I am an extreme sleepwalker and the things I’ve done in the middle of the night frighten me

While many of us crawl into bed looking forward to a good night’s sleep, Sarah Taylor dreads it. Because the 32-year-old has no idea what could happen at night: she could prepare a meal and eat it; build a pillow fort like a kid; or walk outside barefoot – all without knowing it.

Sarah, from Berkshire, suffers from extreme sleepwalking. During her nightly episodes, she has woken up her husband James and argued with him, opened locked doors and even ended up on the street.

“Although it is a quiet road in a quaint village, it is used by truck drivers looking for a break off the highway, so trucks often pass by – it is dangerous,” she says.

It started when Sarah was in college, when she and her three roommates would often wake up to find the doors ajar, the cupboards wide open, and food everywhere.

“We even discussed whether we had a ghost, because this always happened at night,” she recalls.

When Sarah woke up one night, she found herself standing at the kitchen counter, a loaf of bread in one hand and the other in the cupboard, reaching for something to spread on the bread.

“That’s when I knew they weren’t ghosts,” she says. “It was me: sleepwalking.”

Since then, she’s often had unexplained cuts and bruises – or found her shoes in a completely different place than where she left them (because she’d been outside in her sleep).

‘I would never know how far I had gone; it was really scary,” she says.

One night she took the pillows out from under James’ head while he was sleeping and built a pillow fort on the floor – eyes wide open but fast asleep.

She recalls, “Another time, a tray of twelve donuts I had just bought was gone by morning. I found the empty tray and the crumbs in the sink.

“James told me I was standing there one night bragging about how I went to a party with Batman.

“It sounds funny, but it’s also creepy for James to see me standing over him, eyes open, more often than not, and not talking – as if my body is mobile but no one is home in my head. ‘

Stress seemed to make things worse, especially in the run-up to her wedding day in 2014.

‘I woke up sore and sore like I’d done a huge workout in the gym. It was the sleepwalking and stress seemed to make it worse,” she says.

“James has put locks on the doors and a bolt on our bedroom, but I would find a way to open it even in my sleep.”

But when she sought help from her GP, she was told there was nothing that could be done.

As Professor Guy Leschziner, neurologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, explains: ‘Sleepwalking is one of a range of conditions called non-REM parasomnias – these are abnormal behaviors arising from the deepest stages of sleep.

Professor Leschziner, author of The Nocturnal Brain – Nightmares, Neuroscience And The Secret World Of Sleep, adds: ‘What we think is happening is that there is a partial awakening during these very deep stages of sleep. But it’s not the whole brain; some parts of it remain in a very deep sleep, while others show a wakeful activity.’

It appears that the areas of the brain that remain asleep are usually those responsible for memory, rational decision-making and planning – which could explain why people do things that are not entirely appropriate.

‘But the part of the brain responsible for waking up is also concerned with seeing and moving.’

An estimated 1 to 2 percent of adults in Britain sleepwalk, he adds – around 800,000 people.

Among children, the figure is closer to 20 percent, but most outgrow that by their teenage years — although 1 percent of young adults still sleepwalk regularly, according to Dr. Paul Reading, a neurologist and sleep disorder expert at the South Tees NHS. Trust Foundation.

Professor Leschziner added: ‘We don’t fully understand why this persists in certain adults.

‘We know there is a strong genetic contribution, but it is probably also related to a number of environmental factors.’

These include sleep deprivation, stress and alcohol – sleepwalking is more common during deep sleep in response to sleep deprivation or certain medications; but it can also arise from poor or light sleep caused by stress or alcohol.

‘For some people alcohol is a very clear trigger, but for others it makes very little difference,’ says Professor Leschziner.

‘We also know that certain conditions – such as snoring or sleep apnea – can be a trigger, as can periodic limb movement disorders, which are similar to restless leg syndrome but cause nighttime kicks that can precipitate this partial awakening.’

The reason why most children outgrow sleepwalking is likely because the deepest stages of sleep – those within the first hour or so – tend to become shallower with age, even in the late teens, says Dr. Reading.

For Sarah, the main triggers are stress and dieting.

“If I were to limit eating during the day, I would go for food while sleepwalking,” she says.

‘So I stopped dieting. We also agreed that if my husband gently patted the bed, I would walk back onto my side and get back in.’

Professor Leschziner says: ‘For most people, sleepwalking is quite harmless and may involve just getting up or moving objects.

‘But I’ve seen people standing naked in a hotel lobby, for example, or being locked out in the middle of the night.

‘Then there are people who have physically injured themselves or their partners – and people who climb out of windows and get broken bones. One person stabbed themselves in the leg. For others, the injury may involve jumping out of bed, breaking a vase or lamp, and cutting themselves.”

Dr. Reading adds that something that is often overlooked is the impact sleepwalking has on the sleepwalker’s partner.

‘The sleepwalker is usually unaware of events and remembers nothing, even when agitated. A bed partner’s sleep is often disturbed and problems can arise if, for example, during sleep talking the names of previous partners are revealed, or if attempts at intimate behavior are made. a state of sleepwalking.’

Sarah was eventually referred to a neurologist earlier this year and underwent an EEG test (an electroencephalogram) to check her brain activity, plus blood tests and an MRI scan.

She is now on the waiting list for an overnight stay in a specialist clinic to monitor her sleep.

Her real concern is how “competent” she is when she sleepwalks.

She says, “Some people just stumble across a room and talk. I can get up, get dressed and find a way to unlock a door. I worry about what I might do next: drive? It’s terrifying.’

Professor Leschziner says sleepwalkers’ eyes are usually open so they can see where they are going. But ‘the degree of consciousness and cognitive skills is related to how much of the brain is awake and how much is asleep. I have a patient who has driven both a car and a motorcycle: he was even parked in reverse.

‘Another famous case is Kenneth Parks, from Canada, who [in 1987] allegedly drove miles to his in-laws’ house, killed his mother-in-law, attempted to kill his father-in-law and it was considered a sleepwalking event.

‘So people can do extraordinarily complicated things.’

Treatment starts with simple measures such as stress management, avoiding sleep deprivation and reducing alcohol.

It is also important to address sounds that could trigger an event.

“I’ve seen people sleepwalk because they’re lying on a creaking bed and the sound partially wakes them up,” says Professor Leschziner. ‘So it is important to ensure that the environment is as controlled as possible.’

This includes taking precautions such as putting locks on windows “if you know one of your tendencies is to open the window,” he adds. Other interventions include identifying medications that may worsen the condition.

For more complex cases, a sleep study (at a sleep clinic) can help identify hidden triggers, such as periodic limb movement disorders. But if all else fails, sleeping pills or certain types of antidepressants can help, says Professor Leschziner.

He adds that if your partner is a sleepwalker, it’s “best to very gently guide him back to bed and get him out of harm’s way”; shouting or shouting at someone who is ‘in a confused state may risk aggression’.

Although Sarah is happy to finally be on a diagnostic path, she feels that it took a long time for GPs to take her seriously.

“I know some people think sleepwalking is funny, but it’s actually very scary, both for the sleepwalker and for the person sharing their bed,” she says.

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