Animals and sleepwalking: Do animals really sleepwalk?

Somnambulism is a common sleep disorder in humans, in which people move or walk unconsciously while asleep. However, the topic of whether animals sleepwalk has attracted widespread interest from scientists and the public in recent years. Animals, like humans, experience different stages of sleep, including rapid eye movement (REM) and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. In some cases, animals also exhibit behaviors similar to human sleepwalking.

What is sleepwalking?

Sleepwalking is a behavioral disorder that occurs during sleep. Sleepwalkers move unconsciously during deep sleep, often performing simple actions such as walking, talking, and even completing daily tasks. However, sleepwalkers usually have no memory of these actions upon waking up.

In humans, sleepwalking usually occurs during the deep stages of **non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep**, a stage in which brain activity is low but the body is still capable of some movement.

Sleep stages in animals

To understand whether animals sleepwalk, we first need to understand their sleep patterns. Many higher animals, especially mammals and birds, have both REM and NREM sleep stages, just like humans. REM sleep is often associated with dreaming, while NREM sleep is a time of deep relaxation for the body and brain.

• REM sleep: During this stage, the animal's brain activity is very similar to that of the awake state, but most of the body's muscles are relaxed and usually no significant movement occurs.

• NREM sleep: During this stage, brain activity decreases and the body enters a deep rest, but some animals may exhibit slight movements during this stage.

Some studies have found that animals may exhibit sleepwalking-like phenomena during REM sleep.

Do animals sleepwalk?

Although there is no conclusive evidence that animals experience complex sleepwalking behaviors like humans, some experiments and observations suggest that some animals may exhibit "abnormal behaviors" during sleep that are similar to sleepwalking.

1. Sleepwalking behavior in dogs and cats

Many pet owners may have observed their dogs or cats moving their limbs, making sounds, or even running and chasing movements during sleep. These behaviors usually occur during the REM sleep stage, and scientists believe that these movements may be the performance of animals dreaming, rather than true sleepwalking.

• Dog sleep behavior: Dogs often show paw twitching, slight barking sounds, or running movements during REM sleep. This is believed to be the dog's body trying to follow the movements in the dream while dreaming, rather than sleepwalking.

• Cat sleep behavior: Cats also twitch their paws, lick their bodies, or simulate hunting behaviors during sleep. Studies have shown that these behaviors of cats in sleep are similar to their activities when they are awake, but they are mostly still asleep.

2. Sleepwalking Research in Laboratory Animals

Scientists have studied rats and other laboratory animals to explore their behavioral changes during sleep. Studies have found that when the area responsible for motor inhibition in the brain of some laboratory animals is damaged, they will show sleepwalking-like behaviors during sleep, such as walking, exploring, or chasing in sleep.

These phenomena show that animals may experience "sleepwalking" in some cases, although their behavior is somewhat different from human sleepwalking.

3. Neural Mechanism of Sleepwalking

The core reason for sleepwalking is the failure of the brain's motor inhibition mechanism. Under normal circumstances, although the brain is very active during REM sleep, most of the body's muscles are inhibited and cannot move. If there is a problem with this inhibition mechanism, animals or humans may make uncontrolled movements during sleep.

For animals, some studies have shown that if the part of the brain that controls movement is damaged, they may behave in a similar way to sleepwalking during sleep. These phenomena are called "REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD)" in the scientific community, that is, during REM sleep, the animal or human body is no longer inhibited from moving, resulting in increased movement during sleep.

Scientific observation of animal sleepwalking

Although sleepwalking is not a common phenomenon in animals, the following animals have been observed by scientists or researchers to exhibit sleepwalking-like behaviors during sleep:

1. REM behavior disorder in dogs

Studies have shown that the movement behavior of dogs in REM sleep may be due to the partial failure of their movement inhibition mechanism. In some extreme cases, dogs with REM behavior disorder will even stand up and walk or run in their sleep, showing a phenomenon similar to sleepwalking.

2. Neural research on cats

In experiments in the 1960s, scientists electrically stimulated cats' brains to interfere with their motor inhibition areas, and found that these cats would show aggressive or hunting behaviors during sleep, such as jumping, chasing, and pouncing. These behaviors show that cats lose motor control during the REM sleep stage and exhibit sleepwalking-like performance.

3. Sleepwalking in other animals

• Horses and cattle: Some observations show that horses and cattle occasionally stand or walk during sleep. This phenomenon may be related to some dysfunction of their brains. Although it is not exactly sleepwalking, it is similar to human sleepwalking.

• Elephants: There are reports that wild elephants enter a semi-sleep state at night and walk in their sleep. Although not exactly sleepwalking, this behavior shows that they maintain a certain degree of mobility during sleep.

The impact of animal sleepwalking on animal health

Like human sleepwalking, animal sleepwalking may indicate potential problems with their sleep system. Animal REM behavior disorders may be related to the following factors:

• Neurological damage: Studies have shown that when the central nervous system of the animal's brain is damaged, it may lead to motor inhibition dysfunction, which in turn leads to abnormal sleep behavior.

• Stress or anxiety: Some animals may exhibit abnormal sleep behaviors, such as sleepwalking or nighttime movement, after experiencing strong stress responses.

Do animals sleepwalk?

Although existing evidence suggests that animals' sleep behaviors may include phenomena similar to sleepwalking, their manifestations are still very different from human sleepwalking. Animals' "sleepwalking" behavior is more related to the failure of their brain's motor inhibition mechanism, rather than unconscious activities caused by complex dreams like humans. With the deepening of scientific research, we may further understand the mechanism of animal sleepwalking and its impact on animal health in the future.

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