Problem description:
Which part of the human body has changed in sleepwalking, and what does it have to do with the brain? If you want to stop sleepwalking, please explain it in scientific language.
Analysis:
Sleepwalking, also known as sleepwalking, refers to getting up, walking indoors or outdoors, or doing some simple activities, being in a mixed state of sleep and sobriety. Such patients usually get up and walk in repeated sleep for several minutes to half an hour. During the attack, the sleepwalker suddenly stared at his eyes during sleep, but didn't look at anything, and then got out of bed to do some activities under the condition of vague consciousness. When walking out of bed, although it is dark around, patients usually walk freely without touching anything. It is understood that sleepwalkers' eyes are half-open or full-open, their walking posture is the same as usual, and they can even carry out some complicated activities. Sleepwalking is a strange state of consciousness. Patients seem to live only in their own world and lose contact with others. Their emotions sometimes fluctuate greatly, and they even talk a lot of nonsense, which is difficult for others to understand. When sleepwalking, the patient's expression is dull, and there is basically no response to others' * *, so it is difficult to be forcibly awakened. Although the patient is unconscious, his actions seem to have a purpose, and he seems to be engaged in a meaningful job. After the attack, I can automatically go back to bed and go back to sleep. Sleepwalking usually occurs in the deep sleep period of the first 1/3 sleep, and wakes up the next morning, completely unaware of what happened at night and completely forgetting. The disease is more common in boys aged 6~ 12.
In fact, sleepwalking has nothing to do with dreaming, because according to EEG, sleepwalking is in a deep sleep stage, not a rapid eye movement sleep stage, and people will not dream at this stage, so sleepwalking may be more in line with the facts. There are different opinions about the causes of sleepwalking, and it is still unknown. It is estimated that there may be the following four aspects:
1. Psychosocial factors Some children sleepwalking is related to psychosocial factors. Such as daily life disorder, environmental stress, anxiety and fear; Family disharmony, bad parent-child relationship, nervous study and poor exam results are all related to sleepwalking.
2. Too deep sleep because sleepwalking often occurs in the first 1/3 deep sleep period of sleep, and various factors that deepen sleep, such as overwork during the day, lack of sleep caused by staying up late for several days, taking sleeping pills before going to bed, etc. , can induce sleepwalking.
3. Family investigation of genetic factors shows that sleepwalking patients have more positive family history, and the comorbidity rate of identical twins is 6 times higher than that of identical twins, which shows that the disease has certain relationship with genetic factors.
4. Developmental factors Because the disease mostly occurs in childhood, it gradually stops with the increase of age, indicating that sleepwalking may be related to the delayed development of cerebral cortex.
Next, let's look at a typical case of sleepwalking.
Mei, a 9-year-old male, came to the children's mental health clinic many times because she got up after sleeping. One day in the summer vacation, after watching TV, the child went to bed and fell asleep. After about 1 hour, he suddenly got up, opened the door and went to the fifth floor to hold his classmate's door. After a while, he went home to sleep. The next day, I denied it. Later, I often get up by myself, drink water, open drawers to get things, or go to my mother and touch her with my hands. I mumbled something, ignoring other people's words and staring blankly. A few minutes later, I went to bed by myself. I went to the doctor two days ago, and it was 1 1 o'clock. The child suddenly got up, lifted the bucket, walked down the fourth floor, and fell 100 meters away. The next day he denied it.
Finally, talk about the treatment of sleepwalking, including two aspects:
(1) psychotherapy
1. Supportive psychotherapy mostly occurs in the growth and development of boys aged 6~ 12. On the basis of excluding organic factors, it is mostly related to social and psychological factors, life rhythm and growth and development factors. Therefore, first of all, we should explain the characteristics and causes of the disease to family members and patients, reduce the psychological burden of patients and their families, and avoid the anxiety and tension caused by children's occasional dreaming behavior, which will aggravate sleepwalking symptoms. Explain clearly to family and children that as long as the number of attacks is small, treatment is generally not needed, but care should be paid when attacks occur to prevent accidents. Children who are having an attack should be woken up or put to bed. Generally, with the increase of age, the symptoms of children's sleepwalking will gradually be alleviated and finally completely relieved.
2. Sleep hygiene education reasonably arranges work and rest time, cultivates good sleep habits and daily life rules, avoids excessive fatigue and high tension, pays attention to going to bed early and getting up early, and exercises to adjust the sleep rhythm to the best state; Secondly, we should pay attention to the control of the sleeping environment, close the doors and windows before going to bed, and collect all kinds of dangerous goods to avoid getting lost when sleepwalking attacks, or causing incidents that hurt ourselves and others; Third, we should pay attention to the protective medical system for children with this disease, and don't talk about the seriousness of their illness and sleepwalking in front of children, so as not to increase their tension, anxiety and fear.
(2) drug therapy
The frequency of the disease is small, and generally no drug treatment is needed; For frequent authors, diazepam 2.5mg can be taken shortly before going to bed to reduce or control seizures.