Over the course of my life, there have been numerous instances of small tasks that I had gotten out of bed to do, but upon waking up I had no recollection of ever doing–mostly minor things like opening or closing a window or getting a glass of water. I just assumed that I had simply forgotten about it. I’ve also awakened with unexplained scrapes and bruises.
So last night I managed to fall asleep while I was in the middle of reading a book, with the light left on. I then dreamt that I knew the author of this book, and that for some reason I urgently needed to contact him. I picked up the phone expecting to hear his voice on the other line, but all I heard was a dial tone. Apparently, in my dreams, dialing the phone isn’t required.
I hung up the phone and tried again, with the same result. Since placing this call was so urgent, I became very frustrated by my inability to do so. After several attempts I started slamming the receiver down against the phone until, eventually, it broke apart.
In my dream, I then noticed I was thirsty and went to get some water. I pulled my Brita out of the refrigerator, but it did not occur to me to get a glass as well. I wasn’t able to figure out how to work the device, so I ended up tilting the whole thing back, pouring water all over myself. At this point I finally woke up, noticed several items were in disarray, and saw the smashed phone.
Does the above story sound typical of sleepwalking? I suspect I’ve been doing something similar to this about once a month or so, but this was the first time I remembered the event. What experiences have you had while sleepwalking??
Since I can recall seeing what was going on, I assume that my eyes were wide open at the time. Is this common?
Is there any chance I could do something more complex while asleep, such as driving a car? What precautions do I need to take??
Thanks.