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Many sleepwalkers suffer an enigmatic existence. Their waking hours are plagued by pain that can dull their physical activity levels. Yet their lively nocturnal adventures can cause pain-free injury.
That’s the conclusion of a new study published in the journal Sleep by a group of French researchers. The team studied 100 patients who sleepwalk at least once a year but have no other sleep disorders. Compared to 100 non-sleepwalking participants, the sleepwalkers were more likely to suffer headaches, migraines, and chronic pain, as well as symptoms of depression and insomnia. But, of the 47 participants that reported being injured at one point during a sleep-like stupor, nearly 80 percent said the trauma was painless.
One participant had at one time fallen from a third-floor window while sleepwalking, sustaining severe fractures. Yet the participant slept through the fall and didn’t experience pain until being woken up. Another participant reported that he once climbed onto the roof of his house, fell off, broke his leg, and continued sleeping soundly until the morning. A third patient tumbled down the stairs while sleepwalking and slept in a jumble until his wife woke him. Once awake, it took several minutes before he noticed he was in pain, his wife reported.
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