’s just a myth. You still need to be careful when doing so. Waking them abruptly can cause stress and be an unpleasant moment. If episodes consistently happen around the same time, anticipatory awakenings might help you stop them from occurring. Set your alarm 15 to 20 minutes before you sleepwalk and keep yourself awake through the time in which the episodes usually take place.

Step 4. Relax

Life itself can be pretty stressful and if you add walking around the house half-asleep at night to the mix, things can get pretty intense. A study of 193 patients in a sleep clinic found one of the main triggers of sleepwalking episodes is a stressful event that the patient experienced during the day. There are a couple of stress-reducing activities that you could try to help your brain switch off at night. Exercise regularly. Cut down on caffeine. Sorry, no more mid-afternoon coffee fixes.

Step 5. Treat the underlying condition

If you’ve tried all these steps and still find yourself wandering the kitchen while asleep, it might be time to get tested for medical disorders that could be triggering the episodes. During REM sleep, your body is usually paralyzed to keep the muscles from acting on your dreams but this isn’t necessarily the case for people with Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s interferes with your ability to move your body. It can eventually affect parts of the brainstem that control movement and sleep, which can lead to sleepwalking and other sleep disturbances. Chronic migraines, sleep apnea and asthma have also been linked to cases of sleepwalking. After all this sleepwalking, you might find yourself never wanting to snooze again. But that wouldn’t be any better. If you go long enough without sleep, your body and mind could start turning on you.