Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine say that their study "underscores the fact that sleepwalking is much more prevalent in adults than previously appreciated", the 'Neurology' journal reported.
Maurice Ohayon, who led the study, said that sleepwalking is a disorder "of arousal from non-REM sleep" and it can have serious consequences. It can result in injuries to wanderer or others and lead to impaired psychosocial functioning.
According to researchers, it's thought that medication use and certain psychological and psychiatric conditions can trigger sleepwalking, but the exact causes are unknown.
"Apart from a study we did 10 years ago in the European general population, where we reported a prevalence of 2 percent of sleepwalking, there are nearly no data regarding the prevalence of nocturnal wanderings in the adult general population. In the United States, the only prevalence rate was published 30 years ago," the researchers said.
For this study, the first to use a large, representative sample of the US general population to demonstrate the number of sleepwalkers, the researchers also aimed to evaluate the importance of medication use and mental disorders associated with sleepwalking. (MORE)
