Sleepwalking is a sleep disorder that causes the person with it to get out of bed, walk and even talk, in fact it acts as if they are awake and their relatives often fear that something will happen to them, for example. , if you open the door and take to the streets, you run the risk of being run over.
Despite what we know about this disorder, today we will discover some myths about sleepwalking that we thought were true, but which are not, in fact, some of them are very broad and have been adopted as absolute truths; however, many myths about sleepwalking are just the result of beliefs that we have not been able to question, which we have not been able to prove.
- Many of the myths about sleepwalking are about a major problem: waking up a sleepwalker is very dangerous.
- Some say it can cause a heart attack and death; others say the sleepwalker can go crazy.
- What happens when we wake up disoriented?Sometimes we dream so real that when we wake up we don’t know where we are.
- So something similar happens to a person with sleepwalking when they wake up in a different place than he had.
The person may suffer from the heart and the shock causes a heart attack, but this doesn’t usually happen, what happens is that they are confused, disoriented and irritated. Calm down and tell the person what happened. Chances are you’ll be aware of your condition and go to bed to go back to sleep.
There is another myth about sleepwalking related to the inability of people with sleepwalking to feel pain or injury, so often people who lead sleepwalking to bed don’t care if they stumble or hit something.
A sleepwalker doesn’t lose sensitivity and suddenly doesn’t become immune to any stimulus, it can still get hurt, so be careful when taking it to bed, in fact, if the shot is too strong, it can even wake you up.
Episodes of sleepwalking tend to occur more in young people; in fact, they are very characteristic in children between 3 and 13 years old. As age progresses, episodes are becoming less frequent.
We’ve all seen horror movies where sleepwalkers appear like a shadow, closed eyes and a sinister attitude but, as we said, this only happens in movies, the reality is very different.
Sleepwalkers don’t keep your eyes completely closed How does a sleepwalking door open?How do you know you have to go up the stairs? This is because your eyes are open and you can see what’s around you, even if your brain is in sleep.
This is another common myth about sleepwalking. There is a tendency to believe that a sleepwalker suffers from this feature every day, that is, every day you have to be vigilant because it is very likely to rise, it is a mistake.
Sleepwalkers don’t always get up. This usually happens when you’re going through a period of great stress, it’s the stress that makes a person sleepwalk for an entire week, a month, or just a few sporadic days, so it’s so important to treat them.
The more stressed a person is, the more episodes of sleepwalking they will have, however, if the intensity of stress is reduced, these episodes will also be reduced.
The family’s concern for the welfare of sleepwalking can lead to arrest, but this is not very positive. The reason is that holding a sleepwalker in a relatively small space that limits its mobility will increase the risk of something hurting it.
Ideally, we should take steps such as closing the door and windows, if we have blinds, great, because if the sleepwalker lifts them, the noise will wake us up, it is also important to be attentive so as not to leave anything stressed. or anything that might hurt him. For example, a very sharp knife or matches that you can light and then burn.
Safety measures will be different for each sleepwalker, as some decide to leave the house, but others often go to the kitchen to eat or even cook, so it is recommended to put out of reach all the elements that may put your health at risk.
Although there is currently no specific treatment for sleepwalking, it is advisable to have good sleep hygiene. For example, some recommendations may help: not having a heavy dinner, lying at the same time every day, getting enough sleep, and undergoing stress management therapy.