Children with Sleep
Walking
Understanding The Children with Sleep Disorder
The sleep disorder of sleepwalking, which is also known as
somnambulism, has found to affect about 14% of school-age
children between five and twelve years old at least once.
About one quarter of the children with this sleep disorder
suffer from more frequent episodes. Sleepwalking is more common
in boys then it is in girls. Most children who sleepwalk outgrow
the symptoms of this sleep disorder by adolescence as their
nervous systems develop.
In children this sleep disorder is predicted to be resulted
from the immaturity of the brain's sleep or wake cycle. Usually,
the entire brain wakes up at the same time. However, in the
case of a sleepwalker, the whole brain does not wake up together.
The portion which is responsible for mobility wakes up while
the portion responsible for cognition and awareness remains
asleep. The child is actually in a deep state of sleep.
With this sleep disorder the brain stays partially asleep
but the body is able to move. It is very common for the sleepwalker
to get out of bed and walk around. Sometimes they get dressed
or even leave the house.
Even though the sleepwalker's eyes are open and they see
what they are doing, they usually show no expression. They
will not respond to conversation or their name being called.
A sleepwalker's movements usually tend to be clumsier. It
is not unusual for them to trip over furniture or knock over
things as they move around. A sleepwalking episode usually
happens one to two hours after the child goes to sleep. Most
of these episodes will last for fifteen minutes or less, but
some can last for an hour or more.
This sleep disorder in children is usually outgrown as they
grow up and treatment is not generally necessary. In most
cases, a parent gently guiding the child back to bed is all
that is needed. You need not wake the child at all.
A sleepwalker, be it adult or child, has to have a safe area
to reduce their injury. Precautions need to be taken to eliminate
some dangers. Parents should make sure the child's bedroom
does not have any sharp or breakable objects. Doors should
be tightly locked at night to prevent the sleepwalker from
leaving the house. You might even want to put bells on doors
to alert the sleeping parent that their child is sleepwalking.
As for the large glass windows and doors should be covered
with heavy drapery to lessen the chance of having the sleepwalker
walk through it while it is closed.
A child with the sleep disorder of somnambulism needs protection
and be kept safe during an episode. It is the environment
they are in that is the danger more then the sleep disorder
itself.
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