People walking in an unconscious state along various hard-to-reach routes and even on roofs are called somnambulists (or, in other words, lunatics). There is a myth that they somehow magically avoid all dangers, but this is not the case, sometimes falls happen, and the consequences are very unpleasant. The journal "Sleep" published research results according to which the sleepwalker does not feel pain from his injuries until he wakes up.
History of the issue and modern view
Medical science has been dealing with the problem of somnambulism for a long time, this phenomenon has served as the topic of various controversies of scientists and speculations of charlatans for many centuries. In the late 1800s, for example, Charles Darwin's grandfather Erasmus suggested that these unconscious journeys could be the body's response to injury or mental distress. A new study by a team of scientists led by Dr. Regis Lopez of the Guy de Chalet Hospital in Montpellier has produced some surprising results that reveal a paradoxical link between sleepwalking and pain.
Lopez group research
Promotional video:
Somnambulists are about four times more likely to experience headaches than normal people and ten times more susceptible to migraines, the report points out. This fact, it would seem, confirms previous studies indicating a high prevalence of somnambulism in patients suffering from chronic pathologies, although the causes and mechanisms of these connections are not fully understood. However, the most surprising result was the apparent inability of sleepwalkers to feel pain while unconscious while maintaining mobility.
The study included 47 participants who claimed that they had an accident during an attack of sleepwalking. 79% of them stated that they did not experience pain during sleep, despite the injuries they received, in some cases very serious. For example, among the study participants was a patient who suffered multiple fractures after falling from a third-floor window and did not feel anything until he woke up a few hours later. Another fell from the roof of his house, while breaking his leg, but did not know about the injury until the morning.
Disruption of information communication?
The essence of the hypothesis put forward by the research group is that during bouts of sleepwalking, there is a disorder in the connection between nociceptive pain sensations (caused by stimulation of nerve endings in body tissues) and the general activity of the brain. In other words, the transmission of sensory information to the brain is blocked, which allows somnambulists not to experience pain from injury. Sensations resume only after awakening.
