The term “somnambulism” refers to sleep (somnus) disorders that involve some form of movement (ambulation). It encompasses conditions such as sleepwalking, sleep talking, sleep eating, sleep texting, sleep sex, and, very rarely, sleep homicide. Understandably, most people believe these events happen during REM sleep as an individual is dreaming, and specifically acting out ongoing dreams. However, all these events arise from the deepest stage of non-dreaming (NREM) sleep, and not dream (REM) sleep. If you rouse an individual from a sleepwalking event and ask what was going through their mind, rarely will they report a thing—no dream scenario, no mental experience. While we do not yet fully understand the cause of somnambulism episodes, the existing evidence suggests that an unexpected spike in nervous system activity during deep sleep is one trigger
. This electrical jolt compels the brain to rocket from the basement of deep NREM sleep all the way to the penthouse of wakefulness, but it gets stuck somewhere in between (the thirteenth floor, if you will). Trapped between the two worlds of deep sleep and wakefulness, the individual is confined to a state of mixed consciousness—neither awake nor asleep. In this confused condition, the brain performs basic but well-rehearsed actions, such as walking over to a closet and opening it, placing a glass of water to the lips, or uttering a few words or sentences.
A full diagnosis of somnambulism can require the patient to spend a night or two in a clinical sleep laboratory. Electrodes are placed on the head and body to measure the stages of sleep, and an infrared video camera on the ceiling records the nighttime events, like a single night-vision goggle. At the moment when a sleepwalking event occurs, the video camera footage and the electrical brainwave readouts stop agreeing. One suggests that the other is lying. Watching the video, the patient is clearly “awake” and behaving. They may sit up on the edge of the bed and begin talking. Others may attempt to put on clothes and walk out of the room. But look at the brainwave activity and you realize that the patient, or at least their brain, is sound asleep. There are the clear and unmistakable slow electrical waves of deep NREM sleep, with no sign of fast, frenetic waking brainwave activity
