How does the brain of a sleepwalker work?
Sleep is one of the most crucial parts of our everyday lives. In fact, with each passing day, new research is revealing that it is progressively linked to our metabolism, and the well-functioning of all major organs, be it the brain or the cardiovascular system. No wonder, an entire day is dedicated to spread awareness about sleep. So, today, 17th March is regarded as the World Sleep Day. This year, the theme is “Sleep is Essential for Health” and is aimed to issue a global call to action to raise sleep health awareness.
There are a lot of sleep-related disorders that we humans around the world suffer from. These include insomnia (restlessness and inability to sleep at night), sleep apnea (brief interruptions of breathing during sleep), narcolepsy (sudden and uncontrollable attacks of deep sleep, accompanied by hallucinations and paralysis) and sleepwalking (the act of walking while not conscious or aware of it, during one’s sleep) among others.
Today, we shall focus on sleepwalking and try to find out what exactly happens, how and why.
Why do people sleepwalk?
Also known as somnambulism, sleepwalking, contrary to popular belief, isn’t something that happens as a result of people’s dreams or innermost thoughts. Okay then, why exactly does it happen? Turns out, sleepwalking typically occurs during the first two to three hours of falling asleep, or during the first or second sleep cycle. Now, in most people, this is the time when brain waves start getting slower and the limbic region (part of the human brain involved in emotion, motivation and emotional association with memory) becomes inactive. However, in case of sleepwalkers, the limbic region remains awake and starts emitting alpha waves. At the same time, the cortex (outermost layer of the brain, which is responsible for reaction) and the hippocampus (innermost kater of the brain, responsible for action, memory retention and all major functions) remain asleep and do not emit delta waves. As a result, the brain, unable to decide what to do, activates its fight or flight response and remains in an asleep yet awake state and often pushes the body to start walking, or in serious cases performing complex activities such as running, dressing, bathing, or moving furniture.
Interestingly, when the sleepwalker wakes up, he or she has no recollection of what they have been doing. Usually, it affects children and teenagers, and in rare cases adults. What people should keep in mind is never to wake a sleepwalker, rather guide them to bed from a distance. Why? Because, sudden awakening can lead to injury, falling down or even serious lashing out.
When was it recognised as a disorder?
The world has forever known about sleepwalking but never really associated it with a serious sleep disorder. However, officially speaking, it was first investigated and diagnosed in the 19th century by German chemist and parapsychologist Baron Karl Ludwig von Reichenbach who had a family full of sleepwalkers, including his wife to two daughters. This encouraged him to perform extensive studies and eventually he concluded that it was something that happened to women when they are dreaming. He even tagged it as “Dreamer acting out in a dream” or influenced by Odic force (a hypothetical paranormal life force that emerged out of excessive dreaming).
In 1907, Austrian psychoanalyst and neurologist, the world-renowned Sigmund Freud stated that sleepwalking was connected to unfulfilled wishes. According to Freud, it was a phenomenon that emerged out of a person’s desire to go to sleep in the same place he/ she had been sleeping since childhood.
Fast forward to 1966, a US-based organisation called Society for Science & the Public after a series of research concluded that sleepwalking, contrary to popular belief, has nothing to with dreaming. In fact, a person is usually in a state of deep sleep while sleepwalking, when dreams aren’t logically possible.
Sleepwalking crimes around the world
Although uncommon, there are some sleepwalkers who can be dangerous. They can even murder without realising. For instance, in March 2005, a British man named Jules Lowe murdered his 82-year-old father while sleepwalking. Similarly, in May 1987, Toronto-based Kenneth Parks drove more than 14 miles (yes, in a sleepwalking state) to his in-laws’ house and stabbed his mother-in-law to death and had almost attempted to kill his father-in-law and sister-in-law; when he suddenly became awake, stopped and even went to the local police station to confess his crimes. How twisted is that!