Sleepwalking has nearly quadrupled in the last year – and it's mostly due to stress and sleep deprivation. Kate Hodal reports

A hotel receptionist was shocked to stumble upon a naked male sleepwalker making love to a vending machine.

This might be the stuff of nightmares, but occurrences like that one are actually on the rise.

In this age of redundancy, repossession and debt, sleepwalking – naked or not – has increased nearly fourfold since 2007, with 23 per cent of Brits sleepwalking on more than one occasion each week.

Travelodge carried out the research for its 2008 sleepwalking audit, which revealed stories of hotel guests wandering zombie-like in hotel corridors, locked out of their rooms in pyjamas or in the buff or passed out on reception floors. The increase in sleepwalking is actually endemic in a nation too stressed out to have a good night's rest.

"The credit crunch isn't just depriving us of cash, it's also debiting our sleep bank account," explains Leigh McCarron, the sleep director at Travelodge.

"In 2007, there were three million sleepwalkers in the UK, but now this has risen to more than 11 million – a phenomenal increase and another indicator of how the credit crunch is affecting the nation."

Sleepwalking is a sleep disorder that affects people before they reach REM sleep, the "rapid eye movement sleep" sometimes known as "deep sleep". Sufferers engage in everyday activities such as walking, cleaning or moving about, making them seem awake, but they are actually asleep.

The disorder is most common in children and usually passes, says Sammy Margo, sleep expert and author of The Good Sleep Guide (Vermilion Press, £9.99), but stress, alcohol and sleep deprivation all play a major part in its re-occurrence in adults.

"We don't really understand the reasons for sleepwalking," she explains, "but its big triggers are stress and sleep deprivation.

"If we're more stressed with the credit crunch, debt, liquidity and unemployment, we'll be worried, and because we're worried we'll find it harder to sleep." She warns that the "sedative/stimulant" cycle most of us operate on – drinking lots of coffee in the day to stay awake and then having a glass or two of alcohol at night to induce sleep – isn't helping at all.

"One glass of alcohol at night is fine," she says, "but when you start having two, three or four glasses, the alcohol stops you from getting into the deepest, most restorative stage of sleep."

Adults who have never sleepwalked before are unlikely to start, she says, but those who did as children, have a sleepwalking family member or are very stressed could find themselves suffering from it once more.

A GOOD NIGHT'S REST

Following these tips below from Sammy Margo might help you get into a deep sleep.

* Give yourself time out before getting to bed. Write in a journal, take a bath or read. Avoid using the TV and computer just before bed as these can overstimulate the brain and disrupt the function of the pineal gland which produces the sleep hormone melatonin.

* Try to go to sleep and get up at the same time every day, ideally going to bed before 11pm and getting up before 7.30am to recharge your adrenals.

* Exercise during the day: "We're so mentally stressed that we need some physical stress, too," she explains. At least 30 minutes of exercise every day, such as brisk walking, will get you exposed to sunlight and help you sleep.

* Keep a pen and paper by your bedside. That way, if you're thinking about a million things you need to do the next day, you can write them down and forget about it all until the morning.

* Give yourself three to eight hours' break of caffeine before hitting the sack. Limit your alcohol intake to one glass – too much disrupts your REM cycle.

* Stay cool: "Keep the temperature in your bedroom no higher than 21C for a good night's sleep," she advises. "Try to make your room as dark as possible as that'll help your sleep rhythm."

* Wear socks: "Research has shown that if you get cold feet that causes you to wake up at night," she says.