I sleepwalk like Jennifer Aniston and this is the extreme way I stop myself doing it

AFTER brushing her teeth, Charlotte Teideman climbs into bed.

But before even thinking about sleep, she goes through an astonishing procedure of tying herself down.

Charlotte, 30, an intensive care nurse, has resorted to drastic measures after a decade of sleepwalking that has become even more prevalent in recent months due to the stress of the cost-of-living crisis. 

Now, she uses the cord from her dressing gown to tie herself to the bedpost — or to her engineer fiancé Alec, 33, because she is terrified of where she may end up if she wanders around in the night.

Charlotte, of Bracknell, Berks, who has two children — Bella, four, and 18-month-old Bailey — says: “Every night, I brush my teeth, apply my moisturiser, read my book and then tie a dressing gown cord round my ankle and attach it either to my bedpost or Alec.

“I’ve used a restraint in bed on and off for the past decade — since I left my house while sleepwalking when I was 20. That terrified me.

“I’ve sleepwalked, talked and had night terrors since I was two.

“I was able to stop tying myself to Alec or the bed for six months after I had each child, as I slept so lightly.

“As soon as they were sleeping through, it started again.

“Six months ago, Alec woke up to find me in the corner of our bedroom talking to the wall. 

“It was then that I decided to tie myself up again.

‘Stress is sleep’s biggest enemy’

“My sleepwalking is definitely related to stress and worries about the cost of living are making it worse.”

According to Guy Meadows, co-founder and clinical lead at Sleep School, around 20 per cent of people will experience sleepwalking in their lifetime. 

Jennifer Aniston, 53, recently told how she has been plagued by sleepwalking.

While the condition, known as somnambulism, is more common in children, the actress did not start experiencing it until she was in her thirties.

Experts say that “parasomnias” — which include sleepwalking and texting and groaning in your sleep — have become more common since the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis hit.

Hannah Shore, a researcher for Silentnight, says: “There has been a general deterioration in sleep since the pandemic began. 

“A lot of it stems from anxiety, due to not knowing what would happen during Covid, and a lack of routine during the lockdowns.

“That includes an increase in sleep disorders, including sleepwalking. The war in Ukraine and the cost of living crisis will exacerbate it too.

“Money is one of the main things that people worry about and it’s hitting the majority of people.

“Stress is sleep’s biggest enemy, it makes us produce cortisol which interferes with sleep hormones.”

Sleepwalker Cathriona O’Keeffe, 40, who roams out of her bed up to six times a night, set up a Facebook group called Sleepwalkers Anonymous four years ago. 

She has noticed a boom in followers since the pandemic started in 2020. The supply chain manager from Oldham says: “It was slow at first. But during Covid I suddenly got hundreds of followers and it increased again when the war in Ukraine started.

“Now there are more still, with the cost-of-living crisis.

“About 80 per cent of people in my group are women. I don’t know if it’s because women suffer more, or are more willing to seek help and support. But some of the stories are horrific — with some people seriously injuring themselves and ending up in hospital.”

Dr Meadows says: “Common sleepwalking triggers include being sleep-deprived, anxiety, stress and alcohol.” He adds that it can be common with people who have a family history of night terrors. 

Dr Meadows says: “People who do it tend to have their eyes wide open and have no recollection the following morning.” 

For Cathriona, she experiences brain fog and exhaustion after sleepwalking. 

“I spend a lot of my time absolutely exhausted, because I’ve been sleepwalking all night,” she says. 

“When I’m particularly stressed, I will get up as many as six times in a night, and I do it virtually every night.

“It started when I was a teenager. When I moved away from home, it escalated.

“I’d get up in the night and sleep-eat or text complete gobbledygook to friends, only realising when I found a half-eaten packet of crisps in my bed or got a confused reply to one of my texts.”

 Cathriona, who is currently in a relationship, says, “My sleepwalking made my ex-boyfriend get up and dressed at 2.30am.

“He even made a packed lunch and went to catch the bus.

“It was only when he noticed the local shop was shut that he realised what had happened. Luckily, he laughed about it.

“Another boyfriend used to get cross and go and sleep in another room. We soon split up.”

Cathriona has tried weighted blankets, vitamins and medications, but they have not helped.

Book publisher Jen Parker, 36, has smashed her laptop on the floor and walked around in her underwear during her sleep. 

Jen, who lives in Market Harborough, Leics, with her husband and their two children, Lily, five, and Amber, three, says: “Other times, I get night terrors, waking up convinced there are maggots in the bed and I start ripping off the covers.

“Now, if I go away for work without my husband, I take an alarm that fits to the doors and it makes a sound if I try to open the door without switching it off. I’m not risking going walkabout in a hotel full of strangers.”

‘There can be terrible consequences’

Jen adds that the pandemic exacerbated her sleepwalking. She says: “My mum died in 2019 and I really struggled with grief . . . then Covid hit and it felt like a slap in the face and I was back to feeling like a wreck, I’m immune suppressed so my anxiety was through the roof.

“It manifested in far more incidents in both sleepwalking and my night terrors — I’d have an incident two or three times a week.”

Similarly, Cathriona says her sleepwalking worsens during times of acute stress. 

She says: “During Covid I definitely went into one of my phases of sleepwalking virtually every night.

“Stress and anxiety are definitely triggers for me. More recently I wake up in a panic about my bills thinking I’ve forgotten to pay them.

“I never miss a payment so it must be driven by the cost of living in my subconscious.

“Although some of my stories are amusing, sleepwalking needs to be taken seriously because there can be terrible consequences.”

Kirsty Everard, 33, who didn’t start sleepwalking until her early 20s after a coach accident agrees. 

The dog trainer from Bournemouth, has woken to find her pet python in her bed and she put on a stone due to sleep-eating. 

She says: “I had to rehome my pet python a couple of years ago as I’d let her out of her house in my sleep.

“A couple of times, I found her in bed with me. 

“Shortly after I started sleepwalking, I started sleep-eating.

“I’d wake up to find dirty dishes with remnants of cereal caked on them, or empty chocolate wrappers in my bed.

“I put on a stone in four months — partly because I’d eat before bed to make sure I didn’t sleep-eat, but then I’d still do it anyway.

“At the moment, I buy very little because I can’t afford to shop and I’m worried that if I do, I will eat it in my sleep and that would leave me with nothing to eat for a few days. I can’t afford for that to happen.”