Why do people sleepwalk?
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You have to dream or you lose brain function. Dreaming is a lot like living, in terms of how the brain works, so the brain has to disconnect the connection between what you think you’re doing and what you’re doing, or else you’d cause chaos and injure yourself in the waking world.
So in your dream, you’re walking to your office, and your brain says “hey, put it through the pipe to the legs, we’re walking here.” And that pipe is supposed to not go to the legs anymore, so your legs never get the command to walk, and you just stay in your bed peacefully. Sometimes, the pipe didn’t get shut off all the way. Or sometimes it got reconnected too early. So then your legs get the order to walk, and you get up and walk. Or talk, or whatever else one does in their sleep.
My sister sleep walked outside. When we were younger… In January, during a blizzard.
Things can go sideways real quick with sleep walkers.
When you sleep your brain usually automatically disconnects the motor cortex in order to let your muscles rest. The motor corte is the area responsible for commanding the conscious movement of your body. In some people in some circumstances the brain can’t figure out how to fully disconnect itself from the motor cortex. Thus the person will act out their subconscious thoughts as if they were consviousoy deciding to move.
Here is a recent [TED-Ed video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_JLTmIFq_A) about sleepwalking.
Part of the brain paralyses you when you sleep so you do not act out your dreams.
In many people (including myself) this portion of the brain works poorly. This leads to you acting out dreams, walking around, talking, singing, etc.
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