Sommnambulism (sleepwalking ). Trivia & Secrets

Somnambulism – a disease Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness. These activities can be as benign as sitting up in bed, walking to the bathroom, and cleaning, or as hazardous as cooking, driving, violent gestures, grabbing at hallucinated objects, or even homicide Example of sleepwalker.

Sleepwalking - unconscious activities during sleep. When a human is sleepwalking, he does not necessarily walk, but can eat, dress or wash himself. However, his mind is not aware of it, and is still in a dreaming stage. Every sleepwalker does something else during the time of sleepwalking. Although the brain is in low level of consiousness, a sleepwalker can listen to proposals and suggestion of the others, and do them. Sleepwalker's eyes, despite misleading images (as in the picture page 2) are open. John Everett Millais Sleepwalker

Comunnication & Action Like we have said, sleepwalkers don’t have their eyes closed during sleepwalking. Thanks to that sleepwalker can avoid obstacles. Sometimes, he can also read and write… When brain is waking up, the sleepwalker can answer the questions, and talk, too. The level of answers and conversation depends on the level of conciousness of the brain.

When are the sleepwalkers most active? Sleepwalking does not leave any trace in the memory. It occurs minutes before waking up. Typical for sleepwalker is that his dream is very deep. Efficient way of dealing with the sleepwalking are shorter sleeping periods.

Sleepwalkers can’t wake up! Sleepwalkers under no circumstances should be woken up. As their brains are not working at the highest level when they are sleepwalking, waking sleepwalker could cause taking us by a somnambulist as thieves, monsters and others alike. Somnambulist, taking us as a stranger and having dangerous object nearby, can do harm, or kill. In other circumstances, a sleepwalker can hurt himself. For example, when the sleepwalker comes to the window sill, is about to sit on a chair, or stands next to something sharp, screaming is not a good idea, as we can scare the sleepwalker, and as a result he may fall over.

Curing Somnambulism Currently, it is believed that difficulty in breathing during sleep leads to increased blood acidification, which respond to serotonergic neurons in the brain. These neurons also take part in regulation of falling asleep and waking up. Serotonergic neurons activated can "try" to wake the person up, but their activation is too weak to consider this process being complete.

Quiz. Sleepwalker, during the attack, has his eyes: A. Closed B. Opened C. depends of the somnambulist Sommnambulists during attack can: A. Only Walk B. do other complex things Sommnambulists can avoid obstacles. A. True B. False Somnambulism always leave traces in the memory. A. True B. False Effective method of controlling the attacks of sleepwalking: A. pouring water onto sleepwalker B. drinking strong energy drinks C. shorter sleeping periods How can we cure sleepwalking? A. take special medications B. treat breathing disorders during sleep

Across 4. Woken up sleepwalker is 6. Eyes of the somnambulist are… Down 1. Colloquial name of somnambulism 2. Activities done during sleep. 3. For kids, the possibility of occuring of the somnambulism is… 5. Method of controlling the attacks Crossword