Sleepwalking, 9

I learned a lot about sleepwalking from your recent blogs. My mother says I outgrew sleepwalking—which I did for about 5 years during early childhood. What does that mean?

Sometimes sleepwalking in childhood does not continue into adulthood. The reason for this is unclear. Perhaps the child perceived some stressor that resolved. Studies have  revealed that all of the sleepwalkers in an evaluation of one family had a specific genetic code that the non-sleepwalkers did not possess. Those individuals with the specific genetic code had a 50 percent chance of passing it on to the next generation. The mutated gene appears to be located in chromosome 20 but further studies are needed to identify the exact location of the gene in chromosome 20. The studies also noted that individuals who were sleepwalkers in childhood did not always continue as adult sleepwalkers—that is, they outgrew sleepwalking just as you did. Studies continue as some believe this means several other genes may be involved beyond the one mutant gene located in chromosome 20. All interesting . . . 

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