The Science of Sleep

Stories of my sleepwalking habits have been the stuff of legend for over two decades. Among my family at least. Tales of a young Deonn climbing out of bed and walking into the living room- only to do a soft-shoe routine a-la Shirley Temple, on top of the coffee table- can be gleefully recounted by my mother.

These stories were an endless source of amusement until I started waking up without having the slightest clue where I was or how I had gotten there. The dreadful day came when I saw The Exorcist for the first time. I then began to draw parallels to the possessed character and myself. Here was a little girl who was doing things she had no memories of, like myself. Except in her case, the devil really was making her do it. So I began to think, what if the devil was making me get out of bed at night to do random things, what if he made me do something dangerous, or hurt someone.

So I went to my mother. "Mommie I need you to exercise me." Her reply was simply " Uhm, I'll take your bike outside and you can ride around for a little." Frustrated by her complete lack of understanding I went to the ALL KNOWING. My big brother, who carefully explained to me that people who wanted to lose weight, exercised. People who had Satan in them where exorcised. He assured me that I was not possessed and also begged me not to tell Mommie that he had let me watch The Exorcist.

I eventually outgrew my sleep activities. I mean you'll still get a kick in the face if you sleep next to me, but for the most part all movement is contained to my bed. So imagine my surprise when a few weeks ago on This American life the topic was fear of sleep. It turns out that millions of people suffer from some kind of weird sleep disorder. So it wasn't just me, and there was scientific proof that I really wasn't possessed by the devil.

Some people eat in their sleep, others choke their spouses, and some even jump through panes of glass from five stories up, all while sleeping. It turns out that most of these people are Dopamine deficient. It turns out that Dopamine is the chemical that is released from your brain while sleeping. It paralyzes your body so that you don’t do what’s in your brain when you’re sleeping.

Luckily I outgrew my crazy sleep antics and didn't have to go on medication. It just feels great to be validated you know, because I know where all about individuality and all, but who wants to be the anomaly? Not me.