Spent the night in the hospital doing a test for mild sleep apnea, something 15% of the global population has. My technician has his nose taped up - he said he went to reapply a probe on a patient's head and the patient woke up, saw his eyes glowing red and popped him.
Wanted to squash two myths about narcolepsy.
1) It is not dangerous to the walker to be woken up during sleepwalking. No chance of heart attack or stroke. The only danger is to the caregiver if they need to wake the patient - they are walking towards stairs, they've turned on the stove, etc. If their eyes are open you can communicate with them and tell them to go back to sleep. Never leave a sleepwalker alone to act it out.
2) They are not dreaming; your body is paralyzed during that time. They are in a part of sleep (usually the first 1/3) where they can interact and remember. Don't do or say something private to a sleepwalker.
image optimized for ShadowPulse dark mode
