Over the weekend, news broke that a sleepwalking camper in Kentucky left camp. He had an episode and sleepwalked off a cliff! He sits around 60 feet. Fortunately, he should make a full recovery. Quite a story for him and his group.

I may have had a sleepwalking camper or two throughout my career. It had a lot more dream talkers. These children generally fall into two categories: those who spoke because of nightmares, and those who said basically anything. The first group was hard to deal with because you felt bad for them. The second group was harmless and sometimes got an interesting story out of it. Children are fascinating when you watch them through the years. The people are fascinating.

Anyway, I can’t remember too many sleepwalking incidents in my camp career. But it could be a very real problem, as the news above shows. So what should I do? You’ve heard the old advice to never wake up a sleepwalker. But it is true?

According to Mental Floss, it’s harmless enough to wake up a sleepwalker. The only dangers are that they will be startled to wake up and hit you, and that they may not easily go back to sleep when you wake them up. A sleepwalker is in stage 3 rem sleep. This is one of the deepest of the four stages. It is also the stage in which nocturnal enuresis usually occurs. The deepest stage, stage 4, is when you dream. If you’ve ever been woken up just before you start dreaming, you can understand how surprising and frustrating that can be. You’re so close to the most restful, restful sleep period and BAM: something wakes you up. Now it’s hard to go back to dreamland. The article recommends that instead of waking the person, you guide them back to bed by taking them lightly by the hand. You can do this without waking them up. Sounds good to me.

Hopefully, a camper or their parents will inform you that they are sleepwalking. This is useful information. You wouldn’t want that camper sleeping on top of a bunk. Even if the bunk has railings (which I think all ACA accredited campgrounds should have), they can still climb over them. That can lead to broken bones. It’s not fun and it’s a huge headache to deal with in the middle of the night. It can be helpful to have your bed close to the campers bed so that you can try to convey any sleepwalking episodes quickly. It would also be a good idea for the camper to sleep in a corner, away from any doors leading to the outside.

But what if you’re outside, like the camper in the news? The best I can think of is to surround the sleeping area with objects that make noise when touched, but won’t trip a person. Things like dry leaves that rustle under footsteps. A tarp that makes noise when stepped on is also a good idea. Also, have campers who are sleepwalking sleep in your tent. If you sleep outdoors under the stars, stay next to the camper. You might wake up when they start their nightly walk, and then you can safely carry them back to their bed.