An Animated Explanation of What Happens When a Person Sleepwalks

In “Why Do You Sleepwalk?” by LifeNoggin, narrator Pat Graziosi explains via animation what happens during somnambulation, who it happens to and the possible explanations as to why sleepwalking occurs.

…Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly why it occurs, but what they do know is that it most frequently happens to children and occurs during the deepest stages of sleep, stages 3 & 4. This is your deepest sleep where your brain waves are the slowest in contrast during REM sleep or rapid eye movement your brain activity is much more active and this is the stage in which most of your dreams occur and to keep you fromb acting out those dreams your body’s muscles become temporarily paralyzed so it makes sense that mostly walking occurs in the stage other than REM sleep.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.