Talking During Sleep: Causes and Treatment Methods

Has anyone ever told you that you talk in your sleep? Or did you hear someone talking in their sleep and was surprised, especially when they said clear and understandable words? In fact, talking during sleep is a common phenomenon, and you must have encountered it or done it personally at least once during your life, but don't let this make you feel afraid for your secrets or your private life, and you don’t have to be afraid of revealing them without knowing by talking about them during sleep. Talking during sleep, as many doctors have emphasized, is often related to your daily affairs and revolves around your normal activities and life.

If you are interested in learning more about this problem, continue reading the article to know the reasons why someone talks in their sleep, and to know if this phenomenon is permanent or even related to other problems.

First: What are the symptoms and causes of talking during sleep?

Talking during sleep is a natural physiological phenomenon, and it is common and widespread among people. Also, it cannot be considered a pathological condition, but it is classified among the so-called sleep disorders, and its occurrence is not related to a specific age. Adolescents, children, and adults may face this phenomenon, but it is likely that children and men suffer from it more than women.

In fact, the phenomenon of talking during sleep does not last for a long time, and it varies in intensity. For some people, it stops at the point of issuing incomprehensible, unclear, and short sounds during their sleep, while others may speak in long, understandable, and clear sentences, and it may reach the limit of speeches for others .

Studies have indicated the relationship of genetics to this phenomenon. If one of the parents suffers from it, it is very likely that the children will suffer from it. Studies also indicated that two out of three people talk during sleep.

Symptoms of talking during sleep:

There are some symptoms that accompany this condition, including:

1. Talking during sleep is often accompanied by the phenomenon of walking during sleep. Studies have found that most sleepwalkers also talk.
2. A person who talks in their sleep does not feel it, and when they wake up, they will never know that they did it if no one tells them, so that they will be very surprised that they did it.
3. Talking during sleep is associated with some other problems, such as obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.
4. Psychological disorders also sometimes accompany talking during sleep.
5. Talking during sleep is likely to be associated with nightmares and visions of dreams.

Reasons for talking during sleep:

The phenomenon of talking during sleep is due to several reasons, but these reasons are possible and inaccurate reasons. Doctors have not yet been able to discover a clear cause for it, and they have not  known yet what exactly happens inside the brain when a person speaks while they are sleeping.

We will mention some of these reasons:

1. Instability in sleep behavior:

People who suffer from sleep behavior disorder feel that they are awake and do many actions and behaviors during their sleep. These behaviors include talking during sleep, walking, or even violence.

The reason for sleep behavior disorder is caused by a person's inability to construct a dream because their body remains in a state of rest and rapid eye movement paralysis occurs. This is the movement that causes dreaming, and during this time the mind becomes busy, blood pressure rises, eye twitches rapidly, heart rate rises, and brain wave activity becomes similar to your activity during wakefulness.

2. Psychological instability:

This phenomenon may be due to psychological disorders, especially in adults over 25 years of age. Scientists have not yet determined whether the presence of a psychological problem leads to the occurrence of this phenomenon, or if this phenomenon will eventually lead to a defect in mental health if it is repeated permanently.

Depression, physical fatigue during the day, exposure to psychological pressure, and anxiety: All these reasons make a person hallucinate and murmur during sleep.

3. Insomnia:

It is also one of the reasons that makes a person talk during their People who suffer from sleep problems and sleepwalking often talk during their sleep more than others.

4. Fever:

Fever and high temperatures cause hallucinations, which leads people to talk to themselves during sleep.

5. Medications:

Taking some types of medications, medical drugs, and painkillers may lead to speech during sleep.

6. Alcohol and Drugs:

Alcohol and drug abuse are also reasons why a person speaks in their

Second: How do we treat the problem of talking during sleep?

As we mentioned above, talking during sleep cannot be considered a disease. Therefore, talking about treatment methods is not possible, but in a related context, talking during sleep is a source of inconvenience to those who share you the room, and this problem grows if you are married and share a bed with someone else. Here, we can provide some strategies that can help you, knowing that all of these strategies are related to the reasons, as we well know, we cannot talk about a solution to any problem if we ignore the causes that lead to it.

Here are the strategies:

• You can simply change your sleeping place and not share the room with anyone. People who talk in their sleep do not feel it, and if no one tells them about it, they will not know that they have a problem in the first place, it has no dimensions or consequences. If you are married, you can ignore this advice as it is not suitable for you.
• If the reason lies in fatigue and exhaustion, we advise you to relax and do some activities that help achieve this during the day. We also advise you to try to stay away as much as possible from psychological pressures and think about the annoying things and problems that disturb you and bother you before bed.
• Do not eat heavy meals and fatty foods before going to sleep so as not to cause you inconvenience and insomnia, and this is what causes talking during sleep. It is also preferable to eat healthy meals that help sleep and relax; You can drink a glass of cold milk before bedtime, or yogurt, as it helps calm the nerves, or anise. However, it is not only about dinner, rather care must be taken to follow a healthy diet rich in the necessary nutrients, salts, and minerals that give the body the comfort it is looking for.
• Avoid alcoholic drinks or smoking. Exercising and making it a part of your daily routine is very important and helps a lot to relax.
• Sleeping in comfortable and loose-fitting clothes is also important to get a calm and comfortable sleep without any problems.
• Create your own rituals to help you sleep peacefully, such as reading for an hour a day in your bed.
• Pay attention to the cleanliness and smell of your bed, the ventilation of the bedroom, and the change of sheets. All of these things can help make sleep a good ritual for you.
• Sleeping without strong lighting is better and helps relax.

Third: Weird things we do while sleeping

Talking during sleep is not the only thing that people do while they sleep, and in the following we will mention to you some of the strangest actions that people do while they sleep in addition to talking:

1. Feeling of falling:

How many times have you woken up in terror because you felt like you were falling from a high place? This condition is called sleep jerk or sleep tremor, and it occurs due to the decline in the work of the nervous system that occurs during sleep or due to irregular sleep and consumption of caffeinated drinks such as coffee.

2. Sleepwalking:

Talking during sleep, as we mentioned above, is also accompanied by walking, and you may feel fear for the first time when witnessing such a phenomenon if you have not seen it or heard about it previously in your family. Your roommate may walk while they sleep, for example, and may even try to open the door and walk without destination, but do not be afraid if something like this happens to you. This incident is common and often results from fatigue and exhaustion during the day.

In this case, the brain is in a state of partial sleep, and the person who walks during their sleep cannot perform difficult tasks or even interact with the surrounding stimuli, and can return to sleep without remembering anything.

3. Bruxism:

Have you ever woken up with pain in your teeth and jaw? So, you may suffer from this condition, as the teeth grind during sleep. This condition also occurs as the previous cases due to fatigue, effort, and exhaustion during the day.

4. Drooling during sleep:

This condition is very embarrassing for people who share a bed with another person. Saliva drips from your mouth unconsciously while you sleep to the point that your pillow may get wet, due to sinusitis or gerd gastroesophageal reflux disease, which causes excessive salivation and drooling.

5. Sleep paralysis:

One of the most difficult cases that affects a person during their sleep is sleep paralysis. People completely paralyzed, unable to move, and almost suffocate, and the sensation may last for several minutes, and this condition often occurs between sleep and wakefulness.

In conclusion:

A person needs psychological and physical rest. This is a foregone conclusion, and accordingly, they must take advantage of the sleep period to achieve this, and they must avoid all fatigue, especially in the period before bed, so that they can get a good and comfortable sleep. As we have seen, most of the problems that occur during sleep are due to those causes and factors.