There's a whole lot of sleepwalking going on at night

In U.S., 8.4 million people sleepwalk

May 15, 2012 at 10:43PM

Sleepwalking is much more common in the U.S. population that previously thought.

In a new study, published in the journal Neurology, researchers found about 3.6 percent of U.S. adults - about 8.4 million people - sleepwalk. What's more, almost 30 percent of adults said they've strolled while snoozing at least once throughout their lifetime.

Previous estimates of sleepwalking prevalence were around 2 percent, with U.S. estimates dating back 30 years since they were last updated.

"I would like to correct the impression that sleepwalking is rare," said study author Dr. Maurice Ohayon, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center in Palo Alto, Calif. "This is a huge number of people."

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about the writer

Colleen Stoxen

Deputy Managing Editor for News Operations

Colleen Stoxen oversees hiring, intern programs, newsroom finances, news production and union relations. She has been with the Minnesota Star Tribune since 1987, after working as a copy editor and reporter at newspapers in California, Indiana and North Dakota.

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