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Wednesday 7 February 2018

Sleepwalking

Sleepwalking  is called somnambulism (Latin somnus "sleep" + ambulare "to walk").

Sleepwalking occurs during slow-wave sleep of non-rapid eye movement sleep cycles. It typically occurs within the first third of the night when slow-wave sleep is most prominent.

According to research done, sleepwalking seems to be a problem related to the mechanism of waking up.

John Everett Millais, The Somnambulist, 1871

Sleepwalking seems to be more common in children, between ten and thirty percent of children are affected; in most cases, they stop sleepwalking during puberty.

Researchers reported in 2012 in the journal Neurology that about 3.6 percent of U.S. adults had walked in their sleep at least once in the previous 12 months  One percent experienced at least two episodes of sleepwalking per month.

More than 8 million Americans sleepwalk.

In one of the most famous scenes in Shakespeare's MacBeth, a doctor and a gentlewoman discuss Lady Macbeth's strange habit of sleepwalking:

"Since his majesty went into the field, I have seen her rise from her bed, throw her night-gown upon  her, unlock her closet, take forth paper, fold it, write upon't, read it, afterwards seal it, and again return to bed; yet all this while in a most fast sleep."

Lady Macbeth sleepwalking by Johann Heinrich Füssli

In 1987, Kenneth Parks killed his mother-in-law, assaulted his father-in-law, and drove to the police station to confess—in his sleep.

 A 15-year-old sleepwalker once had to be rescued after she climbed a crane that was 130ft tall.

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