Talk:Sleepwalking

message: As a project for school, I am required to edit this article, and I see that a lot of editing has been done already!
As an important subject in my sleeping and dreaming class, I think it would be very important to see more information about the reasons as to why not wake a sleep walker and maybe throw more rare cases in. For example, I personally know my mother eats cotton balls when she sleep walks when she is stressed. Nothing else, no food, just cotton balls! How strange is that? (She doesn't swallow them though) If waking the sleep walker is 
I also noticed the statistics comments, and noticed that was basically fixed, so that is perfect!
Cannot wait to do more research on this topic
76.84.119.31 (talk) 03:28, 31 March 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Hey y'all! I just made some more edits to the article under the "Associated disorders" and "Consequences" subsections!CleanBean (talk) 05:00, 27 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: School Project

message: The article mentions that sleepwalking is not the acting out of dreams because it is before REM sleep.  However, it has been proven that dreams can and do occur before and during REM sleep. 90.215.233.208 (talk) 13:05, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: REM sleep

message: PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS GOOGLE REFERENCE BY BOARD CERTIFIED PHYSICIANS ON ALL ASPECTS OF SLEEP-WALKING. IT IS IMPORTANT!! THANK YOU:
eMedicine - Somnambulism (Sleep Walking) : Article by Gregory ... Somnambulism (Sleep Walking) - Somnambulism (ie, sleepwalking) is a disorder of ... tonic-clonic seizures; abrupt withdrawal may cause status epilepticus; ...
www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic638.htm - 88k - Cached - Similar pages 
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A common myth surrounding this disorder is that one should never wake a sleepwalker while they are engaged in the activity. In truth, there is no implicit danger in waking a sleepwalker, though the subject may be disoriented or embarrassed when awakened.
Any second opinion on that?
PLEASE SEE REFERENCE ON TOP FOR ACCURACY
:I added that.  I found it on a sleep disorder web site, which looked pretty authoratative (it's probably at one of the external links).  If you found conflicting evidence, we can discuss it.  Next time, sign your post.  You can do this with 3 or 4 tildes (~~~ or ~~~~).  Peace. :-)  — Frecklefoot | Talk 17:00, Jul 24, 2004 (UTC)
EDIT: PLEASE SEE REFERENCE ON TOP FOR ACCURACY
I am currently enrolled in an A.P. Psychology course and in fact just finished a quiz recently on this subject.  In my class and in my textbook, it stated that you should not wake a sleepwalking person when they are engaged in a dangerous person.  Since the article states this, you should know that the person will become very disoriented when they are awoken.  This disorientation would cause the sleepwalking person to be more likely to be hurt.  Instead of waking them, you should speak to them calmly and ask them what they are doing.  After they reply, you should continue speaking calmly and tell them that you will take care of whatever they were doing and tell them to go back to bed.  They will usually comply.  Just thought I would add this for discussion before posting.
:Jtconroy88 22:12, 23 November 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Never wake a sleepwalker

message: From time to time, I've gotten up out of bed and got to the door of my room - usually I thought that I needed to leave and go elsewhere.  My eyes were open at the time.  Usually I'd get as far as the door to my room, then wake up the rest of the way long enough to go back to sleep.  It only happens occasionaly.  I can go a few years, have this happen a couple times, then go a long time again with it not happening.  Would that qualify as sleepwalking?
JesseG 04:36, Aug 31, 2004 (UTC)
:I am not a doctor, but it sounds like it to me. — Frecklefoot | Talk 13:34, Aug 31, 2004 (UTC)
in my psych class the professor said  you shouldnt wake a sleepwalker because they will jhust go into stage 5 sleep (REM sleep) and that will result in them just falling to the ground fast asleep, which can hurt them if  you arent properly prepared. He said to just lead them back to bed and make them lie down and they'll drift off on their own, no harm done.
yeah sometimes when i play my xbox all day i like sleepwalk at night around. my mum has to tell me to go back to bed even though i'm asleep
"Often the best way to deal with a sleepwalker safely is to direct the person back to the bed. However, the person may continue getting up until he or she has accomplished the task that prompted the sleepwalking in the first place."
But what if they are "looking for the girl that controls the box" lol. that's what my brother said.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.191.159.6 (talk) 21:42, 24 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Personal Experience

message: I've had experience through helping someone that does this type of thing.  I find that stopping the person generally doesn't work, because they are often in an "astral" world as they describe it.  I believe the person is awake in the astral and somehow the body is still awake.  Anyhow, practically speaking, if the person is prone to violence, I can see how someone may think that you are one scary monster and try to punch you since their reality is distorted at that point.  Because of that, I would advise against forcing.  However due to the fact that they are highly suggestible, I personally suggest talking to them.  That works really well for me.  Especially since they're highly suggestible.  Some calm suggestions to go back to bed helps.  However I do find that asking them to slightly wake up a little more helps a whole lot.  It seems to pull them back into a lighter trance and it seems to place them into a safe zone before they go back to bed.
I would suggest hypnosis sessions to anyone with sleep disorders!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.122.75.87 (talk) 07:31, 16 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Coaching Experience

message: We need a photo for this article!
:Just take a photo of yourself doing that classic "sleepwalker pose". Just joking. :P --Rachel Cakes 04:00, 22 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Can't some just be quick with a camera with a big fat flash, and capture a family member sleepwalking? hehe --Ysangkok 09:58, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Photo 

message: I added the urination part which is usually seen in sleepwalking children cases.
Klesk
Thanks for your contribution. I reformatted it a bit, but it would be great if you could add a reference source for that piece of information. JoachimK 17:42, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Urination 

message: The term "somnambulism" seems to be used by hypnotists as a synonym for a hypnotic state (or maybe for a certain type of hypnotic state). Does anyone know more about this?
Somnambulism is actually the scientific name for Sleepwalking, but I guess people use it to define trances as well.
Klesk 16:53, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, not that anyone really cares about these things, the word is Latin: somnus (noun) sleep and ambulare the infinitive "to walk". The scientists came along later. David91 17:17, 23 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  hypnotism 

message: The current statistics do not make sense to me:
'Somewhere between 1% and 17% of U.S. children sleepwalk, and juveniles are seen to be those more prone to the activity.
Some 18% of Americans are prone to the act, roughly 2 in 11 of the US population
One study showed that the highest prevalence of sleepwalking was 16.7% for children of 11 to 12 years of age.
Boys are seen to be more likely to sleepwalk than girls.'
The first is fine, but the second implies that children are 'less' likely to sleepwalk.  If 17% of U.S. children sleepwalk and 18% of all U.S. citizens sleepwalk, the percentage of of non-children would have to be higher than that of children.  The paragraph immediately before this contradicts this.
The third statistic conflicts with the second as well: if the highest prevalence was 16.7% the overall average should be below that number, not above.  Even if 100% of the population were children of 11 to 12 years of age it could not be raised.  Possible explanations of this are the note that this was "one study" and also no mention of the U.S. is made.  At any rate, I am now confused and none of the four have specific references. MrHen 23:42, 10 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sleepwalking statistics 

message: This article is in desperate need of citations. I'm going to keep it on watch and make sure some citations are put in. 09:22, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Citations 

message: ARe there any videos of Sleep walkers available? Kotenks 00:54, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Videos? 

message: Can this sort of article be tagged as needing Expert Attention? All the males in my family sleepwalk, and I'm surprised to see Wikipedia has a poor article for it, as I wanted to know more about it.
Often I get out of bed, change clothes, and go back to bed; a few times I have moved around my room and it has been utterly unfamiliar/I've been in another place; and often I imagine people in my room or in my bed. My brother once went out to the backyard because the dog apparently buried his wallet, and he got violent when I tried reasoning with him.
We all sleeptalk too, alot.Aeronox 05:28, 4 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Expert Attention 

message: Maybe we should change the 'Trivia' section to 'In Popular Culture'? Or add the headline? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Digitalapocalypse (talk • contribs) 23:27, 21 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Change 'Trivia' Head 

message: the article makes it sounds like just being extremely tired and slow reaction time classifies as sleepwalking. i always thought of sleep walking as actual sleeping with eyes closed while walking around and doing stuff.
 
The eyes are not closed in sleepwalking Jack Hawkins legal academic & Times reader (talk) 19:30, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  symptoms 

message: I've read some reports recently that sleeping pills can cause "sleepdriving". Perhaps someone can update the article with that information? 70.17.148.120 21:29, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sleeping pills and sleepdriving 

message: There have been serveral cases of people appearantly commiting murder while sleepwalking: , , . 70.17.148.120 21:40, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sleep Murder 

message: I am not an authority on sleepwalking nor have I read much about it BUT I am qualified to say that this article is terrible. All this information about how to act towards a sleep walker and how to deal with a sleepwalker is pointless for the most part. For example this sentence "If you feel you should mention their sleepwalking to them for safety reasons, try to do so without mentioning any embarrassing behaviors they have engaged in." does not belong in an encyclopedia. The articel should focus on what sleep walking is, what causes it, dangers it presents or doesnt, myths sorrounding it, etc; it should nNOT focus on etiquette. Also there are way too many unsourced statements and opinions present in the article.Eno-Etile 00:09, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bad Article 

message: The information in EVERY part of Wikipedia's attention to sleepwalking has been very helpful to a number of interested folks. We wish to express our sincere gratitude. Please ... keep it up.
204.111.120.102 (talk)bro_Rob204.111.120.102 (talk)  —Preceding undated comment was added at 18:46, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wonderful Article 

message: I had heard that the malfunctioning of sleep paralysis in people is what causes sleepwalking. Sleep paralysis is the natural mechanism that is enforced by the body to stop people from 'acting out' their dreams.. — John Stattic (talk) 03:12, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Any connection to [[sleep paralysis]]? 

message: "Sleepwalkers engage in their activities with their eyes open so they can navigate their surroundings, not with their eyes closed and their arms outstretched as parodied in cartoons and films. The victims' eyes may have a glazed or empty appearance and if questioned, the subject will be slow to answer and will be unable to respond in an intelligible manner."
This paragraph in my opinion is false, on some degree. My mom and step-dad have said that I walk around the house when I am sleepwalking, sometimes saying I've had a nightmare, sleptwalk in there, and said to my step-dad: "I've had a nightmare." then sit down on the couch. 
However, I am not slow to answer whilst sleepwalking; I also can respond intelligently. For example, my mom asked me a lot of questions - on video tape, I might add - whilst I was sleepwalking. I was able to tell her: 
- What number Pi was, about (3.14)
- The square root of Pi (about 1.77)
- The first postulate of Einstein's theory of special relativity
- What I wanted (I was hungry, and I needed to use the bathroom)
Among other things.
Therefore, I think the last part ( "will be unable to respond in an intelligible manner." ) is false and should be removed...
However, my IQ is.. pretty high. It's genius level, according to some test I took... it was given by the United States Gov't.
66.21.205.69 04:48, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  A part of it 

message: A common misconception is that sleepwalking is an individual acting out the physical movements within a dream, but in fact sleepwalking occurs earlier on in the night when rapid eye movement (REM), or the "dream stage" of sleep, has not yet occurred.
I would completely disagree with the assertions in the introduction of the article. I've been sleep walking most of my life (I'm now 33) and can best describe the experience to non-sleepwalkers with this analogy:
While wide awake, imagine anything you like in your mind's eye and then try to imagine having that image overlapping the world as seen through your eyes, not knowing for sure which is real and which is imagined.
In every single sleepwalking experience I've had(hundreds), I'm dreaming while physically walking around. My eyes and hands are telling me I'm in the darkened hallway of my home (I'm vaguely aware of this), but my dream is convincingly telling me I'm in some dreamy location (such as a corn field, for example). I experience both environments simultaneously as I try to determine what is real, which is usually very distressing and confusing. The darkness in the waking world doesn't help, and once a light is turned on I'm told I often appear calm and return to bed. After waking, I have a blurry memory of the episode and find a trail of my adventure, such as pictures knocked off walls.
In one instance, during my teens, I jumped off a bed face first into a table. I can recall the impact, which in my dream, was jumping into water. I can also still remember seeing myself in the mirror of a brightly lit bathroom with my lip split open, surrounded by panicking family members. I felt disassociated with my physical self, and was certain I was dreaming because I felt no pain. When I woke up, reality sank in.
I would argue, through personal experience, that sleepwalkers... 
-can sleepwalk during the dream stage (as I ONLY sleepwalk during dreams)
-if dreaming, can continuously act out physical movements relevant to the current environment in a dream (darkness in the waking world helps to convince the sleepwalker that the dream environment is real)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.82.111.194 (talk) 20:26, August 28, 2007 (UTC) 
that's nasty, the part about jumping into a table thinking it was water. I hope you've been able to get the help you need. So, you didn't feel any pain when you hit the table? It didn't even wake you up? Usually if someone hits you, or you hit something you wake up, and you only felt the pain AFTER you woke up? Also, don't you ever think while your sleepwalking to turn a light on? The snare (talk) 18:25, 21 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Experiences of a chronic sleepwalker 

message: I am not sure about the line in the article mentioning sexual intercourse as a possible activity of a sleepwalker.  The article which is reference seems to put some doubt on the claim, as well as support it.  Tristan.buckmaster 02:13, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It certainly doesn't seem like it ought to be presented in the way it is.  If mentioned it should be done in a way that makes the ambiguity of expert support for the existence of the behavior clear, not listed along with eating and urinating.   Does seem like a noteworthy thing to mention though - may also be a good way to illustrate how fraught diagnosis of more complex behaviors can be.  The murder assertion is even less compelling, resting on ambiguous sources that are really reporting on legal defense than medical diagnosis.  I think that also needs separating out and possibly not mentioning at all if there aren't better sources to be found that address it from a medical perspective.  -- SiobhanHansa 03:25, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: There is plenty of evidence of the existence of sleep sex. These sites, for example discuss it:, , , and . So there is nothing "ambiguous" about sleep sex, as it is somthing that actually happens. Also see the Sleep sex article. As for sleep murder (which has it's own article: Sleepwalking Murder), I'm sure there are more sources for it somewhere. 151.203.158.67 05:10, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It's great to get more references.  And we should present the significant opinions of experts in the area - but even the links you present here include a degree of ambiguity.  The 2007 science daily link includes reference to it as "sexsomnia" as well as "sleep sex" and none of the references really seem to discuss its relationship to sleep walking.  On the sleep murder front - the article seems as lacking in scientific evidence as the presentation here.  If there are better sources we should try and include and reflect them, but at the moment, the way we're writing about it does not properly reflect the sources we have.  -- SiobhanHansa 14:22, 26 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Engaging in sexual intercourse 

message: I didn't start sleep walking until about a year and a half ago. I am 48 years old now. I have had some very scary and dangerous episodes. One time I was driving when it hit me. Fortunately my son was with me and had me pull over.  However, I also can be very literate when I sleepwalking.  When we got back close to the house, I had him stop and get gas, and then I got behind the wheel.  He said I seemed fine.  Home was less than a mile away.  I didn't go home though. I almost hit a pedestrian, I decided to go into a grocery store, and hit the parking lot doing 35mph, and took out both tires on my passenger side. Luckily. My son called 911 and they put me in the hospital for FOUR days in the stroke ward, ran all kinds of tests, and found nothing.  I have gotten up taken my clothes off and gone outside.  Recently, it's just getting worse.  I've fallen in the bathroom and fractured 2 ribs.  About a week later I fell again and got a concussion.  That was last month.  Last night, I fell again and got another concussion.  I lose all kinds of time when this happens.  My kids put me back in bed, and I get right back up, I gave up my car keys last year after that episode.
I just had a sleep study about 2 weeks ago, and I hope they find something to tell me what's going on.  Honestly, it scares me a lot.  I have absolutely no control over what my own body is doing.06:20, 14 September 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Another story from a chronic sleepwalker

message: None of the sources listed for the statistics are reliable; they are mostly just random web pages, some of them wiki-like.  The only source that appears to be reviewed by medical professionals is the about.com one, which is only used to support claims of sleepwalking murders.  The article doesn't say these claims have been scientifically validated, only that they have held up in court. Actual medical sources are needed to confirm the information in the article, especially the statistics. -- Beland 17:21, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sourcing 

message: Can anyone point out the specific jargon in the article that needs to be cleaned up, or should the tag be removed? -- Beland 17:24, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Jargon 

message: I have removed the following section because it makes no sense:
"Cause
This causes REM atonia, a state in which the motor neurons are not stimulated, and thus the body's muscles do not move. Lack of such REM atonia causes REM Behavior Disorder."
Sleepwalking doesn't occur during REM, so mentioning REM atonia is irrelevant. The passage also doesn't say what causes REM atonia, but whatever the author intended, it's neither caused by or a cause of sleepwalking. REM behaviour disorder is a different disorder from sleepwalking. Reidlophile (talk) 14:41, 17 July 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removed stuff 

message: Since they have their eyes fully open, how would you know whether they are awake or are in fact sleepwalking? I wish I could "sleep-work" (some people have apparently) intentionally. The snare (talk) 18:35, 21 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: How would you know if someone is sleep walking?

message: This is the first article I have ever seen about a disorder that doesn't include a single word about methods of treatment for it. Since I know little about the topic, perhaps someone could start a section on this? --Jleon (talk) 14:20, 30 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Treatment 

message: can any animals sleepwalk?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.158.136.36 (talk) 07:53, 8 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  animals 

message: Looks like someone vandalized the page..  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.160.98.143 (talk) 03:13, 9 March 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Uh oh 

message: There's no debate that sleepwalking is a legal automatism. It's not a medical automatism as such.
Parks wasn't acquitted by the Supreme Court of Canada of course, that is the decision of the court of first instance. The Supreme Court refused the appeal of the Crown. 
The R&K Scale is no longer used.Jack Hawkins legal academic & Times reader (talk) 18:01, 11 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Some inaccuracies 

message: It is not accurate to say that Brian Thomas was sleepwalking. He suffered a night terror, possibly in combination with sleepwalking. Jack Hawkins legal academic & Times reader (talk) 18:56, 7 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Brian Thomas 

message: Should this article contain any material about the appearance of sleepwalking in popular culture, and if so, how much? Martinevans123 (talk) 07:44, 15 August 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Popular culture 

message: So, when i was younger i used to occasionally, while I was asleep, walk around the house and once woke up in a wardrobe. A little over 4 months ago, I went to bed and woke up in the morning with a cut on my wrist, I am a recovering self harmer(have been self harming for 8 years) and so I figured that as I had had the urge to self harm continuously for a few days that I had cut myself while I was asleep. Would this be classed as sleepwalking? If so, is there anyway that I can stop myself from cutting myself in my sleep? Stormy Nights (talk) 04:01, 29 December 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sleepwalking 

message: "Ambien" is not explained in the article -
: "...  is sleep medication, such as Ambien for example (Mayo Clinic). There are a few others, but Ambien is a more widely used sleep aid ..."
(It could be Zolpidem.)
--Mortense (talk) 02:19, 25 October 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  What is "Ambien"? 

message: At Wikipedia:Fringe_theories/Noticeboard#Homicidal_sleepwalking, I expressed a concern that this article unduly exaggerates the frequency of these cases by focusing excessively on specific criminal cases invoking the defense. Another user, in response, claimed that enough can be said to fit snugly into the Sleepwalking article — which already covers this topic, so this can also count as a redirect — and that the current content is insufficient to justify a standalone article. –LaundryPizza03 (dc̄) 00:12, 8 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: I am said other user, and I continue to think this is a good idea. I'll just quote what I said there:  I said the first part because homicidal sleepwalking is very much a subtopic of sleepwalking. --Xurizuri (talk) 10:38, 12 November 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Given the lack of other comments, I have performed the merge. --Xurizuri (talk) 12:23, 3 January 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed merge of [[Homicidal sleepwalking]] into [[Sleepwalking]] 

message: — Assignment last updated by Rahneli (talk) 13:54, 13 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Education assignment: Psychology Capstone