Sleep talking is predominantly seen in individuals with mental health issues or conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Sleep talking can also be associated with nightmares, especially in children.
Sleep talking usually occurs by itself and is most often harmless. However, in some cases, it might be a sign of a more serious sleep disorder or health condition. REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and sleep terrors are two types of sleep disorders that cause some people to shout during sleep.
Talking in your sleep (or somniloquy, as it's known in the medical world), is a common type of parasomnia, or abnormal behavior during sleep. An estimated two in three people talk in their sleep at some point in their lives – and it's especially common in children.
This usually occurs in the lighter stages of Non-REM sleep (Stages 1 and 2) and usually sleepers have no memory of these vocalizations. The actual words or phrases have little to no truth, and usually occur when they are stressed, during times of fever, as a medication side effect or during disrupted sleep. '
Sleep talking is predominantly seen in individuals with mental health issues or conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Sleep talking can also be associated with nightmares, especially in children.
The Sleep-Talking Brain
On the other hand, since non-REM sleep doesn't lead to paralysis, Barrett says sleep talking during this stage is thought to be caused by “partial awakenings” of brain regions involved in language production that can be picked up with electrodes on the scalp, called EEG.
Signs of Sleep Talking
Sleep talking is considered a parasomnia, which is a type of sleep disorder that involves abnormal behaviors or experiences that happen during sleep: The main symptom of somniloquy is talking during sleep without being aware of it.
About 5% of adults are reported to talk in their sleep. It occurs at the same rate in both men and women. It also appears to run in families. Although sleep talking by itself is benign, it may be a symptom of another sleep disorder.
Sleep talking occurs when your toddler talks, laughs, cries out or moans while she's sleeping. Your toddler doesn't know she's talking in her sleep and likely won't remember her ramblings come morning. It may begin around age 2, and can occur up until early adolescence.
Sexsomnia, characterized by sexual behavior during sleep, is within the spectrum of parasomnias occurring predominantly in NREM sleep, as a variant of confusional arousals and sleepwalking, with or without associated obstructive sleep apnea1.
If you've been repressing any emotions, then you might sleep talk as a way to express yourself in an unfiltered way. You might use sleep talking to announce your intentions and manifest what you desire. Sleep talking might revolve around a certain theme, like love or a fear of heights.
If people constantly talk in their sleep it could mean they're going through a hard time in life and this may be a subconscious way to reveal their struggles. Although sleepwalking is more prevalent in children, it happens to adults more than previously thought, according to Stanford University professors.
In general, the three subtypes were associated with increased rates of sleep problems/disorders. Specifically, ADHD-C rather than ADHD-I was associated with circadian rhythm problems, sleep-talking, nightmares (also ADHD-HI), and ADHD-I was associated with hypersomnia.
The most common trigger is being overtired. Sleep Talking: Children are more likely to talk in their sleep and can outgrow it as they get older. As children get older, sleep talking episodes usually decrease and can happen once every few months or so. They are most common in kids ages 2 to 12.
While people talk about “night terrors,” this is not, in fact, a diagnosable condition, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual fifth edition (DSM-V). It contains elements of conditions known as nightmare disorder, REM sleep behavior disorder, and Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) Sleep Arousal Disorder.
Recent evidence suggests that there may also be several specific environmental or personal risk factors for REM sleep behavior disorder, including occupational pesticide exposure, farming, smoking or a previous head injury.
View Source such as masturbation, sexual movements, sexual aggression, or initiating sex with another person. Though their eyes may be open and they may make sexual noises, they are asleep during these activities and unaware of their behavior once they are awake.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): People with ADHD may talk excessively and interrupt frequently.
Clonazepam (Klonopin). This prescription medication, often used to treat anxiety, is also the traditional choice for treating REM sleep behavior disorder, appearing to effectively reduce symptoms.
In adults sleep talking may be related to parasomnias such as RBD, sleep-related eating disorder (SRED) or sleepwalking. Because parasomnias often occur in healthy people, treatment for sleepwalking tends to be unnecessary.
In the study, researchers found that sleep talkers said the word "no" four times more often in their sleep than when awake. And the F-word popped up during sleep talking at a rate of more than 800 times than what was spoken while awake.
RBD has been associated with antidepressant medications such as tricyclic antidepressants, fluoxetine, venlafaxine, and MAO inhibitors. Although REM behavior disorder has been associated with the use of serotonergic reuptake inhibitors, there are actually very few documented cases in the literature.
Improve sleep
Masturbation releases hormones and neurotransmitters to help reduce stress and blood pressure while promoting relaxation, which may make it easier to fall asleep. A 2019 study that surveyed 778 adults found there was a clear perception of favorable sleep outcomes associated with orgasm.