Somnambulism – causes, symptoms, and treatment 

Somnambulism is commonly known as sleepwalking. Sleepwalking is a condition when a person gets up and starts walking around while he is in a state of sleep. 

 Occasional episodes of sleepwalking don’t indicate a critical problem, but when sleepwalking is experienced by a person often, then there may be an underlying sleeping disorder. 

Somnambulism is more common in children than in adults. It is resolved on its own during the teenage years. 

What are the symptoms of Somnambulism? 

Sleepwalking usually occurs early after falling asleep. It occurs 1-2 hours after a person is asleep. 

Generally, sleepwalking can last for a few minutes to hours. 

A person who is sleepwalking exhibits the following symptoms: 

• Stepping out of bed and starting to walk 
• No response or doesn’t communicate 
• Difficulty in waking up during sleepwalking 
• Sitting up in bed with eyes wide open
• Being in a confused state after awakening 
• sleep terrors may be associated with it.
• Not remembering the episode of sleepwalking in the morning. 
• In rare cases, a person who is sleepwalking may also, 
• Climb up a window and jump 
• Start talking to themselves 
• Engage in sexual activities without consciousness  Behave violently 
• Urinating at random places. 
• Mostly the condition resolves on its own with professional guidance and rarely requires medications. 
• Medical assistance is only required if the person who is sleepwalking exhibits it, 
•  Occurs often, especially in adults.
• If they exhibit dangerous behaviour 
• Disturbing the other people in the house 
• They exhibit daytime sleepiness that disturbs one’s daily routine.

What can cause Somnambulism? 

The causes of Somnambulism are caused due to the following reasons: 

• Sleep deprivation
• Obstructive Sleep apnea 
• Hereditary cause 
• Excessive stress or anxiety 
• Changes in the sleep setting 
• Head injuries 
• Fever 
• Substance abuse
• Restless leg syndrome
• Few medications related to psychiatric disorder

Complications 

• injuring oneself during the episode
• because of sudden awakening and loss of orientation may hurt others
• social anxiety
• excessive daytime sleepiness

How to treat Somnambulism?  

If there is no spontaneous recovery over time, a professional approach is required. which includes the following 

Scheduled awakening is a process where another person records the time between the person sleeping, and he begins to sleepwalk. 

 The person recording then must help the patient schedule his sleep by waking up the patient 15 minutes prior to the expected time of the event in order to stop them from sleepwalking. 

Treating other underlying conditions is mandatory as sleepwalking is associated with sleep deprivation and other medical conditions. 

Medications or a few types of antidepressants or benzodiazepines are prescribed. Sometimes the medication dosage is adjusted as medication overuse may in turn induce sleepwalking.

• A health professional can help a person with Somnambulism with suggestions to improve his sleep. 
• Relaxing themselves during bedtime by listening to soft music 
• Avoid caffeine at night. 
• Having a healthy lifestyle and reducing stress are very important. 
• Self-hypnosis or biofeedback may help.
• avoid alcohol usage.
• keep the environment safe – like safety from sharp materials.

To sum up  

Somnambulism is more commonly found in children than adults. 

If the sleepwalking condition is not often, then it usually subsides by itself. Only if there are repeated episodes of sleepwalking is there a need for medical assistance. 

The causes of sleepwalking are due to various reasons. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle and reducing stress are important to prevent Somnambulism.  

This condition can be treated with proper medical assistance and self-hypnosis therapy. 

Consult a medical professional as recommended if the symptoms or the episodes of sleepwalking are displayed by a person frequently.