Somnambulation (Sleepwalking). Gait and sleepwalkers.
/Sleepwalking. Are you asleep or are you awake ? Which is it ? Or is it both?
Aspects of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and wakefulness can occur simultaneously in different parts of the cortex in mammals, including humans.
According to wikipedia:
Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family.Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness. These activities can be as benign as sitting up in bed, walking to the bathroom, and cleaning, or as hazardous as cooking, driving, having sex, violent gestures, grabbing at hallucinated objects, or even homicide.
According to *Rattenborg, in most animals,
“sleep is considered a global brain and behavioral state. However, recent intracortical recordings have shown that aspects of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep and wakefulness can occur simultaneously in different parts of the cortex in mammals, including humans. Paradoxically, however, NREM sleep still manifests as a global behavioral shutdown.”
This serves as a bit of a paradox from an evolutionary perspective. In animals such as humans where the brain is heavily interconnected our sleep centers help to maintain a behavioral shutdown which ensures that more automatized functions are performed in a safe and efficient manner. This of course is not what happens in sleepwalking and sleep related active people.
If you want to hear more about this topic on a fascinating level of dialogue, check out our PODCAST #8 here. (LINK).
And if you don’t think that the brain can function fully while asleep, check out this medical abstract story from:
Sleep. 1995 Nov;18(9):765-72. A polysomnographically documented case of adult somnambulism with long-distance automobile driving and frequent nocturnal violence: parasomnia with continuing danger as a noninsane automatism?
Abstract: A case of childhood-onset somnambulism is reported in which a 43-year-old man presented with repeated sleep-related injuries incurred during violent nocturnal activity, which included frenzied running, throwing punches and wielding knives. He had also driven an automobile a long distance during a presumed somnambulistic state. His wife had been repeatedly injured, and she felt that her life was threatened by his nocturnal violence 2-3 times yearly. Polysomnography (PSG) documented multiple episodes of complex and violent behaviors arising exclusively from stage ¾ sleep, thus confirming the diagnosis of somnambulism.
Reference:
* Neuroscientist. 2012 May 9. Sleep Locally, Act Globally. Rattenborg NC, Lima SL, Lesku JA.
