Sleepwalking potentially dangerous
Most people sleep five to eight hours. Normally, nothing too exciting happens during that time other than drooling, snoring, rolling over, a few nonsensical dreams and the sound of cursing as the alarm clock buzzes.
Some people get much more creative, however, and don’t even realize what they’re doing in their sleep.
When I was growing up, my mother often recounted tales of her younger sister sleepwalking and attempting to play the piano. A friend of mine, who is a very gentle, loving person when he is awake, threatened to kill his roommate one night and remembered none of it the next day.
During a stay in a hotel, some friends and I stayed up into the early morning hours playing board games near the swimming pool. Our game was suddenly disrupted by a loud splash.
We went to investigate and found a very confused, thoroughly drenched, pajama-clad teenage girl. She had sleepwalked right into the pool. I bet landing in cold water was definitely not her best waking-up experience. As much as I hate it, I would take the alarm clock sound over cold water.
Sleepwalking people have been known to rearrange furniture, place objects in illogical places, and in some cases, leave their houses, get in the car and drive to other places, according to the medical Web site dentalplans.com.
Irshaad Ebrahim, an expert at the London Sleep Center, says he had a patient who attempted to fly a helicopter while asleep.
Last summer, a 15-year-old girl in the United Kingdom made news by climbing to the top of a 130-foot crane and stepping out on its arm, all while sleeping.
I can only imagine the shock of waking up on a steel beam 6 inches wide and 15 stories above the ground.
After watching the movie “Dumbo” too many times as a young child, had I been in the girl’s position, I probably would have wondered if I, like the elephant, had learned to fly in my sleep. Thankfully, the girl did not test that theory and was safely brought to the ground by a hydraulic lift.
While most people have heard some sort of amusing anecdote about bizarre sleep adventures, most cases of sleepwalking do not have lasting consequences, other than a few cheap laughs.
A New Delhi couple was not so lucky.
Islamic leaders ordered Aftab and Sohela Ansarito to separate because Aftab divorced his wife while sleeping, according to Reuters.
Wikipedia says according to Sunni Islamic practice, a man may divorce his wife by saying the word “talaq” three times, which means, “I divorce you.” It seems Aftab had a slip of the tongue while sleeping.
The couple took the case to local religious leaders, who told them they must separate, and if they wished to remarry, they would have to spend 100 days apart, and Sohela would have to sleep with another man and then divorce him.
Islamic scholar Zafarul-Islam Khan told Reuters the law says since talaq procedure does not apply in the case of intoxication, it should also not apply in sleep talking cases.
The Ansaritos, who have been married 11 years and have three children, have refused to divorce.
It seems ridiculous that all this turmoil could happen to two normally happy people, especially since one of them was not of sound mind at the time.
A family is being torn apart and innocent children’s lives are being turned upside down simply because of something a man said in his sleep, which was probably a reaction to who knows what sort of bizarre dream.
If you finish reading this, please tell me if I’ve written this article in my sleep. I honestly don’t know, and I don’t want to write something I’ll regret.
Columnists' opinions do not necessarily reflect the views of The Spectrum