Close X
Monday, November 11, 2024
ADVT 
National

Experts Weigh In After Chris Hyndman's Mother's 'Sleepwalking' Suggestion

The Canadian Press, 08 Aug, 2015 01:38 PM
    TORONTO — A mother's suggestion that her son, TV personality Chris Hyndman, plunged to his death while sleepwalking has shone a light on the dangers associated with the disorder.  
     
    Glenda Hyndman told the Toronto Star that she believed her son fell to his death while sleepwalking on the terrace of the downtown Toronto home he shared with his professional and personal partner Steven Sabados. 
     
    Sleep researchers say there have been documented cases in which sleepwalkers engage in very complex activities and wind up inflicting harm on themselves or others. However, they say those cases make up the extreme minority of the situations they encounter.
     
    Hyndman, co-star of CBC fashion and design show "Steven and Chris," was found lying in an alleyway just outside of his home late on Monday evening. Police have not identified a cause of death but have suggested that there is no criminal investigation underway.
     
    Colleen Carney, director of the Sleep and Depression Laboratory at Ryerson University, said Hyndman's death would be a tragic rarity if it was caused by a fatal sleepwalking accident.
     
    "Injuries during sleepwalking tend to be mild, but there's tremendous variability in sleepwalking and also the severity of it," Carney said in a telephone interview.
     
    Somnanbulance is already an unusual disorder to encounter in adults.
     
    Dr. Sat Sharma, medical director for Toronto's Centre for Sleep and Chronobiology, said that less than one per cent of the adult population suffers from the condition that is most prevalent in childhood.
     
    Sharma said the majority of sleepwalkers confine themselves to wandering aimlessly in their homes and usually find themselves unable to perform complex tasks like unlocking doors or taking themselves further afield.
     
    Such actions are possible, though, for those with particularly grave conditions. Sharma said risk of injury is "very serious" in such instances.
     

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Winnipeg Teen Admits To Taking Baby Niece, Putting Her In Recycling Bin In Drunk Stupor

    Winnipeg Teen Admits To Taking Baby Niece, Putting Her In Recycling Bin In Drunk Stupor
    A Winnipeg teen has admitted to grabbing his toddler niece from a home, seriously injuring her and then stuffing her in an outdoor recycling bin during a drunken stupor on a frigid New Year’s Eve.

    Winnipeg Teen Admits To Taking Baby Niece, Putting Her In Recycling Bin In Drunk Stupor

    Major Crime Unit Sends Help To Police, Family, Searching For Missing Woman In Ladysmith, B.C.

    Major Crime Unit Sends Help To Police, Family, Searching For Missing Woman In Ladysmith, B.C.
    PENELAKUT ISLAND, B.C. — A search for a missing 18-year-old woman is ramping up on a small island just east of Ladysmith, B.C.

    Major Crime Unit Sends Help To Police, Family, Searching For Missing Woman In Ladysmith, B.C.

    Police Find Body Of Missing Five Months Pregnant Woman In Her Quebec Home

    Police Find Body Of Missing Five Months Pregnant Woman In Her Quebec Home
    Cheryl Bau-Tremblay of Beloeil, northeast of Montreal, was 28 years old and five months pregnant.

    Police Find Body Of Missing Five Months Pregnant Woman In Her Quebec Home

    Former Mountie Faces Sex Charges Involving Child During 1960s In Cape Dorset

    Former Mountie Faces Sex Charges Involving Child During 1960s In Cape Dorset
    CAPE DORSET, Nunavut — Nunavut RCMP have charged a former Mountie with sex offences involving a child that stem back to the 1960s.

    Former Mountie Faces Sex Charges Involving Child During 1960s In Cape Dorset

    So Who Won Canada's Election Debate? Depends Which Leader You Ask, Apparently

    So Who Won Canada's Election Debate? Depends Which Leader You Ask, Apparently
    OTTAWA — All of the party leaders were winners in the kickoff election debate — at least, according to the leaders themselves.

    So Who Won Canada's Election Debate? Depends Which Leader You Ask, Apparently

    Three Indian Americans Charged With $2.5-Million Bank Fraud And Money Laundering

    Three Indian Americans Charged With $2.5-Million Bank Fraud And Money Laundering
    US authorities have charged three Indian Americans with a $2.5-million bank fraud and money laundering, media reports said.

    Three Indian Americans Charged With $2.5-Million Bank Fraud And Money Laundering