Sometimes you hear that it is dangerous to wake up someone who is sleepwalking. However, the opposite can be true! If someone is going to hurt themselves or other people while sleepwalking, it is better to wake them up. Dangerous activities sleepwalkers have engaged in include leaving the home during winter, climbing out of windows or driving.
However, for the most part, sleepwalking during childhood is benign. Most families can protect their children with basic safety precautions like putting a high lock on doors at night, locking windows and putting away dangerous items like knives and scissors at bedtime. For most part though, the best intervention is to guide the person back to bed without waking them up.
Sleepwalking is a type of partial arousal, where part of the person’s brain is awake and part of it is asleep. This typically occurs in the first half of the night, often at the same time every night, correlating with the end of the first or second period of stage 3 non-rapid eye movement sleep.
Sleepwalking can also impact daytime behaviour, since it can disrupt sleep, causing sleepiness the following day. It is important to note that sleepiness in children is more often manifested as inattention and hyperactivity rather than dozing off. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sleepwalking occurs in about 17 per cent of children and about four per cent of adults. Although children are more likely to sleepwalk, it can persist into adulthood, sometimes being triggered by alcohol use, fever or sleep deprivation.
For more myths about sleepwalking: http://www.ahchealthenews.com/2016/08/26/5-sleepwalking-myths-debunked/