Hi,

My sisters husband has been sleepwalking since he was a kid and he's never been to a doctor about it. Now my sister is carrying twins and the thought is clearly giving the bloke some stress. His sleepwalking is becoming more and more frequent and dangerous. The other night my sister woke because of lack of breathe - it was then she realised he was on top of her, strangling what he thought was a rapist. Another time he stood inside a wardrobe and woke her up by pointing and shouting obsenities. The doctor has told her to move out til he gets sorted as it seems its out of hand.

I've read relaxation/meditation can help, as well as a regular bedtime routine. I've also read that hypnosis has a 60% success rate, if he's susceptible to it. They implant a suggestion that makes you wake up when your feet are flat on the floor. The doctors just hand out valium like its candy and this doesn't seem like a good way to control it.

I've thought about natural remedies to block dreaming, but it seems that sleepwalking occurs in the stages before dreaming. I also think blocking dreams may be bad for waking cognitive functions, but thats just a hunch.

Anyone have experience of sleepwalking and how to stop it?

No, but I have a bad joke:

Maybe she can rent him out to zombi film producers.

Dreaming is a nessecity, you need REM sleep or youl die. Basically when you go to sleep, your sub-concious stops all your non-essential motor functions. So when you dream of walking you dont actually walk, sleepwalking occurs when the motor functions percieved in the dream cause the muscles in your body to act in the same way.

Im not sure what will cure this, prehaps behavioural therapy? I know they use it to stop things like bed wetting, should work for sleepwalking too.

I guess this condition is almost the reverse of sleep paralysis. The body cant keep itself safe during sleep. I think I read that behavioural therapy may reduce the amount of incidents to once a month rather than every night. But the doctors are pretty much ignoring it because it seems untreatable at the moment.

As for renting him out as a zombie, lol, I feel a holiday villa coming on

Seriously though, hopefully someone will have some good insight and help for this condition. Lack of a cure just shows our lack of understanding of dreams and the mind.