Antonio Zadra, Mathieu Pilon and Jacques Montplaisir evaluated 40 patients referred to the Sleep Research Centre at Sacre-Coeur Hospital, a Universite de Montreal teaching hospital, from August 2003 to March 2007 for sleepwalking.

The study participants agreed to have their baseline sleep patterns monitored during an initial all-night assessment. During a subsequent visit, patients were kept awake for the entire evening.

After patients were kept awake for 25 hours, recovery sleep was allowed. Subjects were videotaped during each sleep period as the research team evaluated their behavior.

The study, published in the Annals of Neurology, found sleep activity almost tripled when sleepwalking patients tried to make up for lost sleep. During baseline sleep, only half of patients exhibited some 32 behavioral episodes but during recovery sleep -- after a night's sleep was deprived -- 90 percent of patients demonstrated a total of 92 behavioral episodes.

"Our study found that sleep deprivation can precipitate sleepwalking in predisposed individuals," lead study investigator Zadra said in a statement. "Sleepwalkers are best to maintain a regular bedtime and avoid sleep deprivation if they wish to steer clear of somnambulism, or sleepwalking."

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