I knew Abbie wanted to get married and I knew my parents wanted me to get married. I was 23 years old and it was becoming clear that Abbie wanted to get married. At this point I was experiencing the height of my anxiety. In the book Dement explains that, a few hours before bed, one ought to power down – turn off the news, turn off the internet, turn off the phone, and to not eat big meals – all four of my favourite pre-sleep activities.ĭement also writes about anxiety and how it can be a major heightening factor with sleep issues. It’s called The Promise of Sleep by Dr Dement, which is a very unfortunate name for a man trying to instil calm. The list of fun and easily fixed brain diseases is very short. Sleepwalking also involves your brain, which is a very precarious area. Your conscious mind is like: “We’re going to rest for a while,” and your body’s like: “We’re going skiing!” Your body is making a decision that is distinctly different from your conscious mind’s. Partly because sleepwalking is a terrifying concept. Maybe I should see a doctor.” And then I thought: “Maybe I’ll eat dinner.” This was the first time I thought: “This seems dangerous. Abbie woke me up in the morning and said: “Michael, what happened to the TiVo?” “I got second place,” I said. I landed on the top of our TiVo, which sat on our hardwood floor. And I woke up as I was falling off the top of our bookcase in our living room. I moved over to the second-place podium and it started wobbling. And then the Olympic judge approached me and said: “Actually you got second place.” And they told me I got third place and I climbed up on to the third-place podium. One night I had this dream that I was in the Olympics, in some kind of arbitrary event like dustbustering.
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We had gone through some rough patches in the past few years, but living together was going to fix everything. We lived in Brooklyn in this tiny one-bedroom and it was comfy. Two years later, Abbie graduated from school and moved in with me in New York. “Yeah, I will, but right now I’m really busy.” “Do you think maybe you should see a doctor about that?”
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When I would have these episodes, Abbie would say: “Doesn’t that sleepwalking stuff seem strange?” Go to sleep.”Īnd I would lie down, knowing there was a jackal hovering right above, ready to swoop down and kill us. “Are you sure?” I’d ask, continuing to hold my karate pose. So in this book-fair karate pose, I’d say: “Abbie! There’s a jackal in the room!” She got so used to this that she could talk me down while remaining asleep. I had never taken karate, but I had the books from a book fair.
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Each time I had this dream, I would jump up on our bed and strike a karate pose. I started having this recurring dream that there was a hovering, insect-like jackal in my bedroom. That was when I started walking in my sleep. But lying to my parents caused me anxiety.
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So when my parents visited, we’d put all her stuff in the bedroom and close the door. She said: “We should live together.” Now, what I should have said was: “I don’t know if my parents would go for that because they’re very conservative.” What I did say was: “Yeah!” This wasn’t the first time I had walked in my sleep.Ībbie and I were living together and it was a secret. I jump out of bed and say: “What’s the plan?”Īnd the general in charge turns to me and says: “The missile co-ordinates are set specifically on you.” I have a dream that there is a guided missile headed towards my room and there are all these military personnel in the room. I’m sitting up in my bed with my laptop warming my thighs. But I’m not going to sleep because I’m an insomniac. I’m staying at a hotel called La Quinta Inn. I t’s 20 January 2005, and I’m in Walla Walla, Washington – which is a place.