Sleepwalking Treatment and Prevention Tips for Your Home

How to Prevent Sleepwalking in Your Home or Apartment

Sleepwalking has always been a humorous topic – unless of course you’re the one who sleepwalks. Sleepwalking can actually be dangerous, and ultimately may mask more serious problems. While an effective sleepwalking treatment is hard to find, there are steps you can take to lessen the impact of this nighttime sleeping disorder.

Sometimes, the answer can be as simple as getting more adequate sleep.  If possible, limiting stress can also be very helpful.  And, while watching TV in bed may be the national pastime, it also acts as a mental stimulant and can make the problem worse.

Sleepwalking Prevention 101: Create a Safe Environment

While sleepwalking treatment is mostly preventive, here are a few pointers to acknowledge:

• Keep your sleeping environment free of sharp objects and corners.
• Move shoes, chairs and ottomans out of the way.
• Cover the windows with drapes so that you avoid serious injury if you accidentally break the glass.
• Buy an inexpensive door alarm that goes off when you open the door.
• Don’t eat or drink before going to bed.
• Don’t watch TV or listen to the radio in bed.
• Learn relaxation techniques such as meditation and visualization.

Sleepwalking may mask underlying symptoms such as sleep apnea,acid reflux or restless leg syndrome, among others. A sleep study may help identify the underlying causes for your sleepwalking which will help diagnose how you can prevent sleepwalking.

Sleepwalking Treatments: Protecting the Sleepwalker in Your Home

Sleepwalking treatment is very limited so many times there are only preventative measures that can be taken. Although it is not recommended to wake a sleepwalker, it may be safer than letting them roam where they could potentially injure themselves.

First, see if you can direct sleepwalkers back to their room, but if that does not work you will want to wake them. It’s a good idea to wake them with loud noises, rather than shaking them.

Sometimes, a doctor will prescribe a sleepwalking treatment medication to help you to relax, such as ProSom, Klonopin or Trazodone. Often, the use of medication is temporary until the sleepwalking symptoms will subside.

While sleepwalking can be somewhat frightening (we’ve all seen some over-the-top examples on YouTube) and certainly disruptive, it can be treated effectively and in most cases, is not dangerous.

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