I read about someone sleep walking it got me wondering how this works. How can someone be walking around, talking, eating, and not remember a thing? If the brain is conscious enough to tell your body to do these things, how does it completely forget about them? Something is a creepy about it, like they are mindless.
In: Biology
When you fall asleep, there’s a switch your brain flips that stops it from moving your body while you dream. If it didn’t, we’d all be sleepwalking constantly. People that move a lot while asleep or sleepwalk have something interrupting this natural switch (reasons can vary, from drugs to stress to genetics, etc.).
Interestingly, it’s been speculated that because your brain and body talk to one another constantly, the body registering that it’s not moving might be the reason fast actions in dreams often feel like your underwater (can’t run away from the monster fast, dream punches feel weak and lack power, etc.).
When this switch is stuck the other way, you get sleep paralysis, which is where a person is partially or fully awake but can’t move their body. I’ve had it happen three times in my life, and it is absolutely terrifying.
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