Sleepwalkers Anonymous

A few weeks ago at work, I was having a daily chat with two of my favorite kids. Kayla, seven years old, and Bryson, her eight year old buddy, have been friends for as long as they can remember. This time the conversation steered over into Bryson's accounts of Kayla sleepwalking... and though the topic isn't new to me, I was inspired to learn more and uncover silly stories of sleepwalkers all over the world. Thus, a new post is born!

the left picture is a little Sigmund Freud-esque, you see it?

Sleepwalkers have been featured on headlines countless times throughout the years. Also, since sleepwalking, or somnambulism, causes sufferers to engage in "wakeful" activities, when really they are asleep, some people have been aquitted of severe charges like rape by pleading that they were sleepwalking at the time of the offense. Records hold that jury acquitted these defendants because the criminal activities were "involuntary and unintentional." Hmm...

Steering from the "sexsomniacs" to a lighter note, a UK woman who regular exercised and maintained a low-fat diet was puzzled over her dramatic weight gain. She went to specialist upon specialist to figure out why she could not maintain a steady weight, but received no clear answer. It wasn't until she woke "with broken biscuits in the sheets and all over [her] face," that she was finally diagnosed with Sleep Related Eating Disorder (SRED), which meant that essentially every night she would sleepwalk her way to the kitchen and "go straight for the snack bars and sugary treats." She consumed over 2000 calories a night for years without even realizing it.

Though sleepwalking isn't very common, affecting only 18% of the population, mostly young boys, a London hotel group experienced a "surge in naked sleepwalkers among guests" which pushed executives to publish a "sleepwalkers guide" for hotel staff, advising hotel staff on how to handle the nocturnal naked wanderers. Desk attendants were advised to keep towels up front, to preserve guests' dignity if found unclothed in the wee hours of the night.

I'm sure there are many many more crazy stories of sleepwalkers, but these were just a few I wanted to share. A bit of a disconnected post, but sweet dreams/happy sleepwalking!