Psychology Facts

▲ Sleep Talking ▲

》Sleep talking, formally known as somniloquy, is a sleep disorder defined as talking during sleep without being aware of it. Sleep talking can involve complicated dialogues or monologues, complete gibberish or mumbling. The good news is that for most people it is a rare and short-lived occurrence.

》 Sleep talking is actually a sleep disorder known as somniloquy.

》Although the cause is unclear, sleep talking may be triggered by stress and mental health conditions.

》Sleep talking is a type of parasomnia. Parasomnias are abnormal behaviors during sleep. Unlike most parasomnias that happen only during specific parts of the sleep cycle, sleep talking can occur during either rapid eye movement (REM) or non-REM sleep.

》A linguistic study of somniloquy found that around half of recorded sleep talking was incomprehensible
In these cases, sleep talking was normally mumbling, silent speech (moving the lips with limited noise), or was muffled by pillows or blankets.
The other half of sleep talking that was comprehensible had a number of parallels to typical conversations. For example, it usually followed typical standards of grammar and included pauses as if talking with another person.
Many of the recorded utterances were negative, exclamatory, or profane, indicating that sleep talking may reflect conflict-driven dialogue taking place in the brain during sleep. However, people are very rarely aware that they are talking in their sleep at the time and typically have no recollection of the episodes when they wake up.

》Sleep talking is most likely to be comprehensible to a bed partner during the REM stage of sleep (during the other stages, it'll just sound like gibberish).

》It's common for children to grow out of somniloquy — only an estimated 5% of adults are sleep-talkers.

》In many instances, sleep talking is genetic — so, if you have it, chances are some of your family members do too.

》Though somniloquy can usually be explained biologically, there could also be a spiritual component such as stirred-up emotional trauma or the body unconsciously processing internal conflicts.

》Sleep talking appears to occur more often in people with mental health conditions
. In particular, it is believed to occur most frequently in people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Overall, though, most cases of sleep talking are not thought to be connected to mental illness.

》Causes of sleep talking can include sleep deprivation, stress, alcohol, drugs, fever, anxiety, and depression.

》Sleep talking tends to occur more in men and children.

》Usually, sleep talking lasts no longer than 30 seconds.

》Sleep talking isn't dangerous or problematic — the only reason it might be of concern is if it starts after a person turns 25. Then, somniloquy may be related to another medical issue.