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Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
67% of us experience parasomnias — expert shares 5 most common types and why they happen
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Experiencing a parasomnia, like sleep walking, can feel disturbing. Sleepwalking isn't the only parasomnia, though — other sleep conditions such as sleep paralysis, bed wetting and even sleep talking can be classed as a parasomnia. So what causes them? From stress and trauma, to lifestyle habits and medications (or even genetics) — there are many factors that can be responsible for parasomnias. Considering 67% of us experience parasomnias, we want to find out more. So, we're exploring what the most common parasomnias are, talking to sleep experts about why they affect some people more than others and strategies to manage or stop them to help you sleep better. What are parasomnias? Parasomnias are behaviours that occur during sleep, such as 'sleepwalking, sleep talking, or night terrors,' explains Dr Hamilton Gaiani, a double board-certified psychiatrist. He adds that these parasomnias are usually associated with 'stress, nervousness, or previous traumatic experiences.' 'For instance, sleepwalking occurs when the brain is not fully awake but the body is walking around, something that may occur when you're stressed or overwhelmed,' he explains. So, what's happening to the body when you're experiencing a parasomnia? Sleep expert Dr Lindsay Browning adds that they can be categorised as non-rapid eye movement (NREM) parasomnias or rapid eye movement (REM) parasomnias depending on which part of sleep they occur. She explains that there is another category called 'other parasomnias': 'This covers parasomnias that do not fit neatly into either the REM or NREM classifications." "NREM parasomnias typically occur in the first third of the night, whereas REM parasomnias tend to occur in the latter half of the night,' she adds. The 5 most common types of parasomnias explained There are many types of parasomnias, but these 5 are the most common. 1. Sleep walking Browning explains that someone who is sleepwalking is 'not fully conscious, but they may open their eyes, get up out of bed, walk downstairs, open the fridge, and even eat something, before going back to bed again.' Sleep walking might seem like a bit of a novelty, but this parasomnia can pose many dangers — especially if the walker leaves their house. 2. Sleep talking If you've ever been woken up by someone talking next to you, and they are fast asleep, they could be sleep talking. 'Sleep talking (or somniloquy) is a parasomnia where someone may start talking, mumbling, or shouting during their sleep without being aware that they're doing so,' the sleep expert explains. 'It can occur in any sleep stage but is most common in NREM sleep,' she adds. 3. Sleep paralysis A scary feeling to wake up to, explains that sleep paralysis is 'a state where you become paralyzed and cannot move or talk while falling asleep or waking up.' He explains that it's often linked to stress, anxiety or insufficient sleep condition could be more common than you think, with one study showing that 4 in 10 of us have experienced it. 4. Night terrors and nightmare disorder Night terrors are short episodes of fear or terror that seem to occur during deep sleep, says Dr. Gaiani. 'They may result in activity such as screaming, thrashing, or pounding heart.' 'The individual typically does not recall the episode in the morning. Night terrors are a parasomnia since they interrupt normal sleep and are usually precipitated by trauma or stress,' he explains. The reason individuals don't remember these episodes is because they usually take place during NREM sleep. 5. Bedwetting Wetting the bed while you sleep can be a traumatic experience, explains sleep expert Dr. Leah Kaylor. She explains that it's classed as a parasomnia because it 'happens during sleep without conscious control over the bladder.' This is a parasomnia which is more common in children, but adults can also experience the condition due to extreme stress, trauma, health conditions or poor sleep habits. What causes parasomnias? 'Parasomnias can be caused by a mix of physical, emotional, and environmental factors,' says Kaylor. She adds that one common cause is sleep deprivation. 'This is when the body doesn't get enough rest; it increases the chances of unusual brain activity during sleep.' Stress and anxiety are also major triggers Stress and anxiety are also major triggers, 'because they can make the brain more active during sleep, leading to disruptions like night terrors or sleepwalking,' she explains. But your sleep habits and lifestyle can also play a part. 'Irregular sleep schedules, such as going to bed at different times each night or doing shift work, can confuse the body's internal clock and increase the risk of parasomnias,' Dr Kaylor says. Genetics can also play a role as well as certain medications or substances, such as sleeping pills, stimulants or alcohol. How to stop parasomnias There are different ways to help manage parasomnias and even help to stop them, we've looked at a few solutions below but if you experience them frequently or their impacting your quality of life, you should speak with a specialist to find the right solution for you. Keeping a consistent sleep schedule Your body works off a sleep/wake cycle called the circadian rhythm. This is like a pre-programmed internal clock telling your body when to wake up and when to go to sleep. So keeping a consistent sleep schedule will allow your body to easily fall asleep and stay asleep, cycling through the individual sleep stages properly, which will help ward off parasomnia symptoms. Limit alcohol and other substances Although alcohol and other substances could relax you and help you initially get to sleep they could affect the quality of your sleep, says Browning. 'As alcohol affects sleep architecture, it can cause more fragmented and disturbed REM sleep in the latter part of the night, increasing the likelihood of parasomnias.' Try CBT Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) helps to change how we think and ultimately our actions. So, how can it stop parasomnias? 'CBT can help those dealing with the stress, anxiety, or trauma that causes sleep disorders or parasomnias - this is because it helps to alter the negative thought processes,' explains Improve sleep hygiene If you're being disrupted when you sleep it could be a good time to look at your sleep hygiene. So, what does this mean? Sleep hygiene refers to your environment and the habits you have that can impact your sleep. If you're waking up due to street lights or sunshine blaring into your bedroom it could be time to invest in black out blinds. If noise is the problem, then earplugs could be your best bet. Make sure where you sleep is also clutter free, well ventilated and has comfortable bedding — all key things to help you get a better night's sleep. Medication If none of the lifestyle solutions above help to cure your parasomnia then it may be worth looking at medications to help you. But always consult a physician or doctor before starting any medication (especially if it hasn't been prescribed for you) to make sure it's the right option.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Woman Places Puzzling Food Delivery Order While Sleepwalking in the Middle of the Night: 'I Was So Confused'
A woman woke up one morning to discover that she had spent $8 on a food delivery the night before She was puzzled because she had no memory of ordering anything and found no trace of a food bag left at her home When she checked her security camera footage, she discovered she had been sleepwalking during the night — and that she had ordered something a bit strangeMiranda Knowles was puzzled after she woke up one morning and discovered that she had spent $8 on a DoorDash food delivery the night before. The British Columbia woman had no memory of placing an order and initially found no trace of a delivery at her home, she told Newsweek. The only clue she had was an email confirmation for the delivery. But strangely, the photo in the email did not show a food bag left at her door. When she went to investigate, however, she found a single packet of honey mustard sauce had been delivered. "I was so confused because I didn't see any bag in the picture, so I ran down the stairs and was baffled to see the little sauce," she recalled to Newsweek. When Knowles pulled up the previous night's footage captured on her home security camera and reviewed her DoorDash order history, she was able to piece together what happened during the night — and she wasn't exactly surprised by the revelation. As it turns out, she had been sleepwalking when she placed the delivery order. Knowles has been a sleepwalker her entire life and has had many similar instances of nocturnal activities, per Newsweek. "It started as a young child and still happens, up to 10 times a month," she told the outlet. "I have cleaned, put Christmas decorations away, crafted items, prepared food, bathed and done laundry. Nothing too crazy, but I can get a lot done while asleep." "I find that I sleepwalk more if I have a lot of caffeine in the day or if I'm stressed," she added of what can exacerbate the sleep disorder. She told Newsweek that her sleepwalking recently has involved lots of delivery orders. "Lately, I've been DoorDashing random items," she said. "Just regular things — onion rings, just a single bottle of Coke, although I don't drink Coke. I either see the email notification when I wake up or I go to leave for work and there's a bag of cold food at my door." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Despite her "random" orders, she was still floored to find out she had a delivery person come to her home just to bring her a sauce packet. She shared security video footage of the moment on her TikTok account, writing over the clip: "POV you door dashed a single honey mustard sauce while sleep walking at 12:43 am for $8." In the caption, she offered her "apologies to the dasher who delivered a single sauce to my door at 1 am 💀🙏." Knowles' video quickly went viral, racking up more than 4.5 million views. When she showed the footage to her husband, he was equally unfazed, she told Newsweek. "I thought it was funny … and he wasn't surprised at yet another silly sleepwalking thing I did," she said. "I do like A&W honey mustard, but I'm not sure why I would order it alone!" While her middle-of-the-night sauce packet order certainly makes for a memorable story, Knowles said it's far from her most extreme sleepwalking incident. "It's up there, but I've also emptied the entire fridge, I've had a bath, I've wandered outside in the middle of the night," she told the outlet. According to the Mayo Clinic, sleepwalking is "a disorder of arousal" that "occurs during N3 sleep, the deepest stage of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep." It can be caused by not getting enough sleep, stress, fever, sleep schedule disruptions, travel or sleep interruptions. Knowles told Newsweek that she has "learned to live" with the condition and takes steps to reduce its occurrence, even recently quitting a stressful job. "I try to keep my life stress-free, but that isn't possible for everyone," she said. "I was a registered nurse in emergency for the last two and a half years, so I was always stressed. Recently, I changed to another job and it's not as much stress, so less sleepwalking." Read the original article on People
Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Family lash out in fury after wife stabbed her husband to death while he sat around the campfire with his mates - but then was set free by bombshell revelations
The family of a man allegedly stabbed to death by his sleepwalking wife has vowed to continue their fight for justice after the murder charge against her was dropped. Serdar Caliskan, 50, died in September 2023 at Mount Disappointment in Victoria's north, when his wife Ilknur, 47, allegedly stabbed him in the heart. But the case against the mother-of-two was abandoned in February, just weeks before it was due to go to trial in the Victorian Supreme Court. Now Mr Caliskan's family say they won't stay silent and claim there was never any mention of a sleep disorder in 26 years of marriage prior to the tragedy. Ms Caliskan's legal team had previously flagged she suffered from parasomnia, a sleep disorder which had allegedly caused her to climb out of a car-top tent, down a ladder, walk through the bush, pick up a knife and stab her husband to death. But his furious family say they don't accept that and want a change in the law to prevent anyone from using sleep disorders as a defence in court. 'It is a dangerous precedent that allows individuals to say they have a sleep disorder which can then allow them to escape accountability for violent crimes,' his brother Muzaffer told Daily Mail Australia. 'Serdar Caliskan was a father, a brother, a son. He was a person who deserved justice, not to be brushed aside as an inconvenient case. Since the pair wed, they made regular visits to Europe to stay with family for weeks at a time and were never told about a sleep disorder 'We were never told what exactly happened the night Serdar was brutally killed. The justice we wanted was never considered.' Mr Caliskan was found dead inside a car at Clonbinane, north of Melbourne. Ms Caliskan had driven 20km to the nearest town to raise help, but paramedics were unable to save the father of two. She told police she didn't know what had happened, but detectives alleged it could only have been her who fatally stabbed her husband. Ms Caliskan was arrested, charged and thrown behind bars. At home in Turkey, Muzaffer Caliskan was given the devastating news of his brother's death in a bizarre phone call. 'His ex co-worker called us and told us Serdar fell on a knife and that he was dead,' he said. 'We questioned it, how can someone fall on a knife? Then we were told [his wife] had too much alcohol to drink and [allegedly] stabbed him to death. The family say they put their trust in the justice system but were shocked when Ms Caliskan was later released on bail without their knowledge to undergo a sleep study in Sydney. 'We didn't even hear about sleepwalking until seven months after the incident when she applied for bail,' he recalled. 'Serdar never told us anything about her having any such disorders.' The pair had met in 1999 via an arranged marriage. Ms Caliskan was friends with a cousin of her husband and newly divorced from her first spouse after a relationship which Muzaffer says had only lasted a few months. 'She was friends with our cousin and was just divorced from her first husband,' he said. 'They got introduced over the phone, started chatting online and then she came to Turkey, and they got married in Turkey and she took Serdar back to Australia.' The couple made regular visits to Europe to stay with family for weeks at a time after their marriage. Their last trip home was just ten days before the horrific tragedy which killed Mr Caliskin. 'The last time we saw her she was acting strange. She was doing things she never did before, like going out alone without Serdar. 'That caught our eye, but the strangest was one of the couples that were camping with them that night were also in Turkey in a different state, and they went to visit them and stayed with them for a week. 'One day we went sightseeing and the most upsetting thing is that all the photos we took were on his phone which he was going to send to us when he got back to Australia, but never had the chance.' It's been almost two years since Mr Caliskin's death but the family have yet to receive a satisfactory explanation as to what exactly happened that evening. 'We have asked for the files from the Coroner under Freedom of Information, and from Office of Public Prosecution,' said Muzaffer. 'We demand to know exactly what happened to Serdar that night by account of every witness present and Ilknur's own statement. 'We need a comprehensive report detailing every piece of investigation that has been put towards this case. 'And we require confirmation of whether any investigation was conducted into potential marital issues and infidelity including any examination of text messages or other communications. 'We also demand to see all witness accounts and the complete expert reports that were used to make the decision to drop the charges.' They insist they will not stop until they receive justice and have launched a petition asking for urgent law reforms around sleep disorders and violent crimes. 'We refuse to accept this decision and we will ensure that every Australian knows his name and the injustice he suffered,' he said. 'When Ilknur got bail, that killed him for the second time in our eyes and when the charge was dropped, that killed him all over again.'
Daily Mail
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Will Stuart opens up on spooking his sleeping Lions team-mates, becoming a viral sensation and why he was glad to escape Bath's Premiership party
Soon after arriving for Lions duty with a celebratory hangover, Will Stuart found himself lurking behind a curtain next to his unsuspecting Irish room-mate's bed, in the middle of the night. For the England prop, there is a history of such nocturnal behaviour, which is why he will be making sure he is suitably dressed at lights-out time. 'I've been rooming with Finlay Bealham, he's a funny guy,' said Stuart. 'He's had to put up with me sleepwalking already, which he dealt with pretty well. 'He was in the bed next to the window and I'd got up and crept behind his bed and woke up behind the curtain next to the window. I opened the curtain and he was just there. I'm surprised he didn't wake up and get the fright of his life!' Asked about his 'previous', the Bath tighthead added: 'I've had some bad instances. The worst it's got in camp has been locking myself out of hotel rooms and getting halfway to the lobby. Hopefully that doesn't happen on this trip. I might just wear a few more layers in bed because I've been caught out a couple of times!' Stuart and Finn Russell belatedly joined up with the Lions after helping their club seal an historic Treble by winning the Premiership title for the first time in 29 years. Their tense victory over Leicester in the final at Twickenham sparked a wild party which shifted from London to the West Country and on to Ibiza, but by then the two men included in Andy Farrell's British and Irish squad had ducked out. The pair flew over from Bristol to Dublin last Monday. Asked if they'd had sufficient time to savour Bath's epic feats, Stuart laughed and said: 'Er, yeah! I think we did enough in two days to warrant a season celebration and the day after we were a bit ropey coming in, but I managed to dust off the cobwebs quite quickly. Some of the other Bath lads were still going for a few more days, but I haven't got that sort of staying power, so I was quite glad that I had to do this instead!' Once the hangover had receded and Stuart was up and running with the rest of the Lions squad, the magnitude of what he is involved in suddenly hit him, in a fleeting interaction with a legend who is part of the management team. 'I had a moment in training the other day when (Johnny) Sexton was running around, helping out,' he said. 'I threw a ball out the back and just thought to myself, 'Wow, I've just thrown a ball out the back to Johnny Sexton, that's quite cool'. He's working with the fly-halves mainly. I'm not sure I'll be picking his brains about kicking 50-22s, but if I get the chance…!' Joking aside, Stuart demonstrated during the Six Nations that there is a wannabe playmaker hidden in a prop's imposing frame. His side-step and off-load in the win over Italy caused a stir and he had to be politely told to stop trying to repeat the trick every time he received the ball in space. The subsequent banter has been incessant. 'I've been getting stick for that ever since,' he said. 'It's been, 'One viral clip and you've been picked for the Lions'! I had to rein it back a bit, but it's in the locker in case I need it!' As ever, in his role, the fundamental task for Stuart will be to provide a powerful set-piece platform with his set-piece work. After enduring scrum ordeals during England's Tests in New Zealand last summer, the 28-year-old enjoyed a transformational season of personal progress, to emerge as a prime contender for the Lions' starting tighthead place in the series against Australia. He will be involved in the first tour fixture Down Under against Western Force here on Saturday and Stuart is already alert to the threat the Wallabies will pose up front in a few weeks' time. 'I've seen their squad and (Will) Skelton is back in,' he said. 'With him at tighthead lock, that is a scary prospect for any opposing front row. 'Their props are all great players. Tupou (AKA 'Tongan Thor') is a big old goose and has a good bit of footwork on him. When he's firing, he's the world's best. They have a strong scrum, so it will be a good ding-dong.' Having become a Lions devotee while watching the 2013 tour of Australia on a big projector screen at school — 'I remember George North picking up Folau and everything like that' — Stuart is looking forward to the unique touring experience. He will be well supported. His girlfriend, Nancy, will be spending plenty of time in Australia after throwing herself into the Bath party. Speaking before departure from Dublin, Stuart said: 'She's coming out for a good stint. Actually, she just rocked up here today. We talked about me recovering from the celebrations — I don't think she has. She was worse for wear this morning. I think she's kept on going! 'My mum, stepdad and step-brothers are going to come out for the tour. Mum and my stepdad are getting a camper van and doing the tour properly. They did that in New Zealand (last year) and they were slightly worried that their relationship might not stand the test, but they passed it with flying colours! So, they're going to take it on a big scale to Australia. It'll be cool.' For Stuart himself and the Lions squad, all the journeys between cities will be by air. On the pitch, he has been flying all season — now he has a chance to soar to career heights over the coming weeks.
