Sleepwalking (sleepwalking) is a disease in which a person who is in a state of incomplete sleep can perform any actions. At this time, the patient is in a hypnotic state, an intermediate state between sleep and wakefulness. Is this condition so safe, and what causes it?

Main reasons

The causes of sleepwalking and sleep- talking in adults are quite diverse. Among them:

• severe stress;
• neurasthenia;
• skull trauma;
• epilepsy;
• intoxication and severe illness;
• anxiety states;
• heredity.

It is also worth mentioning sleepwalking after drinking alcohol. There is a direct relationship between the number of episodes of sleepwalking and the frequency of drinking, so alcohol is contraindicated for people suffering from this disorder.

Manifestations of sleepwalking and sleepwalking

Sleepwalking manifests itself in different ways. In mild forms of the disease, a person may sit up in bed or walk around the room. In serious cases, he develops more vigorous activity: he can gather somewhere, do household chores. The movements of lunatics are smooth and unhurried, some patients during their “attacks” can answer questions. Sleepwalking lasts from a few minutes to several hours. In any case, it is important not to wake the sleepwalker, but to walk him to bed and put him to bed.

The habit of talking in your sleep (sleep -talking ) is often associated with sleepwalking. In adults, this phenomenon occurs in 5% of cases. It has been noted that people talk in REM sleep or during incomplete awakening. Speech can be intelligible and understandable, or incoherent and meaningless. There are no serious medical consequences of sleep -talking , only some people may have mental problems.

Why sleepwalking is dangerous

As for sleepwalking in adults, the signs and causes of which we have just found out, its consequences (compared to sleepwalking ) can be dangerous to human health. Although this happens infrequently, somnambulists are potentially capable of inflicting various injuries on themselves with sharp objects, falling out of a window, going outside and leaving in an unknown direction, becoming participants in an accident.

Remember that somnambulism (sleepwalking, sleepwalking) is most often a manifestation of a disorder in the activity of the central nervous system. So, it can be one of the symptoms of epilepsy – a kind of epileptic seizure, but without convulsions. Based on this, sleepwalking in adults requires a serious attitude to this problem. Therefore, if sleepwalking attacks occur regularly, then it is necessary to contact a somnologist.

The problem of sleepwalking is serious enough that young men suffering from it are unsuitable for military service.