While sleeping one night a six and a half year old girl was awaken by screams coming from her neighbor's yard. After alerting her parents she later learned that she had heard the screams of her elderly neighbor. The elderly neighbor woke up in a pond near his house surrounded by alligators. The man had sleepwalked from his bedroom to the pond where he was awaken. What is sleepwalking? What could have caused this man to leave his bed and walk down to the near pond? Was he interpreting a dream? .
The definition of sleepwalking is, The act or an instance of walking or performing another activity associated with wakefulness while asleep or in a sleeplike state. Also called somnambulism. We know somnambulism as a time when a person is able to perform complicated actions in their sleep, like walking. Some sleepwalkers merely just sit up in bed while others have been known to drive cars. When sleepwalkers wake up they do not remember the previous night's activities. Sleepwalkers usually look awake, with their eyes open, but they will not respond if asked questions or spoken too. Plus, sleepwalkers are not easy to awake because they are deep in sleep, so a sleepwalkers should usually just be guided back to bed. .
Researchers do not really know what happens when we sleepwalk or why exactly it happens but they do have some ideas. Some people suggest that a sleepwalker is acting out their dreams but this is a mere myth. We know that it is not possible for a sleepwalker to be acting out their dreams because dreams occur in the REM sleep while sleepwalking occurs in the NREM sleep or non REM sleep. This sleep occurs right after a deep sleep, when there is a rise in the level of consciousness. At this time the body is awake but the mind is still partially sleeping. Researchers also believe that stress can affect sleep disorders including sleepwalking. Still, they do not conclude that stress is the only factor.