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bean-jee

Anyone else an interactive sleeper/sleep walker? Is this an ADHD thing?

General Question/Discussion

Basically the title! But more in depth: I've always been a sleep... Interacter? Not walker, I usually don't actually stand up and leave the bed, though it's happened a couple times. But I'll interact with people, objects, and pets when prompted, in a way that makes it seem like I'm totally awake and lucid when I'm absolutely not and do not have a recollection of it when I wake up. By prompting, I mean like, if someone/something does something to provide stimulus, I'll react to it. If someone speaks, I reply, usually in a way that makes perfect sense in context and without slurring or muttering, at a normal volume. If my dog jumps up onto the bed, I sit up and pet her. If my boyfriend enters the bedroom to go to bed after I've already fallen asleep, it's not uncommon for me to say hi, sometimes I even sit up to do so. Etc.

It's very strange and I've never met anyone else who does this and I've had a hard time finding any literature on it. It seems to be some kind of parasomnia/sleep disorder, but it's confusing because it seems like normal sleep walkers often don't do things that make sense in context of the waking world or interact with their surroundings the way I do. I have no idea if it's problematic or not.

I've started wondering recently if it's an ADHD thing, specifically because I've read that we often have disrupted sleep, sleep disorders, and shorter REM cycles as a baseline? So maybe this is because my brain isn't fully "shutting off" and I'm not actually entering deep REM sleep often or well? Does anyone else have anything like this??

Posted Mar 5, 2026, 2:31 AM UTC

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