Sleep-talking facts for kids

Sleep-talking, also known as somniloquy, is when someone talks out loud while they are asleep. It's a type of parasomnia, which is a group of unusual things that can happen during sleep. Sleep-talking can be anything from quiet mumbles to loud shouts or long, unclear speeches.

This can happen many times during a sleep cycle. It can occur during both NREM sleep (non-rapid eye movement sleep) and REM sleep (rapid eye movement sleep). However, like sleepwalking and night terrors, it most often happens during the deep sleep stages of NREM sleep.

When sleep-talking happens during REM sleep, it's like words from a dream are spoken out loud. Normally, your body is still during REM sleep. So, if you talk during REM sleep, it might be a sign of a condition called REM behavior disorder.

What is Sleep-Talking?

Sleep-talking can happen on its own, meaning there's no other reason for it. But it can also be a part of other sleep disorders, such as:

• Rapid eye movement behavior disorder (RBD): This often involves loud, emotional, or even rude sleep-talking.
• Sleepwalking: When someone walks around while asleep.
• Night terrors: These are episodes of intense fear, screaming, or shouting during sleep.
• Sleep-related eating disorder (SRED): When someone eats while asleep.

Why Do People Talk in Their Sleep?

Scientists have studied why people talk in their sleep. Here's what they've found:

• Family History: If your parents talk in their sleep, you are more likely to do so too. It can run in families.
• Later in Life: Many people start sleep-talking as adults, even if they never did as children or teenagers.
• No Family History: Sometimes, people talk in their sleep even if no one else in their family does.

Usually, sleep-talking is harmless. But it can sometimes wake up others. It might also cause confusion if someone thinks the sleep-talker is awake and talking to them. If the sleep-talking is very dramatic, emotional, or uses bad words, it could be a sign of another sleep problem.

You can find out if you talk in your sleep by asking someone who sleeps near you. Or you can use a recording device that only turns on when it hears a sound.

Sleep studies, called Polysomnography, show that sleep-talking can happen during any stage of sleep.

Other Causes of Sleep-Talking

Stress can also make people talk in their sleep. For example, about 30% of people with PTSD (a condition caused by very stressful events) talk in their sleep. A study from 1990 found that soldiers who had PTSD from the Vietnam War reported talking in their sleep more often than others.

Other things that can cause sleep-talking include:

• Feeling sad or down (like depression)
• Not getting enough sleep
• Feeling sleepy during the day
• Having a fever

Sleep-talking often happens with other sleep issues like confusional arousals (waking up confused), sleep apnea (when breathing stops and starts during sleep), and REM sleep behavior disorder. In very rare cases, sleep-talking that starts in adulthood can be linked to a mental health condition or seizures during the night.

How Common is Sleep-Talking?

Sleep-talking is very common, especially in young children. About half of all young children talk in their sleep at least once a year. After age 25, many people talk in their sleep less often. But some people who never talked in their sleep as children start doing it as adults. Remember, it can be something that runs in families!

A study on sleep-talking in children found that how often it happens can vary. About half of children talk in their sleep at least once a year. But less than 10% of children talk in their sleep every night. And about 20% to 25% talk in their sleep at least once a week. The study also found no difference between boys and girls or different social groups.

It's hard to know exactly how many people talk in their sleep. This is because people who talk in their sleep usually don't remember it or even know they do it. It's also hard to know when someone first started sleep-talking, because early times might not have been noticed. This is why different studies sometimes have different numbers for how common sleep-talking is.

Treating Sleep-Talking

Usually, you don't need special treatment for sleep-talking. It generally doesn't stop you from sleeping well or cause other big problems.

However, one type of treatment has shown good results. In 1979, a researcher named Le Boeuf helped a person who had talked in his sleep for six years. When the person started talking in his sleep, a sound would play for five seconds. This sound helped stop the sleep-talking quickly, and the person had no bad effects from the treatment.

Sleep-Talking in Stories

Sleep-talking has appeared in many famous stories:

• Shakespeare's Macbeth: In Shakespeare's famous play Macbeth, there's a scene where Lady Macbeth walks and talks in her sleep. A gentlewoman and a doctor watch her. Lady Macbeth tries to wash her hands and says the famous line, "Out, damned spot! out, I say!" (Act 5, Scene 1).

• The Childhood of King Erik Menved: In a 19th-century story by Danish author Bernhard Severin Ingemann, a young girl named Aasé has a special power. She can speak the truth in her sleep. In an English translation from 1846, Aasé is described like this:

She is somewhat palefaced; and, however blithe and sprightly she may be, she is, nevertheless, now and then troubled with a kind of dreaming fit. But that will wear off as she gets older. Her mother was so troubled before her; and I believe it runs in the family as I am not entirely free from it myself. I do not give much heed to such dreaming now; but she has never yet said anything, while in this state, that has not proved in a manner true; though she can discern nothing, by night or day, more than others may do when they are in their senses.

Walt Whitman even wrote a novel based on Ingemann's story, which he called The Sleeptalker. This novel is now lost.

• Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: In Chapter VII of this classic book, The Dormouse seems to talk and even sing in his sleep.

'You might just as well say,' added the Dormouse, who seemed to be talking in his sleep, 'that "I breathe when I sleep" is the same thing as "I sleep when I breathe"!'

Here the Dormouse shook itself, and began singing in its sleep 'Twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle—' and went on so long that they had to pinch it to make it stop.

See Also

In Spanish: Somniloquía para niños

• Dion McGregor, a famous 20th-century sleep-talker