Active Sleeping:

I am a wonderful, courageous person. I leap to the rescue. Ha ha. Oh. Ow.

So, then I at once wake up on the floor. I had just hit it with the side of my face and all of my left shoulder. Bewildering and also painful. The leaping apparently has been from a supine position under the covers in bed while dreaming, very actively dreaming. There was no one to rescue, only a very confused little dog in her bed across the room on the opposite side.

Eventually, later that day, I discover that my early morning experience is actually an episode of REM sleep behavior disorder. I have had active dreams before, for example, sitting up in bed suddenly or talking loudly but never with actual injuries as an aftermath. So, maybe it takes a black eye and a bruised collar bone and rotator cuff to precipitate an examination of personal habits like caffeine consumption and bedtime snacks and a review of current worries and general sleep hygiene (quality and amount of sleep).

Everyone encounters REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep and non-REM periods during their usual rest routines, whether nighttime slumber or serious afternoon naps. REM sleep is when most people dream, usually with their muscles super relaxed so that no movement can take place. People with various sleeping problems and disorders, like REM sleep behavior disorder or shaky leg syndrome or night terrors, are usually suspected to have trouble achieving the super relaxed state, a condition somewhat akin to a trance or even a temporary paralysis, during REM intervals. Some experts think that it is in the transition from REM sleep to non-REM sleep that episodes of activity while dreaming can occur.

The good news for me is that I am not the only one to experience this phenomenon. In looking for relevant information, I found a case study about a septuagenarian who had fallen from a standing position on her bed when she had supposedly been dreaming of leaning over to pat a child on the head. She suffered a cut on her head but otherwise had no serious injuries. Anyway, what to do about this situation, and fearing a recurrence with possibly a harsher outcome, is rather puzzling. Obviously, seeing a physician is always recommended. But, additionally, placing lots of pillows in the sleeping room, considering the merits of sleep aids like melatonin or analgesics which also contain drowsiness-inducing ingredients, and, above all, working on relaxation methods could probably help at least in the near term.

Further episodes will require more intensive investigations, especially given that recent scientific studies link REM sleep behavior disorder (RSBD) with the onset of Parkinson's, a neurological disorder or disease characterized by tremors and loss of coordination. Terms I encountered when looking into sleep movement and dream-enacting issues include narcolepsy, parasomnia, and sleep apnea. The more general term is parasomnia which refers to all unusual activities occurring while sleeping. Narcolepsy is pretty rare and indicates a tendency to fall asleep unexpectedly during the daytime and having a hard time sleeping at night. Sleep apnea is a condition where you stop breathing for a long pause during sleep and this pause either causes you to wake up or else to begin breathing more shallowly and sleeping more lightly. Sleep walking is another disorder in this category but is also a relatively rare condition. More research on these conditions is being conducted by sleep medicine professionals; and clinical trials specifically targeting RSBD are ongoing at Northwestern University, University of Texas, University of California, and the National Institute of Mental Health.

For additional information on REM sleep behavior disorder, please visit the WebMD website.

"REM sleep behavior disorder", List of Clinical Trials, ClinicalTrials.gov
Steve Thompson, "REM Sleep Behavior Disorder: Acting Out Your Dreams", Associated Content
"REM Sleep Behavior Disorder", WebMD.com
Litsa Morfis et al, "REM sleep behaviour disorder: a treatable cause of falls in elderly people", Age & Aging
Nathan Seppa, "Disturbed sleep tied to Parkinson's risk", Science News
Mark W. Mahowald and Carlos H. Schenck, "Insights from studying human sleep disorders", Nature