Kids Likely to Sleepwalk if Parents Have History of Nocturnal Strolls

JAMA: More than 60 percent of children developed sleepwalking when both their parents were sleepwalkers in a study among children born in the Canadian province of Quebec, according to an article published online by JAMA Pediatrics. Sleepwalking is a common childhood sleep disorder that usually disappears during adolescence, although it can persist or appear in adulthood. Sleep terrors are another early childhood sleep disorder often characterized by a scream, intense fear and a prolonged period of inconsolability. The two disorders (also known as parasomnias) share many of the same characteristics and arise mainly from slow-wave sleep, according to background information in the study.

Parasomnias

Author: Dr Peremarty MD

Parasomnias are unwanted and uncontrolable events which happen during sleep.

They can be distinguished according to whether they occur during sleep onset, slow wave sleep or REM sleep.

• Those which occur in REM sleep are combined with affective disturbances and physiological stress reactions (fear, sweat, heart rate acceleration).
• The others (during slow wave sleep), on the other hand, leave the sleeper with very few memories.