Sleepwalking: why people sleepwalk

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The question "Where do dreams take us?" long worried about humanity. But no less interesting is the question "Where can you get on the path from sleep to awakening?" It turns out that there are people who, during sleep, are able not only to wander around the house with a distracted look, but also to make speeches, grind their teeth for no reason, drive a car and even have sex. When they are told what they were doing in the morning, they will be very surprised. "How? What? I was asleep!"

"Sleepwalkers" - as the people who wandered at night on roofs and cornices were called then - are even mentioned in the Bible, in the Gospel of Matthew. This strange behavior of some of us, both in ancient times and today, seems eerie and mysterious. However, over time, the mysteries have become less, and if the mechanisms of the occurrence of sleepwalking are still not fully understood, science already knows something about them.

Massacre in a dream

"Sleepwalking" is an outdated concept, since the influence of the Moon on such manifestations of the human psyche is not considered a scientific fact. Another term is in use: somnambulism, that is, "sleepwalking" (from the Latin words somnus - sleep and ambulare - to walk). There is also a broader concept - "parasomnia", which combines a number of sleep disorders (obviously, of a similar nature), which lead to irresponsible actions, not necessarily associated with walking.

Take bruxism, for example, - teeth grinding at night. A sleeping person suddenly, unexpectedly, strongly strains the muscles of the jaw and larynx, and an unpleasant grinding is heard. The phenomenon has been known for a long time and has different popular interpretations - from an indication of the presence of worms to a rudimentary instinct - they say, the ancestors sharpened their teeth in a dream. Be that as it may, this is just one example of the fact that the body can live some kind of its own special life, while its owner is asleep and does not suspect anything. The main thing is that this "life" does not go beyond certain limits, and this sometimes happens.

Early in the morning of May 23, 1987, American Kenneth James Parks, the father of a five-month-old daughter, left the house, got into a car and went to the house of his wife's parents. In principle, he was going to visit relatives that day, with whom he was on excellent terms, but, of course, not so early. Instead of get-togethers at a party, tragedy struck. Parks broke into the house, beat his father-in-law, and stabbed his 42-year-old mother-in-law.

Then the killer got back into his car, got to the police station and surrendered, claiming that he had killed several people. Parks had no excuses, except for one thing: during the investigation, he said that he did not remember anything of what he had done. The defense insisted that the murder was committed in an unconscious state, that is, it was a special case of somnambulism. Parks allegedly was in a serious psychological state due to failures in gambling, and this could cause such a severe sleep disturbance.

The case was considered by a jury. It turned out that the young man really had no motives to deal so cruelly with his wife's parents - they always got along well. It turned out that the electroencephalogram (at the time of sleep) made as part of the investigation demonstrates a very strange state of the brain. As a result, Parks' charges of murdering his mother-in-law and attempted murder of his father-in-law were dropped. The decision was upheld by the US Supreme Court.

One can imagine with what skepticism many then reacted to this verdict, but jurisprudence is a serious matter, and it is unlikely that the court would have taken into account unsubstantiated speculations. Cases of murders in a state of somnambulism are rare, but not isolated, and there is evidence of them since the 17th century.

These are not dreams at all

But even if a person does not harm anyone and does not drive (there are also many such cases - for example, a person came to work in pajamas), nevertheless, his behavior, say, while walking around the apartment at night, looks very strange. On the one hand, there is an absent look, an expressionless face, on the other, open eyes and actions, clearly subordinate to some kind of intention. Often, "sleepwalkers" do not just wander around the house, but seem to be looking for something, open the doors of cabinets, and pull out drawers. The simplest thing that can be assumed: these people have a dream, and they unconsciously play it in reality. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

As you know, during a night's sleep, a person goes through several cycles. Approximately 25% of the time for each of these cycles, lasting 70-100 minutes, occurs in the so-called desynchronized sleep phase, also known as REM sleep. REM (English abbreviation REM - rapid eyes movement) is "rapid eye movement" that occurs behind closed eyelids. In this phase, the brain is actively working, but the skeletal muscles are relaxed.

It is at this time that we see dreams, and if a person is woken up in the REM phase, he will most likely be able to tell what he was dreaming about. In the series of "parasomnias" there is a sleep disorder occurring just in this phase. Contrary to the natural prescription, the muscles of the sleeping person in the REM phase may not be relaxed, but, on the contrary, be active. A person moves his limbs, makes body movements, and, most likely, these movements will be a reflection of what the person is dreaming of. But this is not somnambulism.

Studies show that it does not occur in the fifth, REM sleep phase, but in the third or fourth stages, related to slow-wave sleep, which together makes up 75% of the cycle. These two stages are the exact opposite of the REM phase, since they are a period of deep sleep, and brain activity during their course is at its lowest point. If an ordinary person is awakened in a phase of deep sleep, he will come to his senses for a long time until he understands where he is and what is happening to him. Exactly the same will happen with the awakened "sleepwalker".

Horror in reality

Sometimes, waking up, a person feels that he is paralyzed and cannot move either an arm or a leg. Sometimes this is accompanied by visions. The feeling that you seem to be already awake, but completely paralyzed, is familiar to many, this sometimes happens when you wake up. To some at this most inopportune moment, it seems as if a demonic figure presses on the chest. The described effect occurs at the REM stage, when the brain is actively working, but the muscles are disabled. Therefore, with too sudden awakening, this phenomenon arises.

What about the demon? This year, a group of neurophysiologists from the University of San Diego suggested that the strange figure is like a second "I", a kind of image of your own body, stored in the brain in the parietal lobe. Trying to cope with the problem (consciousness works, but the body does not obey), the brain, as it were, projects this image into consciousness, and an eerie hallucination arises.

By the way, among the parasomnias related to the slow-wave sleep phase, in addition to the aforementioned somnambulias and bruxism, there are several more. Among them, addiction to food. A person in a state of somnambulism sometimes, without waking up, can begin to actively eat something, and not necessarily edible, for example a pack of cigarettes. And for one of the disorders, even a very sonorous term has been coined: sexomnia. Its meaning is easy to guess: a person in a somnambulistic state begins to show sexual activity. On awakening, of course, she does not remember anything. Jokes? Far from it!

Too long and deep sleep

In 2005, in the English city of York, a trial was held on charges of a serious crime. 22-year-old bartender James Bilton was accused of having raped a girl he knew who slept at his house, but slept separately and did not give consent to sexual relations. The guy claimed that he did not remember anything and that he was extremely surprised at the accusations in the morning.

The case was considered by a jury of seven women and five men, so it would seem that the defendant could not count on leniency. However, the court took into account that Bilton had cases of somnambulism on a regular basis since the age of 13. In addition, this disorder was noted in members of his family. By decision of the jury, the rape charge was dropped.

James Bilton's case contains two important points about the nature of somnambulism. First, it most often begins and occurs in childhood and adolescence. And if there are not so many adult "sleepwalkers", then many have vague memories of night walks in childhood. Second, it has been established that a genetic predisposition plays a role in the onset of this sleep disorder. You can also add stress, the use of alcohol, drugs, certain medications, in general, everything that actively and negatively affects the psyche. On the other hand, the phenomenon of parasomnia itself is not fully understood, there are only a number of hypotheses.

One thing is almost certain: the awakening of a person in the phases of deep sleep is not very natural, and nevertheless, there is some kind of stimulus for awakening in sleep parasomnias. However, the attempt to awaken is unsuccessful: waking up, the person does not wake up, but goes into a special unaccountable state.

The study, published in 2012 in the scientific journal Neurology, showed, in particular, the relationship between cases of somnambulism and other comorbid disorders with the duration of the stages of deep sleep. That is, the longer these stages are, the more difficult it is for the consciousness to escape from the strong embrace of Morpheus, and strange phenomena occur. And the length of these stages can be influenced by various stress factors, fatigue, chronic lack of sleep or a variety of chemistry.

There are two popular myths associated with lunatics that are worth telling.

The first myth: a person cannot be woken up during the period of night walks. Supposedly it is dangerous for himself and the one who wakes up (the "lunatic" can show aggression). In fact, all this is far from reality. It is difficult to wake a sleepwalker (as well as a person in general at the stages of deep sleep), but it is possible, and then he will think for a very long time how he got to where he was awakened.

The second myth: that the devil himself is not a brother to the "lunatics" and in their night walks they are unable to injure themselves or do other harm to themselves (for example, to fall or eat some nasty thing). All this is also not true, so help will not hurt a person loafing around in a somnambulistic state: it is best to try to unobtrusively take him back to bed.