This varies in its intensity and frequency and whilst most sleepwalking incidents are short and not considered to be dangerous, some rare incidents can involve self injury and therefore put the sleeper at much greater risk.
There doesn't seem to be any one thing in particular that triggers sleepwalking and whilst it is predominantly pre-adolescents who suffer the most from this phenomenon it is also prevalent in adults and increases in its intensity with age.
It was originally thought by scientists and researchers that sleepwalking was entirely psychological and an intense extension of the dreaming process but is now understood to be a much more complex matter.
Sleepwalking, or Somnambulism, is most common among children between the ages of 4 - 12 with 15% of this age group sleepwalking regularly.
It is also believed that boys sleepwalk more frequently than girls.
Sleepwalking most often occurs at a certain point in the sleep pattern at the point where the sleeper's brain waves have become larger and he or she has moved into a deeper phase of sleep.
This is not REM (Rapid Eye Movement). Whilst sleepwalking the sleepers brainwaves show a variety of brainwave patterns, including ones similar to those observed in waking people as well as ones found in someone during a deep sleep.
It is the 'awake' patterns that match the waking behaviour such as walking and talking while the person is still asleep enough to not be aware of what is happening and therefore not forming memories of their actions.
The difference between older peoples sleepwalking and that of children could be related to the difference in sleep patterns between a child and an adult.
Children spend much more of their sleep time in deep sleep (when sleepwalking is initiated) and when a person grows older their sleep becomes more fragmented with much more of their sleep time being 'light' sleeping.
One common misconception regarding sleepwalkers is that they shouldn't be woken.
It is not dangerous to 'wake up' the sleepwalker although they will be disorientated for a short time after awakening.
Paul McDonald
