Download file Somnambulism (sleepwalking)

Somnambulism, commonly known as sleepwalking, is a sleep disorder classified as a non-REM parasomnia. Those affected perform complex motor actions while in deep sleep—such as getting out of bed, walking around, and in rare cases even driving a car or leaving the house—without being aware of it or remembering it the next morning. Triggers include sleep deprivation, stress, fever, certain medications, and—frequently—genetic predisposition. Sleepwalking is widespread: up to 15% of children and 4% of adults are affected. As a special theme in literature, sleepwalking is exceptionally productive from a narrative perspective: A character who acts at night without the knowledge of their daytime self creates the ultimate variant of the unreliable narrator. Did they do anything? Were they there? What do the traces mean? Particularly intriguing: the legal dimension—under German law, sleepwalkers are not criminally liable if they commit a crime while in this state. A perpetrator who remembers nothing is not a liar. Or are they?