Tips For Sleep Walkers

• Most sleepwalking episodes, particularly in children, are short-lived and innocent and need no specific treatment. All that is necessary is to protect the youngster from harm. One should be very careful to lock the doors leading outside, using a child-proof mechanism. Similarly, an alarm system that is triggered by the opening of the child's bedroom door can be useful. The child's bedroom must be looked at carefully for potentially injurious objects or features. Windows are a potential source of danger, both from breaking glass and as a means of exit for the child. The room should contain no sharp objects, or piles of material that may topple and suffocate, or furniture that can be pulled over. 

• Adult sleepwalkers are as susceptible as children to the hazards mentioned above.  

• Most adults who sleepwalk are aware of the situations in which they are liable to do so - situations in which the amount of deep sleep is increased, including fatigue, sleep deprivation, excessive use of alcohol or other sedative drugs, and increased stress of any kind. The danger is always greater when the sleepwalker is out of his usual environment, not only because of the disorientation during sleepwalking, but also because changes in the environment are often associated with a change in sleep pattern.  

• We know that the chance of sleepwalking is increased in certain situations, and efforts to prevent sleepwalking episodes have been devised on the basis of that knowledge. Because sleepwalking occurs on exiting deep sleep, any drug that suppresses the amount of this sleep will also suppress the sleepwalking. Benzodiazepines and some antidepressants, such as imipramine, have this effect and are often very useful for adult sleepwalkers in strange or dangerous sleeping situations. Preventing excessive fatigue in sleepwalkers (especially children) will prevent the subsequent increase in deep sleep and help to decrease the chance of having a sleepwalking episode. Because stress is often a factor, and because a significant percentage of adult sleepwalkers have psychological difficulties, psychological counseling is often very effective, particularly for adults. Hypnosis has also been used to advantage, for similar reasons.  

• Excessive alcohol can cause or aggravate a tendency to sleepwalk, as can some medications - beta blockers, lithium, amitriptyline, and certain sedatives and sleeping pills.