Manifestation of sleepwalking in adults - causes and specific methods for treating the disease

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.

Factors that provoke

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.

Briefly: 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.

Feeling stressed or tired

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.

Causes of sleepwalking

As mentioned above, children, especially boys, most often suffer from sleepwalking. This is probably due to the functional immaturity of the central nervous system. Children are naturally emotional and impressionable, and the stress on the nervous system today is so great that, while absorbing new information during the day, the brain continues to work actively at night, while the child is sleeping. Evening quarrels between the child and family members, worries about parents’ quarrels, active games, games on the computer, watching cartoons or TV shows before bedtime contribute to the occurrence of sleepwalking: under the influence of these factors, the nervous system, tired in the evening, becomes excited and does not have time to calm down before bed. In such situations, sleepwalking may be accompanied by other disorders of the nervous system - involuntary urination (enuresis), obsessive-compulsive neurosis, neurosis-like tics, restless legs syndrome.

Other risk factors for sleepwalking in children include:

• genetic predisposition (it is known that if one of the child’s parents suffers or has suffered from sleepwalking, the probability of developing symptoms of this disorder in the child is approximately 40%, and if both of them increase to 65%);
• high temperature during illness;
• migraine;
• epilepsy (somnambulism can either accompany epilepsy, being one of its symptoms, or be a predictor of this disease, developing even several years before its onset).

In adults, somnambulism develops much less frequently and, as a rule, is secondary. The main causes of sleepwalking in adults are:

• chronic lack of sleep;
• acute and chronic stress;
• migraine;
• tumor diseases of the brain;
• neuroses;
• panic attacks;
• Parkinson's disease;
• senile dementia;
• epilepsy;
• traumatic brain injuries;
• cerebral aneurysms;
• cardiac dysfunction (severe arrhythmias);
• obstructive sleep apnea syndrome;
• pregnancy and menstruation in women;
• nocturnal attacks of bronchial asthma;
• diabetes mellitus (due to nocturnal hypoglycemia, or a decrease in sugar levels below normal at night);
• a hearty dinner before bed;
• poor nutrition, containing a large amount of unrefined foods, leading to a deficiency of the microelement magnesium in the body;
• taking alcohol and drugs;
• taking certain medications (in particular, antipsychotics, sedatives and hypnotics).

Causes of the disease 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.

Precautionary measures

In order to reduce the likelihood of sleepwalking, you must follow certain recommendations.

1. Refuse to watch psycho-emotional TV shows and films, especially in the evening and at night.
2. Take care of moderate physical activity throughout the day. In the evening, relieve yourself of such stress; it is better to take a walk in the park.
3. Give up bad habits and haphazard use of medications. It is necessary to understand that taking certain medications can also develop sleepwalking.
4. Follow the rules of healthy sleep. Monitor your circadian rhythms. Go to bed at the same time every day, recommended before 23:00. Remember to get at least eight hours of sleep.
5. Don't forget to ventilate the room before going to bed.
6. Consider relaxing activities. For example, you can resort to massage or taking a bath with aromatherapy, or yoga.
7. Fighting stress. A person should understand that strong nervous tension often causes sleepwalking, so it is recommended that you learn to calm your nerves.

Now you know how to treat a person with somnambulism. You need to know that not every case requires urgent medical intervention. Remember the rules of behavior with an individual walking in their sleep, and do not forget about the likelihood of injury.

Is it possible to wake up

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.

Main symptoms of sleepwalking

The main symptom of sleepwalking in all age categories is walking in a sleepy state.
A man suddenly gets up in the middle of the night with a distant look, his eyes are wide open, his gaze is “glassy.” Movements are slow. A sleepwalker can sit motionless on the bed, then turn on the light and go, say, to the kitchen. And there he will open the tap, drink water and go back to sleep. If you tell him about this in the morning, he will be surprised because he doesn’t remember anything. The duration of such night “voyages” is from several seconds to one hour, maybe 2-3 times a week or even a year.

The first symptoms of sleepwalking usually appear at an early age and become more frequent as the child grows older. They reach their highest frequency in adolescents, then for the majority they stop after puberty. According to statistics, only 1% of young sleepwalkers carry their illness into adulthood. This is quite a bit, but it speaks of chronic diseases, which in most cases are inherited and become the reason for “walking under the moon.”

In children and adolescents, sleepwalking attacks often occur in the first half of the night. Often a child just sits on the bed, if there is a toy nearby, plays with it, then goes to bed. If you can’t get to bed for a long time, you need to silently take your hand and put you to bed. No screaming or noise. Often they obey unquestioningly, and in the morning they will not remember anything. And there is no need to remind them of this.

Sleepwalking in childhood and adolescence in the vast majority of cases is not a disease. This is a manifestation of “fatigue” of the child’s body from excessive physical and mental stress. They should be limited.

Sleepwalking in adults sometimes manifests itself noisily. A sleepwalker can walk and wave his arms, even shout something, and leave the apartment onto the street. If you ask him about something, the reaction will be inadequate. He mutters something, looks past with wide eyes, as if there is an empty space in front of him. Such people have always inspired fear. In the Middle Ages they were considered evil spirits, stoned and burned at the stake.

To people who have seen somnambulists, it seems that they are making meaningless movements. However, this does not prevent them from showing “miracles” of balancing act. Let's say you walk along the edge of a roof or a steep wall and don't fall. But such cases are very rare, many of them are described in detail. This “gymnastics” is due to the fact that in a half-asleep state, reflexes are all inhibited, there are no emotions - a feeling of fear that can force you to take the wrong step. And subconsciously all movements are controlled, the instinct of self-preservation is triggered. If you shout loudly, the sleepwalker will flinch in surprise and stumble, fall from a height and crash.

Nowadays, no one is afraid of those suffering from sleepwalking; they are considered sick and people try to help them. If you happen to meet a somnambulist, you should not shout sharply, so as not to cause unexpected injury or cause aggression from the suddenly awakened person.

In the morning, sleepwalkers don’t remember anything. They are drowsy, inattentive and absent-minded, they have no “appetite” for work. This is how “night walks” affect the general condition of patients with sleepwalking.

It is important to know! Sleepwalkers are not as dangerous to others as they are to themselves. Often, walking “under the moon” can result in injury for them.

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

Preventive actions

In order to prevent somnambulism in adults, certain rules should be followed:

1. Avoid watching overly intense movies and shows at night.
2. Physical activity during the day should be moderate. In the evening, only walking in the fresh air is allowed.
3. Follow a daily routine, go to bed later than 23:00.
4. Get rid of bad habits and stop taking systemic stimulants.
5. Take a warm shower close to bedtime.
6. Avoid stressful situations.

Episodes of sleep walking are dangerous. It is extremely important to do everything to ensure that they do not recur. It will not be possible to cure sleepwalking completely, but thanks to properly selected therapy, the frequency of attacks can be reduced.

Diagnostics

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.

Treatment methods and how to get rid of sleepwalking

There is no specific therapy for sleepwalking, since modern science has not been able to uncover the mechanisms of formation of the syndrome. To alleviate the patient’s condition, as well as reduce the number and duration of seizures, the following is usually prescribed:

• Taking psychopharmacological drugs . Usually these are antidepressants and tranquilizers of the latest generations. The dosage, course duration and other parameters are set strictly individually by a specialized specialist, based on the individual characteristics of the body, the complexity and severity of the current syndrome, and other parameters;
• Psychotherapy sessions . In most cases, they have a positive effect when regularly attending relevant courses;
• Anticonvulsant medications . Prescribed in case of secondary somnambulism, when the syndrome is caused by attacks of nocturnal epilepsy;
• Antagonists of a number of drugs . A number of systemic drugs can cause mental disorders and sleepwalking. Their abolition and suppression of the long-term effect by antagonists can improve the patient’s condition;
• Treatment of the underlying disease . Some diseases, pathologies and syndromes can potentiate the occurrence of attacks of somnambulism, therefore therapy for this condition is directly related to the treatment of the main cause that caused sleepwalking.

How to fight - how to treat

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.

Principles of treatment of somnambulism

Getting enough sleep and avoiding active games before falling asleep will help in the treatment of sleepwalking.
In most children, this disorder goes away on its own as the child grows older.

If sleepwalking occurs infrequently and no pathological changes in the body have been identified, treatment consists of lifestyle modification, namely minimizing the impact of risk factors:

• regular, long (7-8 hours) night sleep;
• before bed – a relaxing ritual (for example, you can take a warm bath with relaxing oils, listen to calm music, have a soothing massage, drink mint tea, etc.);
• Avoid watching TV and working on the computer at least 2 hours before bedtime;
• eliminate alcohol consumption;
• avoid stress at work and at home, and if it happens, then try not to bring it into the house, but, so to speak, leave it at the door;
• if a child suffers from sleepwalking, then it is necessary to ensure that he adheres to the daily routine; make sure he sleeps enough to get enough sleep; limit watching TV and playing on the computer, before going to bed do not play active games, but play calm ones (for example, board games), draw, read a book or listen to pleasant music.

If the cause of sleepwalking is any medications taken by the patient, they should be discontinued or at least the dosage reduced.

If sleepwalking occurs against the background of epilepsy, the patient will be prescribed antiepileptic drugs, and when the cause is neurosis, tranquilizers and antidepressants.

If the disease is not of a neurological nature, the disease that caused it is treated (for arrhythmia, antiarrhythmics are prescribed, for diabetes mellitus, adequate hypoglycemic therapy, and so on).

If, even during treatment of underlying diseases, episodes of sleepwalking do not stop, disrupting the patient’s daily activity, and there is a risk of injury during this time, the patient may be prescribed medications that affect sleep phases. They are prescribed in low doses, the duration of treatment is from 3 to 6 weeks.

You should not wake up a somnambulist during the period of sleepwalking - this can frighten him, provoking the development of other mental disorders. You should calmly take him by the hand or shoulders and, speaking in a quiet voice, lead him into the room and put him to bed.

Sometimes psychiatrists and psychotherapists use hypnosis as a method of treating sleepwalking.