Sleep Banking

I don’t know why, but of late I have taken to walking in my sleep and doing things around the house in my sleep. Usually I know this only after I awaken and find new bruises and cuts on my body. Sometimes I awaken to find blood on my sheets and t-shirt. What happened during the night? I don’t know. I have no memory of it.

I’ve done things as complicated as changing the time on all my clocks, as documented in this blog post: Losing My Mind. But a few days ago, I did something even scarier. I logged into my bank’s bill pay service and I paid a bill. Then I went back to bed. I remembered none of it.

However, a day or two later I discovered the payment. The problem is, I didn’t pay the correct payee—the company to which I owed money. I had sent a payment for 350 gallons of heating oil to my Internet provider. I now have a credit at my ISP and my Internet is fully paid for the next eight months. I would never have done that had I been fully conscious. I think I did okay, considering I was asleep. After all, I did manage to login to my bank and navigate to the bill pay web page while asleep, and I did send a payment, even if it was to the wrong company.

But I’m a little concerned about what I might do next while I’m asleep. So I thought about what preventive measures I might take. I even considered handcuffing myself to my bed before I go to sleep, but if I do that, I would probably simply awaken the next morning to find the headboard in the shower with me. That would not be good. Plus, I have no handcuffs anyway. I’ll just have to muddle on and see what happens.