Why does a person talk in his sleep? What can you learn from the sleeping person?

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Any of us would like to penetrate our subconscious while we are at rest at night. We are interested in the possible actions we perform and the direction of thought in our dreams. why a person talks in his sleep is considered especially incomprehensible . From a medical point of view, this condition is called somniloquy. In simple terms, it’s a dream.

Why do people talk in their sleep

This behavior is characteristic of some people over a long period of time, but even today researchers cannot give detailed explanations of this unknown phenomenon.

What is sleep talking

It is assumed that the ability to express one's own thoughts out loud in a sleepy state can be inherited. And there is its invisible relationship with sleepwalking (committing certain actions while sleeping).

This distinctive feature is most often observed in men.
And in most cases, it is predominantly teenagers who suffer from this. Their brain is not yet sufficiently strong and is under the highest tension throughout the day.
However, somniloquy is a fairly rare phenomenon, observed in five percent of the world's population.
In addition, conversations in sleep are most often carried out by people susceptible to extraordinary emotional forms.

Why do people talk in their sleep, what do psychologists say?

Experts in the field of psychology who study this incomprehensible phenomenon agree that a person in a dream most often talks about what he thought about earlier, in reality. Keep in mind that this phenomenon may occur in young children. But parents should not worry about this. Thus, the baby tries to adapt to the world around him. A fragile psyche, less stable than that of adults, reacts quite sharply to any event that happens to it. A child in a sleepy state expresses the vivid emotions and sensations he has experienced.

Survey

First, you need to contact a psychotherapist who will conduct tests to identify signs of anxiety, decreased mood and hyperactivity. Particular attention is paid to the child’s relationships with parents and peers. Key risk factors are identified. If necessary, the patient is referred to another specialist. Consultation with a neurologist, child psychiatrist, endocrinologist, epileptologist and therapist may be required.

Special examinations:

Long-term psychological observation. Regular consultations help to identify the prerequisites for the occurrence of sleep talking.
Study of the functioning of the brain during wakefulness and sleep: electroencephalography, somnography. If necessary, visual examinations are performed to exclude organic brain damage.
Examination of internal organs, including the study of hormonal levels.

It is important to inform the specialist about the medications you are taking, diagnosed diseases and other symptoms.

Why does a person talk in his sleep what he dreams about?

Now, if a person screams in a dream, what does it mean and why nightmares may accompany him.

In this case, loved ones should learn to understand the reason for this behavior in order to provide the necessary psychological assistance in a timely manner.

Well-known psychologists who analyze human conversations at night agree with all the above facts.

They point out the complete harmlessness of this feature, considering it a projection ray of the subconscious, cognitive activity and emotional state.
Typically, night conversations are short-lived, lasting a fraction of a second.
They can be repeated several times throughout the night.
In this case, the speaker most often does not remember what was discussed in his night monologue.
Moreover, these words can be impudent and picturesque, inarticulate and vulgar, humiliating and bewitching.

A person can shout loudly or speak in a whisper, have a conversation with someone or talk to his own “I”.

The main reasons why people talk in their sleep

The main motivating factors for somniloquy include the following:

destabilization of the night phase,
anxieties, fears and nightmares,
emotional stress,
mental illness,
excessive consumption of coffee, drugs or alcohol,
some medicines.

Human sleep phases

There are specific cases of why a person talks in his sleep. This state is somewhat uncomfortable for the sleeper himself and can wake up people close to him.

Susceptibility to nighttime chatter can be observed in the following phases of sleepy time:

Phase name	Brief description of the conversation
Second, no plot	The sleeper utters a verbal stream of his own thoughts, which are in no way related to the pictures seen in the dream.
Active, dreaming	The conversation is accompanied by the movement of the eyeballs and can be compared with the images that arise in the mind.

You will be interested in what happens in a dream: Does the brain rest and what does a person feel?

Why does a person talk in his sleep? Is it dangerous or not?

Researchers of this problem are confident that these sleepy monologues are a kind of protective reaction of the body, helping it move between different phases of sleep. It is known that their number is four. One of the phases is called fast-wave, and the other three are called slow-wave. In most cases, conversation can take place in shallow moments of sleep.

Help and treatment

In most cases, no serious treatment is required.

Drug treatment is used if night conversations appear in adulthood, the person experiences sleepwalking, and the muttering is accompanied by swearing or nightmares.

Treatment is mainly outpatient, with inpatient treatment only in severe cases. The drugs used are antipsychotics, tranquilizers, and antidepressants.

Psychotherapy sessions are conducted with the patient.

In some cases, cognitive cognitive therapy, gestalt therapy, and hypnosis are used.

All this allows us to identify and overcome the causes of night monologues.

What happens in a dream

The alternation of phases takes place throughout the night.
The total duration of one course is 1.5 or 2 hours.
The first phase occupies five percent of night dreams, i.e. every two to three hours for five minutes.
By giving out a verbal stream during this period of time, a person plunges into a deeper sleep.
When a person's eyes move quickly enough, it becomes easy to wake him up and he stops all talking.
The second phase occurs with deeper sleep, and the sleeper in many cases does not remember at all whether he said anything at this time.

But, even during periods of communication in a state of sleep, accompanied by rapid movement of the eyeballs, his monologue does not always draw a parallel with the pictures flashing in his subconscious.

What scientists say

Therefore, if a person talks to himself out loud, what does it mean? Well, it’s not always that he retells the scene he saw from his own dream. But at some moments he can still say what he dreams or talk to the images and characters he sees. This position is also shared by the famous doctor of medical sciences Kohler from the Sia Institute in Florida.

Why are talking in your sleep dangerous?

We can talk about the harmlessness of dream-speaking only if it is not associated with some fairly serious pathologies. Non-inconvenient communication with your own subconscious is easily tolerated and eliminates unpleasant moments in dreams and in reality. However, when the lack of control over the flow of thoughts causes discomfort not only to the sleeper himself, but also to those around him, then this is another reason to think about how to correct the situation.

The main signs of a painful deviation from the norm

Name	Human behavior	Is it possible to wake up a sleeping person?	Additional actions
Destabilization of REM sleep	Screams squeals, aggression.	Not easy	Signs of sleepwalking, nighttime need for food, although the sleeper does not remember going to the refrigerator.
Nightmares	Screams, body turns, rapid movement of legs.	Difficult	Walking from room to room without waking up.

If you have nightmares

It is known why a person talks in his sleep with varying frequency and intensity. This is influenced by numerous factors:

untimely drinking of an alcoholic drink. At the same time, the amount of alcohol consumed most often exceeds the permissible limit;
elevated body temperature. This circumstance can also provoke daytime delirium;
nightmares;
stressful situation. A person’s experiences can “lurk” deep in the subconscious, and at night they spill out;
taking pills. It is recommended to read the instructions carefully. This pathology can be described as side effects;
temporary cessation of respiratory rhythms at night. This sleep problem indicates that the body is trying to cope with the situation.

Talking in a dream reasons

Sleep is a state during which the brain turns off for a period of time. Waking up, it sends signals to all muscles. But sometimes it happens that the latter wake up before the main stimulant of their revival. Then we can already talk about somniloquy.

The main indicators of such dream talk include the following:

The sleeper does not remember his night monologue,
Such conversations are not considered medical pathology,
Consist of dialogues with fictional or real characters, communication with the inner “I”, complete nonsense, screams or whispers,
Short in duration, but repeated with some frequency throughout the night,
Others may consider night delirium offensive to their dignity or vulgar,
A person does not understand the meaning of the words he says in the morning.

It's normal to talk in your sleep

Analyzing why a person talks out loud in his sleep, the reasons for the repetition of such episodes, we can say that they are very diverse. At the same time, they only say with confidence that the talker does not assume that he is doing this.

What others think

Relatives or friends who stay overnight complain about his behavior in the morning.
Without getting proper rest, they begin to make fun or ridicule.
A person begins to fear this attitude of others and is embarrassed to sleep in public places (on a train, a boarding house, with relatives, etc.).

If a child speaks in his sleep is it dangerous or not?

The phenomenon of uncontrolled speech at night is very common. It occurs in almost half of school-age children (explained by the natural formation of their brain) and in 5-10% of the adult population (the male part is more susceptible).

Children begin to talk at night when they reach puberty. And adults who talk in their sleep suffer from nightmares, daytime stress, enuresis, and the need for food during sleep.

Do speeches in dreams correspond to real events?

The science of somnology, which studies the problem of why a person talks in his sleep, indicates the absence of any relationship between such nightly conversations and the everyday routine that surrounds each of us. The results of the study proved the difference in vocal intonations and type of speech of a sleeping and waking person.

Additional signs

If the patient begins to talk while sleeping, you need to pay attention to the behavior. Symptoms indicating pathology can appear both during night rest and while awake. Often these are subtle signs that are not associated with any disorders:

the patient grinds his teeth at night;
during wakefulness, absent-mindedness and impaired concentration are observed;
there is a lack of coordination in space;
decreased cognitive functions, including memory and intelligence;
the child walks and talks in his sleep;
signs of restlessness and anxiety appear during the daytime;
there is a decrease in mood, frequent tearfulness;
lack of motivation and decreased performance (apathy);
lack of appetite and weight loss.

If these symptoms appear, it is recommended to consult a neurologist for examination. It is important to exclude diseases of the nervous system and parasomnic disorders. For example, if the patient sleeps with his eyes open and moves around in a sleeping state, somnambulism must be excluded.

What can a person talk about in a dream?

At night, the flow of words can be simple incoherent sounds, words that don't match each other, or even well-formed sentences.
A person can address himself, communicate with characters from dreams, and his chatter is not intelligible or completely understandable in meaning.
Claims that we are able to blurt out secret information during sleep are divided into two completely opposite views:
Some experts agree that nighttime phrases do not intersect with events of the past or present. Therefore, you shouldn’t take them seriously, even if the person answers your question quite intelligently.
Others take the position that the talker can blurt out in his sleep everything that happened to him earlier.

The most frequent intervals of sleep during which sleep talking most often occurs.

When people talk in their sleep

Name of sleep phase	Description
Any hour of the night and any sleepy stage	During this period, the nature of the intonation of the speaker’s voice is somewhat different from everyday life.
Nap	Speech at this time is replete with coherent sentences, clear in meaning and purpose.
Delta sleep	The phase during which a person is least likely to be easily awakened. The phrases are pronounced in the form of exclamations, groans and are complete nonsense.
Transitional	A short period of transition from one phase of sleep to another can be accompanied by single sounds and words.

In those moments when wakefulness can invade the kingdom of Morpheus, the sleeping man utters fiery speeches, devoid of any meaning in principle.

This is a completely conditional division into intermediate states during sleep. The average person is rarely able to determine which phase is occurring during chatter by the clarity of what is spoken and the intonation that accompanies sleepy verbal streams.

Why do people talk in their sleep reasons

If you suddenly belong to the group of people who like to chat while resting at night, then determining the exact reason for this reaction of the body is quite difficult. Do not rush to make any diagnosis yourself. First, try to make sure that you really have this behavior. Perhaps your partner, who pointed out your peculiarity to you, was simply mistaken.

Once you have 100% confirmation of your nightly monologues or dialogues, check out the main reasons for these conversations.

Causes of sleep disturbances

Cause	Characteristic
Hereditary predisposition	When you know that your parents or relatives suffered from sleep-speaking, then you may also have this ability. Males are more susceptible to this inheritance.
Phenomena associated with the sleep process	Parasomnias accompanying your sleep: nightmare visions, fear of the dark, partial cessation of breathing at night, a sleep disorder that provokes nocturnal adventures, eating, frequent awakenings, urinary incontinence, etc.
Emotionality	Being an overly impressionable person who reacts sharply to external events, you transfer your state into your own dreams, provoking night speeches.
Psychosomatics	Mental disorders most often lead to serious diseases of other organs. The body may react in strange ways, prompting you to socialize at night.
Sleep disorders	Susceptibility to awakening too easily, without entering the deep sleep phase, during which you try to “lull” yourself with coherent or incoherent speech.
Drugs and alcoholic drinks	Having received too large a dose of negative substances, the body allows previously controlled speech processes to take their course.
Diseases	Increased temperature or fever can be serious provocateurs for nocturnal delirium.
Eating heavy meals	A clogged esophagus is not able to process a large amount of food taken at night, and therefore does not allow the brain to relax and provide complete rest to all parts of the body.
Stress loads	The reasons may be not only unpleasant events that happen to you, but also too exhausting exercise.
Unstable brain function	The resulting head injuries can provoke improper functioning of nerve endings, as a result of which the brain does not rest at night, stimulating linguistic verbal variations.

What to do if you suffer from insomnia: Insomnia - what to do at home if your daily routine is disrupted

Which doctor should I contact?

Unwitting witnesses to a loved one's sleep talk may fail if they try to wake up the talker. He will begin to fight back and move his arms and legs sharply. Psychologists say that there is no need to be afraid of such aggressive behavior. It only reflects the emotionally tough character of a particular person. People who are characterized by such actions are cold in reality. During the daytime, they can hide their aggressive state, and at night they can relax at the subconscious level. Therefore, why a person falls in their sleep can become a major problem for them. Relaxed muscles cease to control and coordinate movements.

However, such episodes in conjunction with sleep talking rarely need to be treated. It is worth talking about concern when actions are accompanied by a more serious disturbance of the sleepy state.

Circumstances giving rise to concern:

after the night you do not feel rested and you want to sleep;
night speeches seriously interfere with the proper rest of your family and friends;
conversations at night become too frequent;
your condition lasts for quite a long period of time;
the conversation is supplemented by walking around the room;
in dreams you are scared, restless, you are prone to attacks of aggression.

Psychologist or neurologist

The beginning of your conversations while under the power of Morpheus occurs at the age of 20 years, this indicates a serious illness.

It just so happens that there is no special treatment for people who are prone to sleep talking or walking around in a drowsy state at night. Since the answer to the question of why a person talks in his sleep most often lies on the surface and does not require serious examination.

Methods for preventing late-night conversations

However, you can contact your family doctor to rule out the possibility of you developing any other disease that provokes such attacks. Your doctor may refer you to a specialist who specializes in identifying parasomnias.

How do psychologists view this feature?

A sleep behavior consultant will ask you for a full report on the problem:

the duration of your nightly conversations;
frequency of attacks;
How long ago did you learn that you were susceptible to such unusual actions?

More interesting information about human biorhythms: How to easily calculate human biorhythms by date of birth

Ways to get rid of the problem

Exacerbations in most cases are observed as a result of emotional and mental stress, stressful situations. When sleep talking is a real problem and causes inconvenience to a person, it is recommended to independently reduce the number of unpleasant attacks using simple measures:

getting enough regular sleep;
a constant and correct regime of rest with wakefulness;
proper and specialist-recommended sleep hygiene.

However, these measures are not enough. You should refrain from:

constant worries and stress;
drinking alcohol, smoking tobacco at night;
watching programs and films that stimulate the emotional background;
taking tonic and caffeinated drinks in the evening, for example, tea, coffee, cola, alcohol;
learning or processing new information just before bed.

In case of exacerbation of stressful periods, it is necessary to take sedatives, but after prior consultation with a doctor.

Lucid dreaming dream diary

Another way to gain the opportunity to analyze your own nighttime behavior is to keep a diary. Write down all the information related to your sleep in it:

exact time of going to bed every day;
estimated hours of your sleep;
morning rise time;
duration of stay at rest;
own feelings and dreams;
list of medications taken;
quantity and frequency of intake of coffee, alcohol, Coca-Cola and other drinks containing caffeine;
stressful situations happening to you.

Learn more about lucid dreaming: Lucid dreaming - an entry technique for beginners - how to get into the world of night cinema

If a person screams in his sleep

A specialist, having analyzed why a person screams in his sleep, the reasons that cause such actions, will help choose a therapeutic course that normalizes the state of rest and peace. If your case turns out to be too serious and severe, he will prescribe medications and psychotherapy sessions.

There are few known cases of contacting a doctor with a similar problem. However, provided that such behavior causes you sufficient inconvenience, there is still a need to take certain measures.

How to independently fight the habit of talking in your sleep

As a rule, your speech while at rest at night is not fraught with any threat. But, if they cause you inconvenience, and you still don’t want to see a doctor, you can try to understand for yourself why a person talks in his sleep and how to get rid of it. The most likely cause is stress and excessive psycho-emotional stress. Eliminate first of all this root of evil in order to establish inner peace in your thoughts and feelings.

The following recommendations will help reduce the duration, frequency and frequency of sleep talking:

Recommendation	Your actions to take
Minimizing nervous tension	When you cannot completely eliminate anxiety during daylight hours, learn to relax at the subconscious level. Excellent helpers in this matter: yoga and meditation.
Physical education classes	Two hours before bed, do light exercise or take a brisk walk around your hometown. This will allow you to group your thoughts and feelings, and also add muscle tone.
Stick to your meal schedule	Stop eating before bed or in bed. If you can’t fight your desire, eliminate dishes that are heavy on the stomach and limit yourself to light snacks.
Avoid coffee or alcohol	It has been proven that it is better not to drink alcohol during dinner, and coffee during lunch and after. They can worsen the situation, even if they are not the direct cause of restless sleep.
Have a relaxing treatment	Watch a good movie, take a warm bath with aromatic oils, listen to good music.
Maintain a sleep schedule	Learn to sleep for the recommended eight hours. Constant lack of sleep sends corresponding signals to the brain. It becomes more difficult for him to regulate your transitional state from one phase of sleep to another.
Use the bed only for sleeping	Your brain should associate a sleeping place in accordance with its purpose. If you watch a movie or surf the Internet while in bed, your agitated state will not allow you to fall into a restful sleep.

It will be useful for you to know: Health zone according to Feng Shui in an apartment - the secrets of eastern longevity

Sleepwalking and talking in your sleep what to do

If it so happens that there is a night talker next to you, who does not allow you to completely surrender to the power of Morpheus, learn to be lenient and respectful of this feature. To prevent this from interfering with your own rest, use earplugs or turn on quiet music or even a regular fan. At the same time, make sure that your speaker is not in danger. Do not disturb him, as at this moment he may be in a state of deep sleep and, upon waking up, will be very frightened.