<p>What Causes Sleepwalking</p><p>By Jacob Jarden</p><p></p><p>Somnambulism is another name for Sleepwalking. Sleepwalking is a parasomnia or in other words it's a sleep disorder. Technically speaking, a person; when he is asleep, starts doing activities, which are done by people who are awake. People who sleepwalk sometimes go around the home and also perform activities in their sleep. Many sweep the floor, talk on the phone, open cup board etc. During sleepwalking, the person who does it, often is not aware of what he is doing, and thus he cannot retain a memory himself walking in the sleep, thus until it is noticed by someone, it can go un noticed. This disorder is usually found among the people who have higher levels of anxiety, stress. Genetic factor can also play an important role here.</p><p></p><p>Many think that sleepwalking is a physical imitation of the dream that the person might be having, but this need not be right. Let us understand what causes sleepwalking, but first we need to understand something about sleep. REM sleep (rapid eye movement) is the level of sleep where a person's eyes are in constant vibration and he can have vivid clarity dreams. The other stage is NREM (Non rapid eye movement) wherein a person's eyes are not moving as rapidly as in REM. There can be alternate cycles of REM and NREM sleep during one whole night's sleep. Sleepwalking happens when a person is having a deep NREM sleep which is usually 3rd or 4th stage of sleep.</p><p></p><p>People can just sit up straight on their bed, or they can even perform complex actions like moving furniture, using bathroom, undressing and dressing and many other similar activities during their sleepwalk. Few cases have been reported of people having driven car while asleep (luckily there is no syndrome as sleepdriving). Sleepwalking can happen from few minutes to hours too.</p><p></p><p>Doctors say that sleepwalking is the result of immature regulation of brain with regard to sleep and wake cycles - Sleepwalking is often found in children, and by the time children grow up to adulthood, they'd stop doing it. It is a very small percentage of people in whom sleepwalking will persist till adulthood. The sleepwalking that starts happening later on in life might be because of some psychological disorder. In that case it would be better if one consults his family psychologist.</p><p></p><p>Many people have many kinds of misconception regarding sleepwalking. Many think that one cannot hurt or injure himself during sleepwalking, which is not always true. Many cases have been reported where people have usually fallen across the stairs while sleepwalking. It is not true that people who are sleepwalking must not be awakened. It is common tat once they are awakened; they'd surely take time come back to normal stance and understand what they were doing.</p><p></p><p>Read Jake's latest publication on Useful Sleep Aides - as well as his recent articles on sleep conditions + treatments, plus a variety of other holistic healing and lifestyle topics</p><p></p><p>Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jacob_Jarden http://EzineArticles.com/?What-Causes-Sleepwalking&id=2102327</p><p></p><p></p>