Adult Sleepwalking Induces Violent Behavior: Study

It is quite petrifying to see someone sleepwalking. It is an abnormal behavior that occurs while someone is sleeping and occurs in people who belong to the parasomnia family.

A latest finding suggests that adult sleepwalking is a serious condition that might provoke violent behavior and affect health-related quality of life, according to a news release.

For this study, researchers worked on data collected from a study that was conducted on 100 adult patients in who primary sleepwalking was diagnosed. It was conducted from June 2007 to January 2011. The participants belonged to the age group 18-58. A positive clinical history of REM sleep behavior disorder was an exclusion criteria. In the second group, they had 100 healthy control participants.

There were 22.8 percent of sleepwalkers presented with nightly episodes and 43.5 percent presented with weekly episodes. Nearly 58 percent of participants had positive history of violent sleep-related behaviors and 17 percent experienced at least one episode in which the sleepwalker injured themselves or their bed partner. This required medical care.

"We found a higher frequency of daytime sleepiness, fatigue, insomnia, depressive and anxiety symptoms and altered quality of life in patients with sleepwalking compared to the control group," Yves Dauvilliers, M.D., Ph.D, the study's principal investigator and lead author, said in a press statement.

She continues to say that what was once considered as a considerate condition, adult sleepwalking is a serious condition and it should not be ignored.

Injuries vary from bruises to nose bleeds and fractures. Among the participants, one had multiple fractures and serious head trauma after jumping out of a third-floor window.

Factors that increase the frequency and severity of episodes include stressful events, strong positive emotions, sleep deprivation, and less frequently to drug or alcohol intake or intense evening physical activity. 

The study was published in the journal SLEEP.