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Taking a Night-time Stroll
Children and Sleepwalking By Carma Haley
As a mother and father lie soundly in their bed, they are startled awake by a loud noise from the hallway. It's not the cat, the dog or even a burglar. It is their own child.
Across the country, thousands of children sleepwalk each night -- most without their parents' knowledge. Sleepwalking is not necessarily a serious disorder but the behaviors that occur when a child is sleepwalking can be. Once parents know what sleepwalking is, what causes it, how they can protect their child from harm if and when they do sleepwalk and when to seek help for a child's sleepwalking activity, only then can parents and children alike settle in for a restful, stationary night's sleep.
About 18 percent of children in the United States are prone to sleepwalking, according to the National Academy for Childhood Sleep Disorders. Sleepwalking is more common in boys than girls. Sleepwalking in children is most common between the ages of 6 and 12 years and oftentimes does have a genetic tendency. In addition, medical reports from the National Academy for Childhood Sleep Disorders state that if a child continues to sleepwalk after the age of 9, the incidence of sleepwalking in adulthood increases by 75 percent compared to those children whose sleepwalking activity ceases before the age of 9. Just as each of the children who leave their beds to walk in the night differs from others, the reasons and causes for sleepwalking differ as well.
The proper medical term for sleepwalking is somnambulism. Taber's Cyclopedic Medical dictionary defines sleepwalking as "an affection that prompts the sleeping person to perform, unconsciously, acts that naturally belong to the waking state." A common picture that comes to mind when hearing the word "sleepwalking" is one from the movies: a person walking, eyes closed, arms outstretched in front of them. Although the movies offer this image, it is not a true depiction of the activities of sleepwalkers.
Dr. Stephen Sheldon, the director of the sleep medicine center at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, says children who sleepwalk may look as if they are awake. One of the only clues to know a child is sleepwalking may be strange or unusual behaviors that occur during the episode.