Doctors report first ever case of someone using the internet while asleep

Doctors have reported the first ever case of someone using the internet while asleep, after a sleeping woman sent emails to people asking them over for drinks and caviar. It was only when a would-be guest phoned the next day to accept, that she found out what she had done. The 44-year-old woman, whose case is reported by researchers from the University of Toledo in the latest edition of medical journal Sleep Medicine, had gone to bed at around 10pm, but got up two hours later and walked to the next room.

She then turned on the computer, connected to the internet, and logged on by typing her username and password to her email account. She then composed and sent three emails. Each was in a random mix of upper and lower cases, not well formatted and written in strange language. One read: "Come tomorrow and sort this hell hole out. Dinner and drinks, 4.pm,. Bring wine and caviar only." Another said simply, "What the……."

The report says: "We believe writing an email after turning the computer on, connecting to the internet and remembering the password displayed by our patient is novel. To our knowledge this type of complex behaviour requiring coordinated movements has not been reported before in sleepwalking. She was shocked when she saw these emails, as she did not recall writing them. She did not have any history of night terrors or sleepwalking as a child."



The neurologists say that unlike simple sleep walking, the activities their patient was involved in requires complex behaviour and coordinated movements including typing, composing and writing the messages.

She was also able to remember her password and turn the computer on and connect to the internet, although she has no memory of the event.

It is thought that the woman's sleep walking may have been triggered by prescription medication, although the causes of the phenomenon are not fully understood.