AMARILLO, TEXAS -- If you have trouble sleeping through the night, you are by no means alone.

Insomnia is one of the most commonly diagnosed sleeping disorders and surprisingly, sleepwalking is not that rare.

Close to 8.5 million Americans claim they sleepwalk.

Trevor Ashcraft started sleep walking when he was five-years-old.

"I'd always fall asleep in the living room and they'd wake me up to go to bed and go to the bathroom," said Ashcraft. "The first time I actually didn't make it into the bathroom. I made it to mom's drawer where she kept her make-up."

Dr. Gary Polk with Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic says sleepwalking is especially common in children.

"it is characterized as what's known as a parasomnia- unusual behavior at night while asleep."

For some, like Ashcraft, it continues into adulthood.

"Since then people have woken me up, they think I'm awake. I look like I'm awake but I'm not cognitive at all, don't remember anything," said Ashcraft.

Many sleepwalking cases occur in people who take medications, both prescription and over-the-counter. Some cases are even caused from consuming alcohol.

Doctor Polk thinks that is why so many people think they are sleep walking.

"They may have experienced episodes of what they deter is sleepwalking," said Polk. "It is unclear in all these cases if they're actually sleep walking or they just happen to be amnestic and not remembering getting up and moving around in the night."