Secrets of sleepwalking: a rare diagnosis, mental characteristics or contact with the other world?

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

In the American city of Ashland, Ogaya State, Ron Whitehall attacked his wife in a dream. It seemed to the man that he was protecting himself from the snake, but in reality he was strangling his wife. The behavior resulted in a sleep disorder. According to statistics, up to 7% of the world's people suffer from sleepwalking, however, this is inaccurate data. After all, if a person sleeps alone, then no one sees his seizures.

Few people know that somnambulism comes in two forms: mild and severe. In a difficult situation, a person is capable of complex actions: cooking, driving a car and even having sex. At the same time, people's eyes, although they are sleeping, are often open, and their gaze is glassy. Creepy picture in the middle of the night, isn't it?

Until the 20th century, it was believed that lunar cycles affect the human psyche. And even earlier - as if people with sleepwalking were in two worlds - the world of the living and the world of the dead. The Russian psychophysicist Leonid Vasiliev was sure that the beliefs about the brownie doing various chores arose precisely because of people suffering from somnambulism. So what is sleepwalking: a rare disease, peculiarities of the psyche or supernormal abilities - the correspondent of "MIR 24" found out.

The Nobel Prize laureate Ilya Mechnikov believed that during sleepwalking in people ancient motor mechanisms, forgotten by a person in ordinary life, wake up. One day, a scientist watched as a hospital nurse walked in her sleep along the edge of the roof. “Her hands are relaxed, but her body has retained dexterity and coordination,” he described the case in the monograph “Studies of Optimism”. Mechnikov assumed that functions recently acquired in relation to evolution in a dream are inhibited, yielding freedom to mechanisms that a person has lost.

“Sleepwalking and other related conditions are most common in children and usually resolve quickly. Every sixth child at least once walked in their sleep at the age of 11-12 years. Sleepwalking occurs in about 4% of adults. Alcohol, high fever and prolonged sleep deprivation increase the risk. In addition, there is a hereditary tendency to sleepwalking. Then walking in a dream, which began in childhood, does not stop with age,”says Jan Fries, head of the Neurology Center at the MEDSI Clinical Diagnostic Center.

The reasons for somnambulism are still unknown to doctors.

“One thing is clear: the centers of excitement, for no apparent reason, start up activities in a dream that are completely inappropriate. It is said that in sleepwalking, the body wakes up while the spirit continues to sleep. In case of extreme manifestations of sleepwalking, you need to see a doctor. For example, when a person in deep sleep with a cry sits down on the bed in a state of extreme excitement and fear, in rare cases even runs out of the apartment, bangs against the walls, hits objects that came to hand. He can hurt himself and those around him,”said Fries.

World justice is aware of cases of flagrant murders that people committed in their dreams, without suspecting anything. The first recorded murder in a state of sleepwalking occurred in America in 1845.

Massachusetts official Albert Tyrell abandoned his wife and children for a young prostitute lover. The man asked the girl to leave the indecent occupation and live with him. However, Mary did not agree to cohabitation. She did not want to leave rich clients, because Albert would never have married her anyway. One day Mary's neighbors smelled a burning smell coming from her apartment. When they went inside, they found a woman with a slit throat, a bloody razor lying nearby. Suspicions immediately fell on Albert, who claimed that he woke up at home covered in blood, and having learned from the newspapers about the murder, he realized what had happened. As a result of the examination, Tyrell was diagnosed with sleepwalking, the jury acquitted him.

And if in the case of an official, questions about the honesty of justice may arise, then in 1985, when the young Canadian Kenneth Parks was arrested, there were no questions about murder in a state of somnambulism. On the eve of lunch with his mother-in-law, Parks was fired from her job. In the middle of the night, the man suddenly got out of bed, put on his pants and left the apartment. He got into the car and went to the house of his mother-in-law and father-in-law. Through the unlocked door, he entered the house with a balloon key in his hands and beat his mother-in-law on the head with a key until she knew how. The awakened father-in-law tried to stop Parks, however, he held him by the throat until he lost consciousness. On the same night, Parks came to the police with the confession that "it seems he killed someone." Three years later, the man was acquitted, admitting that he committed the murder in a dream. According to psychologists, the upcoming dinner with relatives, where Parks was supposed to talk about the dismissal, could provoke unconscious actions.

In the international classifier of diseases ICD-10, somnambulism is considered as a sleep disorder of non-organic etiology. This is not a mental illness. To get rid of mild somnambulism, it is necessary to limit the use of coffee, tea and chocolate before bedtime, play sports, drink herbal infusions and organize the daily regimen, advises a practicing psychologist Alexander Artemiev.

“In severe cases, you should consult a specialist: a somnologist or a psychologist who knows the techniques of hypnosis, body-oriented or other types of psychotherapy. You can practice controlled awakening on your own. If seizures occur at the same time, it is necessary to wake the person up before they start, use means to reduce anxiety and prevent stress,”he commented.

A type of sleepwalking is considered sexomania, when a person performs sexual acts in an unconscious state, or perceives what is happening as a dream. There are cases when such a diagnosis made it possible to drop the rape charges.

Jan Ludeke from Toronto fell asleep on the couch while at a party. A few hours later he was awakened, saying that the man had raped the girl. Ludeke thought it was a joke until he found a condom in the bathroom. The court was skeptical about the defense until the ex-girlfriend Ludeke appeared as a witness. She reported that after drunk, Yang becomes a sexual lunatic maniac.

There are many mystical stories swirling around somnambulism. Esotericists believe that in this state the tormented soul leaves the body.

“Sleepwalking is a condition in which part of the soul leaves the body. This happens when a person has no contact with all parts of his soul. Some kind of dissociation between true desires and actions. Such a conflicting internal state can manifest itself, including through sleepwalking. The stronger the trauma, the more dangerous a person is for himself and those around him, because his consciousness wanders uncontrollably, controlling the body. Therefore, the full moon is sometimes dangerous for sensitive people. In children, sleepwalking often means a special connection with higher subtle matters and the presence of problems with adaptation in society due to supernormal abilities,”said psychic Aigul Khusnetdinova.

Somnambulism is an innate characteristic of a person, like a genetic mutation, it is embedded in a personal horoscope, astrologer Marina Zorina is sure.

“Nature takes its toll. What she has invested with a specific idea, people cannot change. Astrologically, there are several reasons for somnambulism. Firstly, such a person was born despite the circumstances: there was a stressful pregnancy, conflicts with parents, careless childbirth. In this case, a person is born, contributing to the evolution of mankind. Secondly, somnambulism is inherent in hermit intuitions who, in the process of sleepwalking, communicate with the afterlife. In the past, such people became shamans, healers, or advisers to rulers. And the third case - people who are easy-going and interested in everything at once. It is difficult for them to stop the thought processes even in a dream,”concluded Zorina.