Causes

Sleepwalking is classified as a parasomnia — an undesirable behavior or experience during sleep. Sleepwalking is a disorder of arousal, meaning it occurs during N3 sleep, the deepest stage of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Another NREM disorder is sleep terrors, which can occur together with sleepwalking.

Many factors can contribute to sleepwalking, including:

• Sleep deprivation
• Stress
• Fever
• Sleep schedule disruptions, travel or sleep interruptions

Sometimes sleepwalking can by triggered by underlying conditions that interfere with sleep, such as:

• Sleep-disordered breathing — a group of disorders featuring abnormal breathing patterns during sleep (for example, obstructive sleep apnea)
• Taking certain medications, such as hypnotics, sedatives or certain medications used for psychiatric disorders
• Substance use, such as alcohol
• Restless legs syndrome
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD)