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Health

Nearly 1 in 3 have sleepwalking, study finds  by Elizabeth Landau

CNN May 14, 2012

742 words

Researchers published a study in the journal Neurology involving more than 19,000 American adults, and found that nearly 30% had sleepwalk at some point in their lives. Dr. Maurice Ohayon of Stanford University and lead author of the study says sleepwalking can be risky business; some people can harm themselves or others while wandering about. The study authors took into account the participants' usage of medications for sleep, anxiety, depression and other purposes. Those who took over-the-counter sleeping pills and tricyclic antidepressants were more likely to experience sleepwalking at least twice per month.

There have been some bizarre incidents recorded of people's behavior while sleeping. Sleepwalking has been used as a legal defense, sometimes successfully, for people who have allegedly committed crimes while sleeping. 

The precise causes are still mysterious. partly because sleepwalking is so hard to study. It is important to focus on safety measures for people prone to sleepwalking. 

While sleepwalking may seem as a rare thing to happen, it is more common than we think. About a third of American people reported to have sleepwalked some time in their lives, which can sound funny or irrelevant, however, it can be dangerous since people might hurt themselves while sleeping.

Studies have not being able to determine a specific cause or treatment for sleepwalking, however, some recommendations are done such as that of having a regular sleep schedule, reducing noise or light in the place where you sleep, and avoiding stress and fever. A legal question involving sleepwalking used as an excuse for committing crimes could be, was s/he really asleep?

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/14/nearly-1-in-3-have-sleepwalked-study-finds/?hpt=he_c2