Individuals who sleepwalk experience repeated episodes of complex motor behaviors during sleep (e.g. getting out of bed and walking around) and have lowered alertness and responsiveness to others around them, with little recall for the episodes.

Sleepwalking episodes can begin during any stage of NREM sleep, most commonly during the first third of the night in which there is slow-wave sleep.



Sleepwalking Type

Individuals who experience sleep terrors often experience episodes of screaming and intense fear with a compulsion to escape. Fragmentary vivid dream images may offer rather than dream sequences (nightmares), with usually only one episode occurring within the given night. This does not typically occur during daytime naps.

Sleep Terror Type

Subtypes of NREM Sleep Arousal Disorders reflect varying degrees of wakefulness and NREM sleep simultaneously occurring, or in other words, partially awake occurrences. 

Incomplete awakenings from NREM Disorders are accompanied by either or both subtypes of arousal:
• Sleepwalking Type
• Sleep Terror Type


University of California, Berkeley

Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Arousal (NREM) Disorders are characterized by repeated episodes incomplete awakenings during sleep that usually last about 1-10 minutes but can also last as long as 1 hour without any recollection. Little to no dream imagery is recalled. 

NREM Sleep Arousal Disorders


American Psychiatric Association Publishing. (2022). Non–Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Arousal Disorders. In Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition text revision: DSM-5-TR (5th ed., pp. 452–457). section. 

Non–Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Arousal Disorders from the DSM-V

Subtypes of NREM Sleep Arousal Disorders

NREM Sleep Arousal disorders occur most commonly in childhood and reduce in frequency with increasing age, as they are often outgrown following infancy and childhood and less frequent in adolescence. Remission rates are between 50-60% for those 10-18 years.

Development of NREM Sleep Arousal Disorders

NREM disorders cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, and other areas of functioning. Uncommonly, they may result in serious injury to the individual or those consoling them. Those with sleep-relating eating behaviors may later experience poor diabetes control, weight gain, ingestion of inedible foods, or injury from burns or cuts.

Consequences of NREM Sleep Arousal Disorders

There is no association between sleepwalking and serious mental disorders among children, however there may be an association between sleepwalking and major depressive disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder in adults.

Children or adults with sleep terrors may score higher for depression and anxiety on personality inventories.

Comorbidity in NREM Sleep Arousal Disorders

Sedative use, stress, fatigue, sleep deprivation, and sleep-wake schedule disruptions may increase the likelihood of NREM disorder episodes, and fevers and sleep deprivation may produce a greater frequency of NREM disorders.

There is a high connection of NREM disorders to genetics, in which up to 80% of those who sleepwalk may have a family history of sleepwalking or sleep terrors, thus increasing the risk to offspring to as much as 60% and serving as a predictor of this disorder in future offspring.

Risk and Prognostic Factors for NREM Sleep Arousal Disorders

A psychologist is evaluating several patients with sleep-related complaints. Which of the following patient descriptions most accurately represents the core characteristics of a Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) Sleep Arousal Disorder?

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