Features
Somnambulism / Sleepwalking, Part 2
Sometimes they may leave the house. Sleepwalking usually occurs for just a few minutes at a time and may occur up to three or four nights per week. However, some people sleep walk for longer periods of time and less often. When it is over, most people are able to remember very little of what they did, if anything at all.
Usually, sleepwalking starts in childhood, becomes less common as a teenager and stops as a young adult. However, for some people, it may continue for most of their life. The longer a child keeps sleepwalking into their teenage years, the greater the chance that it will go on into early adulthood.
What causes sleepwalking?
For some people, sleepwalking is an inherited condition. For children it may also be related to a stage of development. Not getting enough sleep, having irregular sleep hours, stress, drugs and some medicines increase the risk of sleepwalking.
In addition, medical conditions such as sleep apnoea, seizures and fever can contribute to the likelihood of sleepwalking. If you are prone to sleepwalking, then sounds that disturb your sleep can also make you sleepwalk. However, not uncommonly a cause cannot be found.
How common is sleepwalking? Surveys suggest that two or three children in 100 sleepwalk often and approximately five in 100 children sleep walk sometimes. In adults, three or four in 100 say that they have sleepwalked at least once in their lives, but only four in 1000 are still sleepwalking. Of those who sleepwalked as a child, less than a quarter continue to do so as adults. Some people may stop sleepwalking after childhood, but it may come back if they are unwell or stressed.
How does it affect people?
If sleepwalkers wake up suddenly, they may be confused. Sometimes they may not be able to quickly go back to sleep. This will prevent the sleepwalker from having a good night’s sleep and make them tired during the day. It can also cause anxiety and depression. Sometimes an injury may occur by bumping into objects or leaving the house. However, the number of injuries is less than you might expect, given the number of people who sleepwalk.
How is sleepwalking treated?
In a child, sleepwalking may just be part of growing up. Parents should be able to comfort the child and direct him/her back to bed after they sleepwalk. With time, they tend to grow out of it. Action should be taken only if it happens too often and has a big impact on the child. This might be if they feel tired during the day from a lack of sleep or they are at risk of injuring themselves.
For adults who sleepwalk, it is important to have good sleep habits. This may reduce the frequency of sleepwalking. Occasionally, sleeping tablets may be used, but this should be discussed with a doctor.
What might a doctor do?
A doctor can give advice about improving sleep habits, having a better night’s sleep and making it less dangerous for the sleepwalker. Occasionally, a referral may be made to a psychologist or sleep specialist. There are treatments to control how often you sleepwalk. Adults may also be prescribed sedatives for short-term use. These can stop sleepwalking.
What could you do to help with symptoms? There are ways to make it happen less. Try to reduce your stress levels. Stay away from caffeine and other stimulants before bedtime. Try to stay safe when you sleepwalk. Lock windows so you won’t try to go out through them. You may want to put bells on doors to wake up other people in the house. Baby monitors can also be useful so others can hear you if you start moving around at night.
Where and when should you seek help? If sleepwalking is affecting how you or your child functions during the day, you should talk to your local doctor.
By Robert Ekow Grimmond-Thompson
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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