Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia Parasomnias are a category of sleep disorders that involve abnormal and unnatural movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions, and dreams that occur while falling asleep, sleeping, between sleep stages, or arousal from sleep. Most parasomnias are dissociated sleep states which are partial arousals during the transitions between wakefulness and family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave Slow-wave sleep , often referred to as deep sleep, consists of stages three and four of non-rapid eye movement sleep, according to the Rechtschaffen & Kales (R&K) standard of 1968. As of 2008, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has discontinued the use of stage 4, such that the previous stages 3 and 4 now are combined as stage 3 sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during the day. These activities can be as benign as sitting up in bed, walking to the bathroom, and cleaning, or as hazardous as cooking, driving, extremely violent gestures, or even homicide. Other activities such as eating, bathing, urinating, talking, dressing/undressing, texting, emailing, exercising, walking a dog, painting, whistling, dancing, moaning, gesturing, grabbing at apparently hallucinated objects[1], committing murder[2][3][4], and/or engaging in sexual intercourse[5] are some of the activities that have been reported or claimed to have occurred during sleepwalking. In December 2008, reports were published of a woman who sent semi-coherent emails while sleepwalking, including one inviting a friend around for dinner and drinks.[6] Sleepwalkers often have little or no memory of the incident, as they are not truly conscious. Although their eyes are open, their expression is dim and glazed over.[7] Sleepwalking may last as little as 30 seconds or as long as 30 minutes.[1]
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Sleepwalking through history. It's an apt description of our citizenry over the past several years. And after reading a once-classified CIA report on ...
