A high school junior with a knack for history and current events, Tom Canny loves exploring new worlds, but his own travels have sometimes proven even more interesting—and unexpected—than anything he’s learned abou
“I was once on a Model United Nations overnight trip and I woke up in the hotel lobby. I had no idea how I had gotten there, and it was very strange,” Canny says. ”I had no memory of leaving my hotel room, going into the elevator and heading downstairs.”
Canny, a Middlesex resident, is one of millions of Americans who suffers from somnambulism, the medical term for sleepwalking. This condition is classified as a “parasomnia,” any of several disorders that frequently interferes with sleep. Often triggered by stress or insufficient sleep, sleepwalking is largely but not exclusively a childhood phenomenon.
One to 17 percent of children, mostly boys, sleepwalk at least once; however, a smaller group of 3 to 6 percent of children are repeat sleepwalkers. Although the disorder generally disappears as children mature, sleepwalking in adults is more common than most people realize: about 4 percent of adults walk in their sleep.
A few months ago, Canny’s mother Pam became concerned enough to seek help from Carol Ash, DO, medical director of Somerset Medical Center’s Sleep for Life program.
“There are actually five different phases of sleep,” says Dr. Ash. “In healthy people, one stage of sleep cycles into another smoothly, like a well-oiled bicycle shifting gears. But in people with sleep disorders like Tom’s, the experience of sleep is more like riding a rusty bike. Cycles of sleep fail to transition smoothly, and you can become ‘stuck’ between gears. This is what happens to patients with parasomnias. They are in a mixed state of being both asleep and awake.”
According to Dr. Ash, sleepwalking can become more problematic with age because, if misunderstood, it can seem intentional or even illicit.
“Waking up and finding that you’re someplace that you’re not supposed to be is the hardest thing about sleepwalking,” Canny says.
“Since sleepwalking can be aggravated by stress, an unfamiliar environment like a hotel room can be a trigger and can disrupt sleep patterns,” says Dr. Ash. She prescribed a mild sedative for those times when Canny was away from home. “He’s still a teenager, so I wanted to be very conservative with any prescription medication,” Ash says.
When he’s safely at home, Canny’s parents gently lead him back to bed when he sleepwalks.
“Never try to wake a sleepwalker because you might startle them,” says Dr. Ash. “Just guide them to safety—and make sure the doors to the house are locked so it’s harder to get out.”
Although this was not the case with Canny, Dr. Ash sometimes recommends that parents put alarms on all of the doors so they will know when a child is making an exit.
“The whole experience with sleepwalking has been nerve-wracking, but Dr. Ash has helped me get it under control,” Canny says.
As a high-school junior he’ll be covering a lot of ground this school year—but only during the day.
Sleep for Life, the largest sleep disorders treatment program in New Jersey and one of the largest in the United States, is committed to helping patients understand and manage their sleep disorders. Our comprehensive approach to care uses the latest technology, equipment and techniques to identify and treat more than 80 known sleep disorders.
For more information about treating sleep disorders, call Sleep for Life at 888-SFL-REST or visit our Web site at sleepforlifeusa.com.
– Abigail Meisel

