10/24/2024

Why People Sleepwalk

Almost 7 percent of adults have sleepwalked at some point in their lives

Once, years ago, I found myself in an ice-cold bath with no memory of walking to the bathroom or running the tub. Another time, I terrified my friend by leaving our hotel room in the middle of the night—then pounding on the door, demanding to be let back inside. Both times, I awoke in the middle of these bizarre incidents. I had been sleepwalking.

Sleepwalking, technically known as somnambulism, is as fascinating as it is freaky. It’s a type of parasomnia, an umbrella term for unusual behaviors that occur during sleep, such as night terrors and “sexsomnia," when people engage in sexual activity without waking up. Habitual sleepwalking is uncommon: a 2016 research review estimated that only 1.5 percent of adults had done it in the previous year. But almost 7 percent of adults have sleepwalked at some point in their lives, according to the same study.

The nighttime possibilities are varied and weird. A 2024 study in the Journal of Sleep Research showcased a range of sleepwalkers' reported experiences, including waking up naked on a balcony at 5 a.m., crawling into the living room on all fours, smearing on almost an entire pot of expensive face cream and filling a bowl of water and placing it by the bed for a dreamed-up dog.

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.