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Parasomnias -Somniloquy-Sleep Talking.
Author.
Hayk S. Arakelyan. Full Professor in Medicine,
Doctor of Medical Sciences, Ph.D , Grand Ph.D .
Senior Expert of Interactive Clinical Pharmacology , Drug Safety,
Treatment Tactics, General Medicine and Clinical Research.
“Natural forces within us are
the true healers of disease.”
“ Hippocrates”
Introduction.
Sleep talking is actually a sleep disorder known as somniloquy. Doctors don’t
know a lot about sleep talking, like why it happens or what occurs in the brain
when a person sleep talks. The sleep talker isn’t aware that they’re talking and
won’t remember it the next day. Somniloquy or sleep-talking is
a parasomnia that refers to talking aloud while asleep. It can be quite loud,
ranging from simple mumbling sounds to loud shouts and long, frequently
inarticulate speeches, and can occur many times during a sleep cycle.
Parasomnias.
Parasomnias are a category of sleep disorders that involve abnormal
movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions, and dreams that occur while
falling asleep, sleeping, between sleep stages, or during arousal from sleep.
A sleep disorder in which odd or dangerous events occur that intrude on sleep.
The parasomnias include sleep talking, sleepwalking (somnambulism), sleep
terrors, REM behavior disorder, and nocturnal dissociative disorder.
Sleep Talking.
Somniloquy or sleep-talking is a parasomnia that refers to talking aloud while
asleep. It can be quite loud, ranging from simple mumbling sounds to loud shouts
and long, frequently inarticulate speeches, and can occur many times during a
sleep cycle. As with sleepwalking and night terrors, sleeptalking usually occurs
during delta-wave NREM sleep stages or during temporary arousals therefrom.
Stage and severity of Sleep Talking.
Sleep talking is defined by both stages and severity:
Stages 1 and 2: In these stages, the sleep talker isn’t in as deep of sleep as
stages 3 and 4, and their speech is easier to understand. A sleep talker in
stages 1 or 2 can have entire conversations that make sense.
Stages 3 and 4: The sleep talker is in a deeper sleep, and their speech is
usually harder to understand. It may sound like moaning or gibberish.
Sleep talk severity is determined by how frequently it occurs:
Mild: Sleep talk happens less than once a month.
Moderate: Sleep talk occurs once a week, but not every night. The talking
doesn’t interfere much with the sleep of other people in the room.
Severe: Sleep talking happens every night and may interfere with the sleep
of other people in the room.
Risk Factors of Sleep Talking.
Sleep talking can happen to anyone at any time, but it appears to
be more common in children and men. There may also be a genetic link
to sleep talking. So if you have parents or other family members who talked
a lot in their sleep, you may be at risk too. Likewise, if you talk in your
sleep and you have children, you may notice that your children talk in
their sleep too.
Sleep talking can increase at certain times in your life and may be triggered by: