My Experience with Unconscious Sleep Behaviors

 I must admit that from a young child I walked in my sleep quite often. It was normally related to a nightmare or night terror that I was having at the time (probably from watching too many horror films?:). In my efforts to escape my fear in the dream I would physically walk around or run ending up in other areas of the house only to be found in the middle of the night screaming or banging on the walls or doors by my parents.

Very few times did I actually wake during a sleep walking episode and realize what I was doing and what caused me to act out. Most times I would be oblivious to what happened the night before as my parents would recall the event to me the next morning. I would sometimes fear going to sleep because the thought of me not being in control of my actions while I slept was scary and possibly dangerous. My parents had many sleepless nights I will say. My dad would jump up at the first sound of me screaming and would often times break down their bedroom closet doors in his half-asleep haste to save me from my "subconscious attackers". As a concerned parent, his first thought was that a "real" intruder was out to get me - which, in my mind, was really happening.

I honestly believe that sleep walking, night terrors and other unconscious sleeping behaviors could be linked to heredity. I say this because my mother walked in her sleep as a child as well. She once told me that my grandmother found her in the kitchen one night banging a knife on the counter top and another time she ended up outside the house! My husband had night terrors as a toddler as well and now our 3 year old son, since 10 months old, has occasional night terrors that will last 10 to 15 minutes at a time where he gets out of bed kicking, screaming and crying as if he is being attacked.

Night terrors are different from sleepwalking and nightmares in that the child seems hysterical and is nearly impossible to wake. When my son first starting having the terrors I thought I should hold him and try to wake him up, but later learned this is not the best thing to do as it made him feel constrained and even more frightened as if I was the villain. Also, he would often throw himself to the floor or try to run out of the room during an episode. I found that the best thing I could do was try to keep him from hurting himself until the terror was over by placing pillows around him and preventing him from leaving the room. Another small help was turning on his bedroom light and singing a favorite nursery rhyme in a soft voice.

It can be very distressing and not to mention tiring if you or someone in your home has unconscious sleep behaviors. There are many people out there who have experienced this with interesting stories to tell. It's comforting for me to know I am not alone in this experience and can relate with others on a conscious level about this rather "unconscious" topic - Sincerest thanks.