A New Parasomnia Behavior: Sleep Emailing
According to Seton Hall University researchers, it's time to add a new parasomnia behavior to the list: sleep emailing.
Just this week, ABC News reported that researchers there observed a woman who sent emails to her friends while asleep.
The 44-year-old woman--who had been prescribed an increased dose of the sleep aid zolpidem after her initial dose level became ineffective-only learned of her late night communications when a friend called to accept a dinner invitation sent at 11:47 p.m. the previous night.
The internet is crawling with peoples' opinions and incredulous reactions to this unusual case.
"Is this for real?" asked the Fresno Bee.
And indeed, readers confirmed it was.
"Not surprising at all," said one commenter. "As a sleepwalker in my late teens...I left my dorm room in Arizona....went to a pay phone...and called collect to my brother in Virginia. We carried on a half-hour conversation, during which we discussed politics, school and our sex lives. I learned about it a month later when my bro asked me to split the phone charges."
"I've been known to have sleep text messaged," said another.
Researchers have classified this particular case as a unique form of sleepwalking. But according to ABC News, the case report's lead author, Dr. Fouzia Siddiqui, a neurologist at the University of Toledo, said this particular sleepwalking case is even more notable because of the number of complex actions the woman took to compose these e-mails, including remembering her password, and typing the mail.