Concerned about Sleepwalking. -Experiences

Hey everyone,

Am prompted to make this thread due to a couple of recent events that have transpired while I was sleeping. A little history: I have been known to sleepwalk a few times when I was little, but outgrew that or so I thought. Often I will talk in my sleep and wake myself and others. In the past, approx 10 years ago, under stress, I acted out violently several times which caused concern but got through that....

Now, the other morning I woke up lying on the opposite end of my bed with head /feet the opposite direction from my pillows. I was shocked at this. Now this a.m , my spouse tells me that I was sleepwalking around 2AM, I couldn't believe it, Spouse told me that I went into the living room , stared at the curtains for a minute or two, which were behind him, *spouse was in there awake at this time* , and that I seemed trancelike and did not speak. After a minute or so I then returned to the BR , (spouse followed me) , sat on side of the bed, then layed back down, to immediately start snoring a faint quiet snore.

This was shocking news to me. especially remembering the other morning how I had awoken. Last night, I had gone to bed around 11 pm. and this happened around 2.a.m So what stage of sleep this is, I do not know.

I do not take sleep medication and am wondering what in the world has triggered me to do these things as of late.. I do not remember any of it which is what gets me. It really got me though when I woke up upside down in my bed: I couldn't help but to laugh somewhat...at the same time bewildered as to how this came about. Spouse seemed to be a bit scared and said I seemed to be in a trance this a.m..

Researched the articles here at ATS and can not for the life of me figure this one out besides my brain being out of whack. I realize stress, sleep deprivation etc. affects our sleep but I'm not overly anything than my ususual... No alcohol or meds either. Just curious as to what all of a sudden has triggered this ? These two events so close together. Spouse said I was like a walking zombie and this has me concerned. I HOPE I don't continue this for no telling what one could do in this state! It's sorta is freaking me out.

I'd love to understand more about this phenomenon, and hear your like experiences , I know people even have worse experiences. ie like driving!! eating raw meat, etc.!!! so thankfully, mine wasn't toooo bad... just freaky because I do not remember, nor do I want it to get worse! Sooo.. What is happening here? How do you guys deal with this?

Any/all advice is much appreciated!
I may make mention of this to my doctor when I go back ...*thinking out loud..

Edit to add: OOH yuck, who knows but I cOULD have eaten raw meat for all I know that other time. wild thought..because there is no telling what I did without spouse there to witness.. Right? ooH wild thought.

Don't worry! you friendly neighbourhood Doctor is here to help!

here's an obvoius link.

i think it happens when you dream about something real enough to make you move. maybe when you were asleep your mind suddenly remembered something you had forgotten during the day. maybe.

Disclaimer: I'm NOT a real doctor.

reply to post by DoctorSatan


thanks for the reply DocSatan.
And thanks for clearing it up that you are not a real doctor..I would have neva known
Appreciate the link... maybe I do have disturbed REM or something. Definitely SOMEthing lol

You could very well be correct. I just don't recall. Thought maybe that I thought about going to the bathroom or something but was too tired and lay back down the opposite way that last time. But now spouse telling me I was a walking zombie, this sends me a red flag now..

reply to post by SeekerLou


I often sleep walk, so do a few people in my family. Weirdly, it seems to be only when I'm feeling stressed out. But often I go to sleep in my bed, and wake up in the spare room. (Well I say often but once every two month, not even that sometimes.)

reply to post by VraxUK


hi and thx for the reply vrax.
Let's just hope that is all we do is walk and go back to bed .
Tis weird stuff huh! I don't like being warped and not knowing or in control of my own actions..

I am actually very curious about this topic as well, so thanks for starting this thread

My nieces and nephew live with me currently - my 8 year old nephew has had problems with sleepwalking for the last 4 years or so. VERY scary to experience it, I really don't think there's anything like that.

Most oftentimes I can hear him in his room stumbling around - I can guarantee shortly after he'll make his way down the stairs to wander the rest of my place. He usually has this terribly sad, sometimes frightened look on his face, and once he's done his walk-about he'll start panicking and screaming, completely out of it. Scares the CRAP out of me - this may sound awful but sometimes I think I'm going to have a fear-induced heart attack trying to comfort him when really I want to run out of the house screaming

I've never seen him get into anything, he mostly just tends to walk around staring and reacting to things that may be happening in his dream. Very unnerving. It's like you're watching a shell of a person zombie-walking around your house.

I've spoken with the doctor, who unfortunately didn't have much information. He did say though that it's ok to follow him, and even wake him if I need to, but that can be very disorienting to them, so just try and monitor it from afar.

Have there been any changes in your life at all? My nephew is a little boy who sleeps normally [usually], eats healthy, there aren't really any disruptions in his life that would be considered disturbing enough to agitate him like that. So maybe there's not necessarily any rhyme or reason to it for everyone? Maybe it's something you can grow out of, or something that can be triggered for some? I'm not an expert, sorry Just speaking from experience.

Hope you get your answers, my friend. I can imagine it's not an easy thing to have to deal with.

reply to post by Cinquain


hey sweetie, from the sounds of it... you are having your share of having to deal with the experience... That even sounds worse from my perspective. .. Bless the little lad's heart and yours TOO! Hope you find the help you are seeking also.... I feel for ya.

It almost makes me afraid to go to bed at night....but nahhh not really lol... but ya knOw? It could end up making me paranoid to do so!

Appreciate your sharing with us. I empathize with the lad, I can imagine how confused he must be or get! Hopefully,/ prayerfully, he'll grow out of this!

one advice would be:
sleep on the ground floor. sleepwalking + stairs = BAD!
especialy the one with the 8 yr old nephew.

another advice: lock the bedroom door. this could help. but might cause ventilation problems.

reply to post by DoctorSatan


that's a good prescription doc. Appreciate ya!

Oh and hide the car keys from sleepwalkers ...they could be sleepDRIVERS as well.
Ooh Saw something on tv once about someone driving while sleeping Wish I could remember the program. Does anyone remember this? Hopefully that is really rare. There is truly some wild happenings out there if one gets to digging...

My brothers sleepwalk on occasion I've heard. I only talk in my sleep. I found out in college you can have a conversation with someone who talks in their sleep. One of my brothers once got a locked gun out in his sleep, loaded it, and then shot it. The noise woke him up. That scared him because he told me he didn't know what kind of defense he would have had in court, if he had accidentally shot his wife. Who would believe he was sleepwalking?

He avoids watching any movies that would possibly be confrontational to him in his dreams. I suppose he fights in his dreams and due to the fact that he sleep walks, he could accidentally slug his wife or someone.

As far as I'm concerned, I don't usually fight anymore, I go lucid and destroy threats with unreasonable force. Anyone who has dreamed of being able to control a miniature nuclear blast just above the palm of his hand as a sort of parlor trick to show off when dreaming about being in a bar, I would say being able to imagine a force field around an entity and setting off nuclear blasts inside would do a lot of damage to any entity in a dream. I did have some dreams where I enjoyed combat on a more personal level though without using any special powers. Those sort of dreams can get me worked up but I believe I will wake up if I move around too much or start to get out of bed.

I used to sleep walk when I was a kid.

My dad says I wake up night, scared and looking at something in the room, and go back to sleep.

reply to post by 547000


So you grew out of it then? That's gr8 if so!

For some reason this just popped in my head....Have you guys ever seen the Jesse Ventura show where Jesse had a guy become hynotised and the phone rang and he walked with a limp... now that was really amazingly weird. I wonder if we are in the same brain state as that!

I think I still get night terrors or something. I wake up and am scared, look at something in my room, and go back to sleep, sometimes screaming.

When I was a kid I used to sleep in my room and wake up in my parents room.

reply to post by 547000


Oh I see now, Sorry I misread that and sorry you suffer from these terrors.
Here's a mayo clinic link that may be of benefit to you.
www.mayoclinic.com...

Maybe you could try meditating on something nice before bedtime? and tell yourself to have a good dream ..that is like programming yourself.

Since night terrors are most commonly triggered by being overtired, sometimes no treatment is necessary except for a bedtime schedule that ensures proper sleep. If the night terrors are more frequent, however, it has been suggested that the sufferer should be awakened from sleep just before the time when the terrors occur most to interrupt the sleep cycle.[2] In many cases, a child who has a night terror only needs comfort and reassurance. Psychotherapy or counseling may be appropriate in some cases. Benzodiazepine medications (such as diazepam) used at bedtime will often reduce night terrors; however, medication is rarely recommended to treat this disorder.[10]

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by SeekerLou


Stress can cause persons to sleep walk. Also persons who sleep walk sometimes have this problem because they inherit it. Perhaps some of your family members have sleep disorders or sleep problems and as a result you inherited sleepwalking.

reply to post by SeekerLou


I would not worry too much about sleepwalking. I do it often and my family say I always look like I am in a trance, never hurt myself but have done some strange things.. walked out of the house, round the outside then came back in...in the nude, that was the most embarrasing.
Put my purse in the freezer that took me 2 days to find it and squirted all my shampoo and bubble bath on the bathroom floor in a lovely pattern. Weird stuff but nothing harmful to me or others. I always do it when I am stressed and have done all my life.

reply to post by winds


thankfully, I haven't had anymore episodes lol..
I know of noone else in the family with a history of sleepwalking... although maybe it could have skipped a generation or two..??
No more stress here than usual,,, although it is very stressful all the time

Appreciate your reply>

reply to post by squizzy


lol. .. glad you haven't hurt yourself or others.
Thanks for sharing your episodes of sleepwalking. Nude eh? What were you looking for?
Sounds like you are a playful kitten