Is it dangerous to wake a sleepwalker?

There are a few myths to bust when it comes to sleepwalking. It's a strange state that conjures up images of people walking like zombies. You are always told not to wake a sleepwalker – you want to keep them safe, but should you wake them?

 The Weird and Mystical World of Sleepwalking

Throughout history, sleepwalkers have cooked meals, rode motorcycles, and committed murders—and it happens to far more of us than we think.

 This Is How You Should Treat A Sleepwalker

"You shouldn’t wake a sleepwalker" is a myth.

 This Is the Closest Thing We Have to a Cure For Sleepwalking

Worried after more episodes that had me waking up on the sidewalk again, I wondered if there was a way to put a stop to it.

Health Check: is sleepwalking problematic and can it be ‘cured’?

Sleepwalking is one of a number of behaviours that can occur during deep sleep, know as the “non-rapid eye movement” (non-REM) period of sleep. Others may include talking, sitting up, or just making odd body movements. It’s a relatively common sleep phenomenon with an estimated 7% of people sleepwalking at some time during their lives.

How to Handle a Sleepwalker

To determine whether you’re dealing with a sleepwalker, as opposed to, say, a night owl (or someone with another, more worrisome form of parasomnia), watch for open eyes, a blank expression, physical clumsiness and a lack of reactivity.

How to Handle Your Sleepwalking Child

Sleepwalking is a common form of parasomnia (a category of sleep disorders that involve abnormal behaviours during sleep) affecting both children and adults. It occurs when the affected person arises out of the slow-wave sleep cycle and performs actions commonly associated with being awake, without fully regaining consciousness. While the most obvious symptom is walking around while still sleeping, there are many actions that can take place while the person is unaware of committing them.

It’s Like When You Meet … The Creature!

Once I tried to research the phenomenon, but it turns out that sleep researchers don’t know that much about sleepwalking for the simple reason that, unlike insomnia and sleep apnea, it’s not a disorder that drives many people to sleep clinics.

Night Terrors? Sleep Walking? Don’t Lose Sleep When Your Child Has These Common Sleep Complaints!

Parasomnias are common in childhood and share many features. They are generally harmless and most children outgrow them. A child may appear awake, but their brain is asleep and unaware of the event. Unlike nightmares, a child will awaken unaffected and have no recollection of it the next day.

Sleeptexting Is the New Sleepwalking

Sleeptexting is a growing phenomenon in which people (usually adolescents and young adults) send text messages while asleep. Gelb says it’s being classified as a parasomnia, putting it in the same class of sleep disorders as sleepwalking, night terrors, and bedwetting.

Sleepwalking Explained: Scientists Understand The Disorder’s ‘How’ But Not Its ‘Why’

Zombies rising from the dead are still very much confined to science fiction, but sleepwalking has to be its closest analog: Each night, a portion of us semi-awakens, as if pulled by some otherworldly strings, and performs absurd acts that register the following morning as total mysteries.

Sleepwalking Is Much More Common Than You Think

New research from Stanford University shows that more than 1.1 million adults in the U.S. may unwittingly wander around at night.

The Science of Sleepwalking

Despite the surprising prevalence of this phenomenon, though, scientists still don’t understand what causes it.

The Truth About Sleepwalking

As it turns out, sleepwalking – or somnambulism – is not only real, but can be even more bizarre than anything Popeye ever experienced!