Fallen out of bed? These could be the causes!
When was the last time you fell out of bed? Most people can no longer answer this question. Nevertheless, parents in particular are worried that their children might fall out of bed and take appropriate precautions. Find out why this fear is justified in the case of children and under what circumstances adults can fall out of bed, too.
12 June 2024 • 3 min reading time
Peace and safety in bed at last!
Adults don’t usually fall out of bed. In your own bedroom, this could simply be because you are familiar with it – after all, you know the position and the size of your own bed. However, this alone is not the only reason why you don’t normally fall out of bed; after all, we stay safely in strange beds even on holiday, after moving home, etc. This is due to sleep phases.
When you fall asleep and are in the light-sleep phase, you still move quite a bit, but you also notice external stimuli. So when something hurts or our limbs fall asleep, our brain notices and we automatically roll into a different position. During these sleep phases, we also unconsciously perceive the edge of the bed, so that we move back in the other direction.
In the deep-sleep and dream phase, also called the REM phase, our nerves and muscles are relaxed. Despite intense, animated dreams, the body remains still. Here, too, falling out of bed is usually impossible.
Sometimes, we may fall out of bed in our sleep. This does not necessarily have to be linked to an illness, but it does indicate that control mechanisms in the brain may be disturbed or not fully developed. Let’s find out when and why a fall from our bed can occur.
Your child fell out of bed? This is not a cause for concern. On the one hand, children move much more at night than adults. On the other hand, the connection of different senses is not yet fully developed, which makes it difficult to control the sleeping body.
Subconscious signals such as the edge of the bed are not recognised as such by the brain – babies and toddlers simply continue to roll and fall out of bed. This is why it is essential to install safety rails on bed frames for children up to the age of about three years.
The consumption of alcohol disrupts our motor skills not only when awake. Even during sleep, the control mechanism of the brain is disturbed under the influence of alcohol. For example, the brain may receive the signals but does not transmit them to the body during sleep. This may cause you to fall out of bed.
Usually, our muscles relax during the REM phase, i.e. the dream phase. Movements in our dreams do not transfer to our muscles. However, with REM sleep behaviour disorder, these movements are not inhibited. Experiences in dreams are expressed through muscle twitching, speech or sweeping, sometimes aggressive movements during the REM phase.
This can become dangerous because the brain does not perceive external stimuli such as the edge of the bed or a partner. REM sleep disorder is often associated with Parkinson’s disease or dementia. So, if you suspect that this is why you have fallen out of bed, you would be well-advised to visit a neurologist.
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