Why can’t we wake up a sleepwalker? What will happen if we wake him up?

In neurology, sleepwalking is a sleep disorder. Symptoms usually involve walking around the house in a semi-awake state, but some patients will leave the house or make some dangerous moves. The key is that sleepwalkers have no memory of what happened at night! Sleepwalking does not occur in dreams, but in the deep sleep stage of sleep, stage 3-4, which is concentrated in the first half of the night, usually in the first 2-3 hours after falling asleep.

Why do I sleepwalk and do I need treatment?

Sleepwalking is a brain disorder related to sleep. Sleepwalking is mainly the result of the activity of the human cerebral cortex. The activity of the brain includes two processes: "excitement" and "inhibition". Normally, when a person is sleeping, the cells of the cerebral cortex are in an inhibited state. If one or more groups of nerve cells that control movement are still in an excited state, sleepwalking will occur. The sleepwalker's body is asleep, but the sensory aspect is partially asleep.

What causes the blockage mechanism to become dysfunctional? There are probably several reasons that induce sleepwalking↓

1. Over-stimulation of the mind, excessive sadness or excitement, etc.;

2. High mental stress, irregular daily life, frequent anxiety, family discord, poor parent-child relationship, etc.;

3. Overwork during the day. For example, staying up late for several consecutive days resulting in insufficient sleep, taking sleeping pills before going to bed, etc.

4. Family inheritance. Family investigations show that most sleepwalking patients have a positive family history, and the comorbidity rate of monozygotic twins is 6 times higher than that of dizygotic twins, indicating that the disease is related to genetic factors.

5. Organ disease or immature development of the central nervous system. Since the disease often occurs in childhood and gradually stops with age, sleepwalking may be related to delayed development of the cerebral cortex. Sleepwalking in adults is often related to schizophrenia and neurosis.

Therefore, as long as sleepwalking is not caused by organic brain disease and is not too serious, it generally does not require treatment. If it occurs frequently, you can ask a doctor to use some sedatives.

But we must prevent the dangers of sleepwalking! We should take necessary safety precautions at home, such as locking doors and windows, not lighting fires in the room, and not placing dangerous items. Because fear and anxiety can easily aggravate sleepwalking, we should try to eliminate fear and anxiety. In daily life, we should show more care to sleepwalkers, provide them with a warm and safe living environment, and avoid adverse psychological stimulation.

Is it possible to wake up a sleepwalker?

There is a popular saying that you should never wake a sleepwalker because he or she might go crazy or be frightened to death. In fact, a sleepwalker is very difficult to wake up, and even if he or she is woken, he or she will not go crazy, but just be confused.

Should we wake up the sleepwalker? It depends on the situation. If he does something that endangers the safety of people around him or puts himself in danger, we should wake him up in time or help him escape from danger.

So, how do you wake up a sleepwalker?

Through etiological analysis, we already know that sleepwalking is more or less a symbolic wish compensation. We can use aversion therapy to wake the sleepwalker from his dream, break the sleepwalker's behavioral stereotype, and make this subconscious behavior fail to achieve the purpose, then the sleepwalking will gradually subside. For example:

There was a man who often pointed a loaded hunting rifle at his wife when he was sleepwalking. This dangerous behavior disturbed his life and made it impossible for him to have a peaceful life. The treatment method is very simple. Let the wife sleep on the outside of the bed and the husband sleep on the inside. In this way, when the husband gets up and sleepwalks, he will wake up his wife. At this time, the wife immediately takes out a siren and blows it hard into the husband's ears. The sharp sound of the siren quickly wakes up the husband. After only trying this twice, the patient's sleepwalking was cured.

There are two key points in using aversion therapy. One is to try to wake the therapist when the patient sleepwalks, and the other is to interrupt the patient's sleepwalking behavior in time.