I am a notorious sleep walker and run in sets of quietude and utter activity. Well, the latter has been a part of me for the past 2 weeks, but last night, it caught up with me. For some reason, I guess I wanted to comb my hair, no doubt dreaming it, and got up to retrieve my favorite comb from the vanity in the bathroom. I apparently dropped the comb and when I bent over to pick it up, I fell flat on my face. I yelped so loud that it woke me up. Needless to say, I was stunned and had a terrible time getting myself up as I was somewhat disoriented. I immediately grabbed ice packs from the freezer and held them to my forehead which was swollen as large as a fist. I went through 2 packs, but the swelling went down beautifully. Not to say, I don't still have a fair amount and am bruised beyond the pale. Beginnning to think I should have a keeper with me at night.
Von, when I was a kid, my mom put a pan of cold water alongside the bed which would awaken me immediately and I guess something like that, or yes, a bell would be in order.
So sorry to hear about your fall, @Terry Coywin , and thankful that you were not hurt any worse than you are. I definitely agree that you need something to help you wake up if you try to get out of bed when you are sleeping ! Bobby and I both take melatonin before bed at night, and we usually have a sound , restful sleep. It works, it is not addictive, and has anti-aging benefits as well.
@Terry Coywin -- glad your okay . Have looked into dogs trained for such things ? Or have your dog trained - if you have one. You must be extra careful.
I’m not sure if the cure is worse than the walk but how about a small dog collar around your wrist. Ya know, the ones that give you a jolt if you cross a preset barrier. I mean, it stops pets from going past a certain point and it definitely would wake you up. Of course, if you forgot about it and didn’t disengage if you had to get up to use the bathroom you’d get a jolt but on the upside, you wouldn’t have to curl your hair in the morning. Seriously though, sorry to read that you had a fall and I do pray that it didn’t do more damage other than what is readily visible.
Thanks Beth. I seem to be OK, but of course we shall see. I did not sustain a concussion or the like, but a shiner I do have.
I never took sleep walking as a real thing but I guess you know better. You should take some protective measure as was stated above. Potentially falling down stairs is not a good thing.
I'm glad you weren't hurt worse. I've never known any sleep walkers, but I did know a guy who slept with his eyes wide open. It's the stuff of horror movies when you're camping. That's pretty scary to know that when you fall asleep you might be at risk. Are there recommendations in the somnambulist community for self-protection?
I was just looking at wireless motion sensors on Walmart's website. They have a set of three sensors (actually sense heat, not motion) that could be strategically placed (without really mounting them) that trigger a doorbell chime...under $50. (I was gonna first ask if you wanted suggestions,'cause it can be annoying if you just wanted to talk about it, but there's my suggestion.)
So I'm kinda curious, since you seem to know when it ebbs & flows... Absent any injury, are you aware when you've been walking in your sleep? Can you "just tell" when you wake up the next day, or does it take some event to wake you up "in the moment" for you to know it's happened? It seems that any of us might have this condition, and without having someone else in the household to let us know (or without waking up in the middle of it), we might never be aware.
In the service we pulled barracks guard duty at night and periodically we had to take a walk through the barracks. We had an Oriental guy from Hawaii and I could see his eyes open as he slept.