Dr Sutapa Mukherjee

It can come out of nowhere.

So, you know, obviously it's actually quite common sleepwalking, particularly in children.

And usually in children, it's a non-REM parasomnia.

And

Most, you know, the extreme examples are when people are able to do complex movements, in fact, can open the front door and go out on the road.

And obviously that's a huge, you know, very dangerous situation.

But most people don't usually go outside the bedroom and, of course, that's good because it's less likely that they'll hurt themselves.

But some people that I know have actually, you know, they've fallen out of bed or they've broken their arm or...

or they've injured their bed partner.

So it's a real safety issue if you are prone to having sleepwalking or a type of parasomnia where you get up and move around.

So usually when we hear that someone's

moving a lot and getting out of the bed, then we try to use various medications to stop them from moving so much.

But the other thing with all parasomnias is often they tend to occur when people have restricted their sleep, so had less sleep.

So if you're someone that is prone to sleepwalking, it's likely to happen, say, for example, if you travel and you've been flying and not getting as much sleep,

then it will probably happen that night when you arrive somewhere and go off to sleep.

So you can be aware and alcohol also will make it worse.

So you really have to know the triggers and be very aware that you are likely to sleepwalk.

And also we would also say really important to not stay in hotel rooms with balconies and things like that because...

Because you can actually, you know, open the balcony door and fall out and you're fast asleep.

And we do tell people if they're very prone to this to have alarms that go off if they walk outside the bedroom.