Why do people talk in their sleep? | Healthy Life

We live in difficult times: stress, chronic fatigue, depression have become our constant companions. I manage to escape into a deep sleep. All I had to do was touch the pillow with my head, and the next minute I was asleep. My husband is even jealous of me because he has problems sleeping and often cannot fall asleep until two in the morning. He once told me that I sometimes speak out loud in my sleep. This scared me at first, but then I decided to figure out what was wrong with me. Communication with psychologists, reading special books, communicating on women's forums on the Internet helped me understand the reasons for my condition. This article is about the main ones.

Night screams during sleep in adults

Sleep-speaking (somniloquy) is a common and harmless parasomnia. A person talks in his sleep or even shouts certain phrases loudly, but in the morning he does not remember anything. The attack lasts about half a minute with a high probability of recurrence.

The problem affects approximately 6% of the world's population. The majority of patients are not older than 16 years. The risk group includes people who abuse bad habits, do not maintain sleep hygiene, or have a hereditary predisposition.

The severity of the failure depends on the causative factor. Children scream because of nightmares, and mutter incoherent sounds when faced with a large volume of incoming information. In adulthood, emotional shock comes to the fore. The situation is aggravated by taking medications, alcohol and constant stress.

Characteristic manifestations of the phenomenon

Somniloquy is usually divided into 2 types. The first type is characterized by the pronunciation of clear phrases during the rapid stage of sleep, and the second type is characterized by incoherent sounds during the slow stage. Sleep talking rarely mirrors dreams and occurs to varying degrees. Relatives of the patient can promptly find out about the presence of parasomnia by the following signs:

The sleeping person turns to someone or begins to call for help, which creates the appearance of awakening.
Words are spoken in a whisper or in a loud voice. Speech is clear or unintelligible depending on the stage of sleep.
A person begins to scream, wake up in the middle of the night, cry and wave his arms if he has a terrible dream. The situation is aggravated under the influence of drugs, drugs or alcohol.
The sleeper, without waking up, is able to get out of bed, scream or ask something from relatives. Characteristic manifestations of somnambulism.

Advice! Waking up a person talking in their sleep is very difficult and is not recommended, so as not to disturb the psycho-emotional background.

The problem is rarely identified on its own, since in the morning the patient does not remember anything. They learn about this type of disorder from people sleeping next to them, who are forced to constantly hear screams, unintelligible sounds and conversations at night.

Finding the reason

Experts in the field of neuropathology and psychiatry believe that screams during sleep occur against the background of excessive stimulation of the nervous system. Perhaps the patient often drinks coffee before bed or watches horror movies in the evenings. In second place are the consequences of the accumulation of negative emotions due to regular exposure to stressful situations. If you don’t learn to relax and throw out the negativity, psychosomatic problems will begin to develop over time. A general list of reasons why people scream in their sleep is given below:

Nervous overexcitation. Frequent swearing, bad habits, fear of certain factors, disruption of daily biorhythms, watching horror films and taking tonics contribute to the development of parasomnia. Due to the combination of irritants, nightmares appear, interfering with sleep and provoking sleep talk and sudden awakenings.
Fear under the influence of external factors. You can scream in fear in a dream due to noise, shaking and other sudden and loud actions.
Taking medications. Disruptions in the sleep-wake rhythm develop under the influence of strong psychotropic drugs. Sleepy speech occurs when treatment is abruptly stopped or at the beginning of treatment.
Mental disorders. Many variants of parasomnia are common in mentally ill people.
Impact of alcohol. A drunk person tosses and turns and screams in his sleep due to disproportionate inhibition of parts of the brain. The glitch is especially pronounced when you have nightmares.
Failure to meet healthy sleep criteria. Stuffiness, ambient noise, light in the eyes and other irritants reduce the quality of rest. Gradually, due to lack of sleep, various types of failures develop.

It is important to know! From an esoteric point of view, the main reason why adults scream and toss and turn in their sleep is internal experiences. The sleeper may be afraid of certain things in real life, which leaves its mark on the subconscious.

Who talks in their sleep

To date, it has not yet been possible to find out the cause of the dreaming. It has been noted that, like sleepwalking, the phenomenon is inherited and is more common in males than in females. Only 5% of the adult population is susceptible to this phenomenon.

Much more often, parents discover that their child speaks in his sleep. This does not mean that children are sick and the child should immediately be referred to specialists, diagnostic tests performed and registered. It’s just that the child most likely suffered some kind of stress the day before or was emotionally overexcited. Half of children aged three to ten years talk in their sleep (mostly from 6 to 8), and in childhood girls hold the palm in speaking. In most cases, the fact that a child speaks in his sleep refers to the process of growth and development of the brain, and children simply outgrow this period. No treatment is needed.

How to identify sleep talking

The speaker himself is usually not even aware of his nocturnal sociability. His girlfriend, parents, and dorm neighbors can enlighten him on this issue. If a husband talks in his sleep, naturally his wife will tell him about his problem. There is a certain point of view among doctors who have encountered this problem that if a person talks in a dream, then he either utters the impressions of the day, or subconscious sensations, or repeats what he talked about that day. This is perhaps the only inconvenience of this phenomenon - the opportunity to spill the beans.

Reasons for concern

Screaming at night stops in children under 16 years of age. If the problem remains relevant or worsens, you will need the help of a neurologist. The specialist will check the child for neurological disorders. If there are no failures, the patient will be redirected to a somnologist and psychotherapist to draw up a picture of sleep and examine the psyche. In some cases, it is urgent to take action before the stated deadline. The following list of alarming symptoms will help you get your bearings in a timely manner:

regular night awakenings due to nightmares;
increased activity of sweat glands;
development of enuresis or encopresis;
manifestation of sleepwalking;
detection of symptoms of shortness of breath;
temperature rise above 38°;
identifying cases of body shuddering during rest;
manifestation of teeth grinding;

The voiced situations cannot be left to chance. Alarming symptoms may indicate the development of serious pathological processes. The patient needs to be urgently examined to draw up an optimal treatment regimen and prevent dangerous consequences.

Be clearer!

Episodes of sleep talk most often occur during shallow slow-wave sleep. Therefore, if a person, falling asleep, begins to mutter something in gibberish, but soon falls silent and sleeps peacefully throughout the night, then there is nothing to worry about. Scientists suggest that when muttering in their sleep, some people are simply lulling themselves to sleep. In this case, the sounds produced are a kind of compensatory reaction that helps those who fall asleep move more easily from one phase of sleep to another.

It happens that people talk during the rapid phase of sleep, during which dreams occur. At the same time, the person actively moves his eyeballs, and in general can move: stand up, point a finger at some objects, sometimes even answer questions from a nearby partner. In this case, the sleeper’s speech is no longer muttering, but rather clear and clear words and phrases.

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The work of the subconscious: how dreams help solve problems and identify diseases Despite the fact that all this looks scary, sleep speaking is most often not a pathology. If, when waking up in the morning, a person does not detect excessive nervousness and hysteria, or, conversely, lethargy and lethargy, then everything is fine. It is not for nothing that, according to the international classification of sleep disorders from 2005, sleep speaking is classified as a conditionally normal manifestation. And if someone feels bad from talking in a dream, then it’s definitely not the person sleeping, but the one who is nearby.

To reduce the likelihood of chatting at night, you need to create a calm environment at home in the evening, do not watch horror films before bed, and do not read bad news. And try not to eat too much at night. The bedroom should be cool at night - stuffiness contributes to the appearance of sleep talk. And you should definitely spend as much time as possible outdoors.

Prevention of disturbances in the sleep-wake rhythm

The development of parasomnia can be stopped by eliminating exposure to irritating factors. The patient must establish a sleep-wake schedule, create a suitable environment for relaxation in the bedroom and follow the recommendations of doctors. It’s easier to focus on the general list of tips:

To refuse from bad habits. Alcohol-containing drinks, drugs and cigarettes have a detrimental effect on the body. If you cannot stop yourself, you should contact specialized institutions.
Creating comfortable conditions for relaxation. A person should feel relaxed in the bedroom. It is necessary to try to create a quiet and darkened environment with an air temperature of 18 to 22° and a humidity of up to 50-60%.
Try not to excite the nervous system in the evening. A few hours before rest, it is recommended to stop working at the computer and watching TV. Only moderate physical and intellectual activity is allowed. Instead of coffee and energy drinks, it is better to drink tea or a herbal decoction with a sedative effect. Shortly before bed, you can walk down the street, listen to relaxing music, read a book or take a bath.
Follow the schedule. You need to go to bed and wake up at the same time. Failure to comply with the rule will lead to disruption of daily biorhythms and lack of sleep.
Don't overeat before bed. It is advisable to take the last meal 2-3 hours before rest, otherwise digestive problems will arise.

Screams in sleep are considered a common manifestation of excessive stimulation of the nervous system. In the absence of other irritants, it is enough to follow the advice of specialists to normalize the psycho-emotional state. If the problem is the development of pathologies or addiction to harmful substances, you should definitely consult a doctor.

Talkers in the night

According to statistics, one in twenty adults periodically talks in their sleep. Children do this even more often: almost every second person likes to “speak out” at night.

It is believed that the tendency to somniloquy (sleep talking) is often inherited. The nature of this phenomenon itself has not yet been fully studied by science, but scientists believe that it is associated with the stress experienced the day before. By the way, this stress is not necessarily negative; it may well be positive, just a very bright and powerful emotion.

In a person who has received a portion of strong psychological stress the day before, during sleep the centers in the cerebral cortex responsible for speech functions are excited, as a result of which the tongue is loosened.

When to talk... to a doctor

Unfortunately, for some people, sleep speaking is still associated with mental problems. Indeed, in addition to the most common neurotic sleep talk, there is also paroxysmal sleep talk.

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Pillows for healthy sleep: what are they and how to choose? Infographics It is different in that it occurs at the same time of night sleep and is accompanied by aggression on the part of the speaker when trying to wake him up. This can occur, for example, with epilepsy.

If you have such symptoms, you need to contact a neuropsychiatrist and undergo instrumental studies. First of all, do an EEG (electroencephalography) of the brain during night sleep.

You should not hesitate to visit a neurologist if, in addition to sleep talking, a person has some other neurological symptoms: enuresis, sleepwalking, teeth grinding in sleep, attacks of suffocation, drooling, nightmares.

Usually, for overly excitable and nervous patients, doctors prescribe nootropic or metabolic drugs that improve cerebral circulation and make sleep more restful.

curious

In the UK, a very popular blog is now created by Karen Lennard, the wife of 36-year-old Adam from Richmond, who often talks in his sleep. At first, Karen posted her husband's funny late-night sayings to amuse friends and family. However, over time, the blog gained more fans. The couple makes great money from their popularity: their online store quickly sells out souvenirs with Adam’s phrases. Here, for example, are some of the night's “statements”: You are sweet. Sweet-sweet-sweet. Now get out of here and be nice somewhere else. I'm sick of. Clack-clack, clink-clack. Make sure your hooves don't clatter! Who brought the horse into the bedroom? Aaaaah... Looks like I'm sleeping in a barn.

Preventive measures

In order for conversations at night to become less frequent or stop altogether, you must follow these rules:

You should not eat food less than three hours before bedtime. Then all the food will have time to be digested normally, and you will not feel heaviness in your stomach during sleep.
If you have sleep disorders, you need to forget about energy drinks forever. You can drink tea or coffee less than three hours before falling asleep. However, the drink should not be strong.
If medications cause stimulation of the nervous system, you should discuss your dosage schedule with your doctor. It is better to reschedule taking such medications until the first half of the day.
It is very important to create comfortable conditions. Curtains should be thick so that the light of street lamps does not penetrate. The bed and bedding should be comfortable. It is necessary to exclude irritating sounds (including your neighbor’s snoring).
There is no need to experience strong emotional experiences in the evening. For example, watching television shows or playing a console.

Somniloquy should not be feared if it does not cause discomfort in everyday life. In most cases, these are natural processes occurring in the body of an adult or child.

The article was checked by doctor Elizaveta Anatolyevna Krizhanovskaya About our authors and experts.