|  | Mental Health | Stress

Talking While Sleeping

Sleeping is supposed to be a time of peaceful rest and relaxation for the mind and body. For some, snoring is a chronic condition that prevents a good night's rest. For others, its acute bouts of sleep talking. Talking while sleeping is considered a sleep disorder that affects individuals of all ages.

  1. Somniloquy

    • Somniloquy is the medical term for talking while sleeping. The condition is rarely taken as a cause for concern even though it's classified as a sleeping disorder. Somniloquy is usually triggered by stress or illness, which causes poor sleep cycles. Taking time to relax before bedtime and maintaining proper health practices prevents the condition.

    Signs and Symptoms

    • Episodes of sleep talking range from small mutterings to long conversations. The discussions may be random silly words, full competent sentences or vulgar statements, since the brain is in a relaxed state during sleep. In rare cases, individuals have been known to yell while sleeping, awaking those around them.

    Age Group

    • One of the most common age groups affected by sleep talking are children. According to WebMD, about 50 percent of children ages three to 10 years old randomly carry on conversations in their sleep, while 10 percent talk in their sleep more than once a week. Only about 5 percent of adults talk in their sleep.

    Sleep Terrors

    • An aggressive form of sleep talking is known as sleep terrors or REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). RBD involves violent episodes of screaming, shouting and kicking while sleeping. Individuals have no recollection of the incidents and are quite often shocked when told about their behavior. Causes for RBD are severe stress, anxiety, brain disorders or illness.

Stress - Related Articles