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somnambulism

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sleepwalking

 
rising from bed and walking or performing other complex motor behavior during an apparent state of sleep; much mystery has been attached to this, although it is no more mysterious than dreaming. The chief difference between the two is that the sleepwalker, besides dreaming, is also using the part of the brain that stimulates walking. This usually occurs during the first third of the night and lasts for a few minutes to a half hour. The sleeper is relatively unresponsive, not easily awakened, and usually amnesic for the episode later. It is most likely to happen during periods of emotional stress and usually ceases when the source of anxiety is removed. In many cases it occurs only once or twice and does not happen again. If it recurs frequently (called sleepwalking disorder) it may stem from serious emotional distress (see sleep disorders). Called also somnambulism.
sleepwalking disorder repeated episodes of sleepwalking.
Miller-Keane Encyclopedia and Dictionary of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health, Seventh Edition. © 2003 by Saunders, an imprint of Elsevier, Inc. All rights reserved.

som·nam·bu·lism

(som-nam'byū-lizm),
1. A disorder of sleep involving complex motor acts that occurs primarily during the first third of the night but not during REM sleep. Synonym(s): oneirodynia activa, sleepwalking, somnambulance
2. A form of hysteria in which purposeful behavior is forgotten.
[L. somnus, sleep, + ambulo, to walk]
Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

somnambulism

(sŏm-năm′byə-lĭz′əm)
som·nam′bu·list n.
som·nam′bu·lis′tic adj.
The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007, 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

somnambulism

Sleepwalking, see there.
McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

som·nam·bu·lism

(son-am'byū-lizm)
1. Sleepwalking; a disorder of sleep involving complex motor acts that occur primarily during the first third of the night but not during rapid eye movement sleep.
2. A form of hysteria in which purposeful behavior is forgotten.
[L. somnus, sleep, + ambulo, to walk]
Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions and Nursing © Farlex 2012

somnambulism

See SLEEPWALKING.
Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005

Somnambulism

Another term for sleepwalking.
Mentioned in: Sleep Disorders
Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

som·nam·bu·lism

, somnambulance (son-am'byū-lizm, -lăns)
Sleep disorder involving complex motor acts.
[L. somnus, sleep, + ambulo, to walk]
Medical Dictionary for the Dental Professions © Farlex 2012
Mentioned in
References in periodicals archive
Since Vogl praised his friend for his clairvoyance and somnambulism, writers starting with Fink have framed Schubert's music in terms of what it lacks (in relation to the classical harmonic axis).
Reverie, according to Darwin, is an umbrella term under which somnambulism and erotomania are often categorized.
Brown's "Somnambulism" and Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" serve as microcosms through which to explore the continuities and diversions found in their authors' Gothic practices.
Either one is acceptable today as a depth test just before the "lose the numbers" amnesia test for somnambulism. Today, the "wet dish rag" drop of the hand and arm is used in place of the rigid arm.
Just what the troubled Aaron needs; his gran is suffering dementia, he struggles with nightmares and somnambulism (another rare subject in children's fiction) and both are antagonized by low-life neighbours in the caravan park with whom the manager sides in their frequent skirmishes.
In her examination of the scientific notions that influenced the work of these artists, Morton makes clear the convergence of manifestations of the unconscious (in dream, hypnotism, and somnambulism) with the regressive character of human drives and our evolutionary origins.
Brown uses random members of the crowd, as they participate in all manner of experiments and demonstrations, including the Victorian phenomena of somnambulism and the spooky Spirit Cabinet.
For example, in the deep state of hypnosis which is called somnambulism, the hypnotist gives a post-hypnotic suggestion that after hypnosis the subject will not be able to see a specific object.
* Sleepwalking or somnambulism: Engaging in activities that are normally associated with wakefulness (such as eating or dressing), which may include walking, without the conscious knowledge of the subject.
The Caligari figure -- as Francis tells the story, anyway -- is a psychiatrist whose clinical obsessions with somnambulism drive him to pathological murder.
Just as the flaneur wakes up from the somnambulism of Parisian street life by breaking with the set patterns of movement and practises of consumption and wealth display expected in the arcades, Benjamin works in his texts to wake us as readers through the deployment of sets of vivid, precise, and deeply idiosyncratic images.
Here is a shorter example: Books speak in the middle of the night just as the river speaks, quietly and reluctantly, or perhaps the reluctance stems from our own weariness or our own somnambulism and our own dreams, even though we are or believe ourselves to be wide awake.
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