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| The Mannions |
Christopher Mannion, 62 from Welling, first slept walked
when he was just 21, “I woke my wife up at 3am because I was vacuuming the
living room” he says, “I guess she kind of just guided me back to bed”.
Christopher and his wife, June, were both unaware however
that this was the start of a life time of sleeping issues not only for him, but
for almost their entire family. “Family holidays are a nightmare!” says Christopher.
One trip to Morocco led to a particularly embarrassing episode.
“I must have got up and walked out the door and I sleep
naked. I suddenly woke up and found myself in a corridor knocking on a hotel
room. I was three floors down and I was completely naked. I could hear people
coming towards me in the hallway so I grabbed a wet floor sign, held it in
front of my privates and made a run for it. In the end I found a storage
cupboard, wrapped myself in a duvet sheet and ran back to my room. I couldn’t
look any of the other guests in the eye for the rest of the week! I don’t know
who saw me!”
And this wasn’t the first time a family holiday was affected.
Christopher remembers the first time he found his son Andrew sleepwalking. “We were
on a caravan holiday. He opened my granddaughter’s bedroom door instead of the
bathroom one,” laughs Christopher. “We heard her shout for her mum, my daughter
Lisa, and we caught him just in time before he weed on her!”
Although the exact cause of sleepwalking is unknown, the NHS
believe that ‘sleepwalking seems to run in families’ and ‘stress, drinking
alcohol and not getting enough sleep’ can all trigger sleepwalking or make it
happen more frequently. “I definitely think that drinking alcohol makes us all worse!
The day after family parties I honestly wait for the stories of sleepwalking!”
Christopher confirmed his theory of sleepwalking being
hereditary when his granddaughter Abbie was found in the car park outside her
house at 2am. “She’s really lucky to have nice neighbours! Her mum heard a
knock on the door and her neighbour had guided her back to the house after
finding her outside!”
Had she not been found and safely returned to her home, this
incident could have had a much more catastrophic ending. On New Years Eve 2017
Emma Evans, a 37-year-old mum from South Wales died from sleepwalking off her
balcony whilst on holiday in Majorca.
“As a family, we do worry that one of us will find ourselves
in a dangerous situation. It’s really scary to not feel in control,” says
Christopher. “We try to do stuff like locking the doors and windows and hiding
our car keys so we don’t end up doing something dangerous!” Hopefully
Christopher’s precautions will be enough to stop him from finding himself naked
in a hotel corridor.
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