Why we talk in sleep and what's behind it

Laughing, muttering or chatting out confusing word scraps – about 20 percent of the general population speak in their sleep. People who talk in their sleep subconsciously reveal things about themselves. You don't remember the process yourself. In medicine, the sleep phenomenon is called somniloquie. The nightly self-talk is usually harmless.

Since the speech muscles relax during sleep, most people only give incomprehensible sounds or confusing word scraps of themselves. Few people are able to articulate clearly and clearly despite relaxed speaking muscles. Why we talk in sleep is still not clear. Researchers, however, see a connection between nighttime self-talk and our dreams.

What is certain is that speaking in sleep is favoured by various factors. Poor sleep reinforces the nocturnal talk. Fever, illnesses, taking medication or mental stress are well-known factors why people talk in sleep. Consumption of intoxicants and alcohol can also cause nightly sleep conversations. In addition, somniloquie can occur alone or in combination with other sleep phenomena or diseases. Somniloquie is particularly pronounced in sleepwalkers. According to recent research, sleep researchers assume that speech in sleep is hereditify. Children whose parents talk at night while sleeping tend to talk more in their sleep. However, this assumption has not yet been sufficiently researched.

Somniloquie in children

In general, children seem to speak much more in sleep than adults. With the onset of puberty, somniloquie gradually disappears in children. In addition to the presumption that speech is hereditary in sleep, typical wake-up disorders are associated with somniloquie in childhood. Especially in the so-called night scare, sleeping speech is a classic side effect.

Talking in sleep and dreaming

Talking during sleep occurs during the change between the non-REM stages, but often also during the dream phase (REM phase). As a result, researchers found links between dreams and pronounced words and sounds. Some researchers believe that dreams serve to relieve our brains by processing all the events of the day. Especially emotional situations and moving experiences are recapitulated and processed in our dreams. People with post-traumatic stress disorder talk twice as much in their sleep as unencumbered people, a study shows.

Sleep researcher Arthur M. Arkin published an interesting study in his book. In it, he examines the extent to which somniloquie is related to dreams. In the study, Arkins woke the study participants immediately after they spoke in their sleep. Immediately afterwards, Arkins asked her about her dream content. In nearly 80 percent, the research team found similarities between the content spoken in sleep and the dream reports. The remaining 21 percent had nothing to do with the dream. Respondents also couldn't remember their dreams.

What we're talking about in sleep articles. A French study looked at what we are talking about in our sleep. For this purpose, 232 subjects were examined over two nights. It is striking that twice as many men as women speak in their sleep. In addition to non-verbal utterances such as muttering, screaming, whispering or giggling, more than 3,000 understandable words have been heard. By far the most frequently mentioned word was 'no'. In addition, even vulgar statements and swear words were made. The insults lasted the longest in the REM phase and were aimed precisely at insulting or verbally attacking someone. According to the study, swearing is also more common in men. Why more men talk in their sleep and also express themselves vulgarly can only be guessed. Men may be more prone to displacement and are therefore less likely to talk about their problems when awake.



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