I have never being a great sleeper. Even as a small child I needed very little sleep, and was more interested in what mischief I could get up to while everyone else slept. As an adult my sleep has not improved any. I get on average about six hours a night, if I'm lucky. My sleep though is never disturbed. Once I am asleep, not alot can wake me up. It's just the actual getting to sleep that is a problem, and I tend to wake up early, which also can be a problem. I don't sleep walk, or talk or even snore in my sleep. I am a silent sleeper, and I don't move about much either. My laziness even follows me into the land of nod.
I watched this programme about people who have sleep problems much worse than mine. About sleep walking and the extremes people go to. People getting so aggressive in their sleep that they are actually capable of killing you. If someone is sleep walking, and they are startled, still in their sleeping state, they can attack, and they are not in control of their actions. These are very rare cases, but they have been known to happen. There is a man in the states convicted of killing his wife, and he claims he was sleep walking. A leading sleep expert even testified for him, saying that there were classic symptoms of sleep walking. He apparently got up in t he middle of the night, and went to finish a task he had started during the day. Apparently something sleep walkers classicly do, maybe because it is playing in their minds, or something. So he goes down, and starts this task, and his wife follows to see what he is up to. She scares him, and he reacts. He stabs her, and then tries to drown her in their pool. The neighbour hearing the noise phones the police, claiming the couple never row. I guess we will never know if that's true or not. if it is, that iss pretty drastic.
The show also showed this guy, who gets really aggressive in his sleep and punches things. He is scared of sleeping with anyone, in case he hurts them, and fears because of it he will always be alone. There was a guy who eats in his sleep. Goes into the kitchen, and makes food, though it isn't entirely safe, in case he tries to cook, and he doesn't know what he's doing, so his wife has taken to leaving a sandwich in the fridge for him, and that seems to have done the trick. There is a nursery nurse who jumps up in the middle of the night, and shouts at the children. It actually filmed her, and she is scary. It's not a one off, she does it alot, and she's very loud. Her bloke seems able to just switch off. Though it seems to be impossible. There were many other stories but they all go along the same lines.
There was one that had me totally intrigued, and it still does, because I missed the end, so I don't really know about it. There was this girl who has night terrors. A harsher version of nightmares. She has this dream at least three times a week that completely scares the life out of her. She dreams of this old woman, who slowly walks in her room, she tries to run away, but she can't. She fights desperatley to get away. She knows what is going to happen, but everytime it still scares her. The woman walks over to her bed, and gets on the bed. The woman then kneels on the girls chest, so the girl can hardly breathe. She then takes her hands down to the girls throat, and tries to strangle her. Scary stuff. The strange thing is, apparently there is some kind of myth about this woman. From hundreds of years ago, who actually did this to people, and other people have been known to have the same nightmare! Except I can't find any information on it! Google is not my friend!
Anyway, I thought my sleep problems were bad, apparently they are nothing compared to other peoples. Just imagine going to bed, knowing these things are going to happen, but having no control over them. I love my bed. It's my thinking place, where I am totally relaxed and happy. I could not imagine, being afraid of going to sleep. That just sucks.