WEBVTT - How Does Sleepwalking Work?

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<v Speaker 1>That's the Great Courses plus dot com slash brain Stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hi, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>Christian Seger and this is brain stuff. Have you ever

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<v Speaker 1>seen someone sleepwalking? It's creepy, right. They're just sort of

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<v Speaker 1>shambling around like a zombie, and not one of those

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<v Speaker 1>super fast World War Z type zombies, but more of

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<v Speaker 1>the slow, clumsy, walking dead type. They might even have

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<v Speaker 1>glassy eyes or a bland, blank expression, and when they

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<v Speaker 1>wake up they won't remember what happened. So what the

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<v Speaker 1>heck is going on with sleepwalking? How does it work,

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<v Speaker 1>who does it affect? And what are the common misconceptions

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<v Speaker 1>about it? Well, first, let's define sleepwalking. If you want

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<v Speaker 1>to get fancy, you can call it somnambulism. It's a

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<v Speaker 1>type of parasomnia or abnormal disruptive behavior that occurs during sleep.

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<v Speaker 1>This category also includes stuff like bedwedding and teeth grinding.

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<v Speaker 1>Sleepwalkers may also act out a number of activities during

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<v Speaker 1>this process. These could be simple things like eating to

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<v Speaker 1>more complex processes like driving a car. Yeah, driving. For centuries,

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<v Speaker 1>people have been trying to figure out what's going on

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<v Speaker 1>with sleepwalking, and while scientists haven't fully cracked the case,

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<v Speaker 1>we do know more and more about this phenomenon and

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<v Speaker 1>it's helping us bust some myths. One, sleepwalkers probably aren't

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<v Speaker 1>acting out their dreams. We know this because most sleepwalking

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<v Speaker 1>occurs during the first third of the night, when your

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<v Speaker 1>body is in n rem or non rem sleep. This

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<v Speaker 1>is the deepest part of your sleep cycle. It's a

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<v Speaker 1>time when your body repairs itself and releases hormones. You're

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<v Speaker 1>not dreaming while this goes on, and because your brain

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<v Speaker 1>will resist awakening in this state, it may be difficult

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<v Speaker 1>to snap a sleepwalker out of it. But don't be

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<v Speaker 1>afraid to try, because here's another fact. You can safely

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<v Speaker 1>wake sleepwalkers. Don't do it violently, of course, but you're

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<v Speaker 1>not going to kill them either. Now that we know

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<v Speaker 1>some of the facts, it's time to figure out who's

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<v Speaker 1>taking these midnight rambles. Weirdly enough, children tend to have

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<v Speaker 1>a higher likelihood of sleepwalking. This parasomnia appears to run

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<v Speaker 1>in families, and it occurs more often in boys than

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<v Speaker 1>in girls, and sleepwalking in general is more common than

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<v Speaker 1>you might think. A study at The Stanford University School

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<v Speaker 1>of Medicine found that one in twenty u S adults

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<v Speaker 1>are prone to sleepwalking and that twenty two percent reports

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<v Speaker 1>some form of it Since childhood. Parasomnias have been called

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<v Speaker 1>errors in timing and balance in the brain. More technically,

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<v Speaker 1>it could be called a disorder of arousal, meaning that

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<v Speaker 1>something triggers the brain into awakening from deep n REM

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<v Speaker 1>sleep stage, so the person is in a transition state

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<v Speaker 1>between sleeping and waking. So why do kids experience it

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<v Speaker 1>more often and why do they grow out of it?

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<v Speaker 1>Some researchers argue that kids brains aren't mature enough to

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<v Speaker 1>fully comprehend sleep cycles, or that areas of their brains

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<v Speaker 1>don't develop at the same pace, And since n REM

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<v Speaker 1>sleep is a period of hormone release, it's possible that

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<v Speaker 1>hormonal releases may have something to do with sleepwalking. Most

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<v Speaker 1>adults who walk in their sleep did the same as children. Exhaustion, stress,

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<v Speaker 1>some medicines, illnesses, and alcohol can all contribute to sleep walking.

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<v Speaker 1>And there's one last myth to bust here. Sleepwalking really

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<v Speaker 1>can be dangerous. It's been linked to seizures as well

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<v Speaker 1>as disorders like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. Some people throughout history

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<v Speaker 1>have even argued success Philip that they killed someone while

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<v Speaker 1>they were sleepwalking. Check out the Brainstuff channel on YouTube,

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<v Speaker 1>and for more on this and thousands of other topics,

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<v Speaker 1>visit how stuff works dot com