ON THE TRAIL OF SOMNAMBULISM

ABSTRACT

Somnambulism, commonly known as sleepwalking, affects only 3% of the adult population. It is a parasomnia associated with the NREM phase characterized by incomplete awakening during sleep, with simple or complex behaviors with simultaneous full or partial amnesia of nocturnal experiences. Based on self-report and statistical analysis in SPSS of the results from the questionnaires, we investigated the effects of evening chronotype, COVID‑19 pandemic (SARS-CoV-2) and sleep disorders on the occurrence and frequency of sleepwalking episodes in adults. No significant statistical differences were found between the incidence and frequency of sleepwalking episodes and the mentioned factors. However, this does not exclude their influence. The conducted study is a good start for a rarely studied group of adult sleepwalkers. Future work should focus on increasing the study group and expanding the research methodology: