Sleepwalking and safety

Sleepwalking is an unconscious physical activity carried out during sleep. It may involve walking, talking, running, peeing in inappropriate places, driving a car, sexual activity and other activities.

Sleepwalking is more common in children aged below 12 years than in adults.

It is generally not a severe condition, but it can have negative consequences when it happens frequently.

In rare cases, people may undertake activities like driving, operating machinery, or sexual activity (sexsomnia) during sleep. If this happens, speak to your healthcare provider immediately.

Sleepwalking in children is quite normal and you can guide your child, without waking them, when they experience it to avoid accidents. As an adult, sleep walking can be embarrassing. Sleep walking usually happens during periods of deep sleep and tends to happen during the first few hours of sleep. It happens, but rarely, that you may injure yourself if you trip over objects.

If you find that you attempted operating a machine or tried to have sex during sleep, speak with your partner or a healthcare provider about this.

• Keep rooms spacious and clean by sweeping and clearing the areas. Clear the room of objects lying around.
• Make a separate part of the house for children to play in, preventing toys from lying around the floor. When they sleepwalk, they can trip on the object and fall.
• Place temporary block gates on staircases to prevent falls.
• If you are a caregiver for someone who has been injured while sleepwalking, you can install alarm clocks by the side of the bed to stir them up.
• Let your healthcare provider know about this condition if you or your child are prescribed sleep medication.

The dangers of sleepwalking range from a slight fall to having a serious accident. Try as much as possible to prevent this by keeping your environment free of harm, especially when you have children.

If you have prescription medications, use them as prescribed by their healthcare provider.