Paranoid about Sleepwalking

[Nile]

Okay, so...

I have recently become really paranoid that I’m sleepwalking. Thing is, I don’t have a history of it and, according to my mom, never did it as a child, even. I’ve had this fear before (when I was, like, eighteen, I used to put a chair in front of my bedroom door) but it has come back really strong now. I have been with my husband for the last three years, and in those three years, he says he’s never seen me sleepwalk.

I’ve been putting booby traps in front of the bedroom and front doors, and each time I do that, they’re perfectly unsprung in the morning. It’s when I think, “Okay, I’m being dumb,” and decide NOT to put a booby trap that I get worried in the morning.

I always wake up in my bed, often in the same position I fell asleep in. I once recorded myself sleeping to see what I do, and for the entire hour and a half nap, I literally did not move at all.

Today I woke up with a small scrape on my wrist that wasn’t there when I went to sleep, and I am spiraling a bit. I do do this thing where I tighten my fingers in my sleep. I’ve done it twice to my husband so far this year, where I’ll have a hand draped over his chest or something and I’ll end up clawing him in my sleep. I’m thinking I might’ve done that to myself, but I can’t shake the anxiety over sleepwalking :(

Any help?

[Decco]

i probably wouldnt worry about it, as its not something you can control and therefore generally not worth worrying about

[MyNameIsTerry]

I see this type of issue similiar to the struggle to let yourself fall asleep do to worries such as dying in your sleep or generally not wanting to lose control of something. The latter was one I experienced.

But the more you try to control this, the more you feed it. You can't control sleep, it's something controlled by the subconscious just as your breathing is. If something comes along that means you have to make an adustment e.g. you have asthma so you take an inhaler to control it, that's fine. If you had reason to make adjustments to cover sleep walking then that would be fine (as long as they are reasonable) but you don't therefore you have compulsive actions or safety behaviours that only serve to tell your subconscious this is important to you hence it all continues.

Break down those safety behaviours/compulsions. Eliminate them. The obsession will weaken. It may not go, that may take a different approach to tackle core beliefs around loss eof control or trust in your body/mind, but it will certainly reduce their intensity allowing you more ability to tackle the rest.