Main content

Night Walkers

Listener Abigail has done some very odd things in her sleep. But sleepwalking seems like a bad idea. Why is it something humans do?

Wake up! It’s time for a dreamy new episode of Curious Cases all about the science of sleepwalking.

Listener Abigail has done some strange things in her sleep, from taking all the pictures off the wall, to searching for Turkish language courses. And she wants to know: WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

It turns out Abigail is not alone. Hannah and Dara hear weird and wonderful stories of extreme sleepwalkers - from the lady who went on midnight motorbike excursions, to the artist who does all his best work while asleep. They delve into the neuroscience to find out how you can remain in deep sleep while walking, talking or even peeing in your mum's shopping basket. They learn about some cutting edge research where the participants were sleep deprived and then half-woken with scary sounds, and they zero in on the key triggers, from a boozy night out to a squeaky bed.

Contributors
Professor Russell Foster: University of Oxford.
Professor Guy Leschziner: King’s College London and Guys’ and St Thomas’ hospital
Lee Hadwin: the sleep artist
Professor Francesca Siclari: The Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience

Producer: Ilan Goodman
Executive Producer: Alexandra Feachem
A ±«Óătv Studios Audio Production

Release date:

Available now

28 minutes

More episodes

Next

Coming soon

See all episodes from Curious Cases

Featured

  • .

Why do you see faces in unexpected places?

We are “hardwired” for recognising faces and it starts at birth.

Podcast