Woman found ‘sleep-swimming’ in river treated for hypothermia

An unidentified, 31-year-old, Idaho woman, who has a history of sleep-walking, left home in Burley, Idaho barefoot and in her pj’s early Tuesday. Once her husband found out that she wasn’t at home and the door was wide open he informed the sheriff.

Neighbors and a search and rescue team begin searching the are finding the woman “wet and hypothermic” on the side of the Snake River about a quarter mile  from her home. The woman was taken to Cassia Regional Medical Center  and treated for hypothermia.

According to the Magic Valley Times-News, police say this was the third incident in the last five weeks involving the woman:

Deputies located her one other time disoriented and soaking wet in the city of Burley after apparently swimming in the river.

According to the A.D.A.M. medical encyclopedia, sleepwalking or “somnambulism” most often occurs during deep, non-REM sleep early in the night.

Sleepwalkers “may get up and walk around, or do complex activities such as moving furniture, going to the bathroom, and dressing or undressing. Some people even drive a car while they are asleep.”

The cause of sleepwalking can be fatigue, lack of sleep, anxiety, alcohol and sedatives, or medical conditions such as partial complex seizures and psychiatric disorders including “post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks, or dissociative states, such as multiple personality disorder.”