Sending emails in your sleep—once thought impossible by neurologists, a case of sleep emailing by a woman has become the first reported example of “complex nonviolent cognitive behavior.”
An article on the case set to appear in the journal Sleep Medicine explains how the woman in question suffered from severe insomnia and was taking zolpidem—a remedy marketed under several brands (including Ambien). When she upped her dose from the 10 milligrams prescribed by her doctor to 15, she received a call from her friend about a weird email send by the patient to her address. The email subject read: “!HELP ME P-LEEEEESE”, which was apparently an invitation for "dinner and drinks". The message also asked the friend to “come TOMORROW AND SORT THIS HELL HOLE Out!!!!!!”
Doctors were surprised to learn the extent of her ability to engage in complex cognitive actions while sleepwalking. During one incident while sleeping at a relative's house, she was able to start a nearby computer, login to the operating system, load software and then enter her username and password to access her email.
Obviously, this is an isolated case—but it proves that it can happen. As the NYT suggests, it might be a good idea to download that Gmail Goggles add-on after all. [NYT Image via Flickr]
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