“There's some evidence that, at times, sleep talking may be related to dreams, but this is not always the case,” Dr. Drerup explains. Most dreams happen when you're in the deep, rapid eye movement (REM) phase of sleep. But sleep talking can happen during any stage of sleep, including both REM and non-REM sleep.
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.
Sleep talking is a type of parasomnia. Parasomnias are abnormal behaviors during sleep. Unlike most parasomnias that happen only during specific parts of the sleep cycle, sleep talking can occur during either rapid eye movement (REM) or non-REM sleep.
Sleep talking usually occurs by itself and is most often harmless. However, in some cases, it might be a sign of a more serious sleep disorder or health condition. REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and sleep terrors are two types of sleep disorders that cause some people to shout during sleep.
Sleep talking is predominantly seen in individuals with mental health issues or conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Sleep talking can also be associated with nightmares, especially in children.
One of the main ways to stop sleep talking is to minimize stress. A great way to do this is by creating a bedtime routine that will allow you to destress after a long day. An hour or so before bed, begin to wind down. Limit your use of technology, listen to a relaxing playlist, and put on some cozy loungewear.
Your last period of REM sleep may last as long as an hour. These latter periods of REM sleep include most episodes of groaning. Groaning may occur from time to time during other stages of sleep. A moaning sound can also occur during an epileptic seizure.
The Sleep-Talking Brain
On the other hand, since non-REM sleep doesn't lead to paralysis, Barrett says sleep talking during this stage is thought to be caused by “partial awakenings” of brain regions involved in language production that can be picked up with electrodes on the scalp, called EEG.
Sleep talkers generally do not talk for longer than 9 seconds at a time, and often it's much shorter than that—just a few seconds. 1 Rarely, people have been recorded giving very long speeches in their sleep. In mild cases, a person has fewer than one full episode of sleep talking a week.
It is very difficult to wake someone during stages 3 and 4, which together are called deep sleep. There is no eye movement or muscle activity. People awakened during deep sleep do not adjust immediately and often feel groggy and disoriented for several minutes after they wake up.
Stage 3 / N3
Stage 3 sleep is also known as deep sleep, and it is harder to wake someone up if they are in this phase. Muscle tone, pulse, and breathing rate decrease in N3 sleep as the body relaxes even further. The brain activity during this period has an identifiable pattern of what are known as delta waves.
Lucid dreamers can hear and answer questions while still asleep, scientists find. It's like communicating with an astronaut on another world. Scientists have successfully "talked" to a sleeping person in real-time by invading their dreams, a new study shows.
So does snoring mean deep sleep? No it doesn't. REM sleep becomes very fragmented and interrupted by snoring so snorers aren't able to reach deep sleep. Only frequent, prolonged and severe snores mean possibly obstructive sleep apnea.
Anything under a minute is not recorded because it does not significantly impact sleep. In the span of a week, the average person tosses and turns 37 to 40 times each night.
If anyone sleeping near you has ever complained about groaning or moaning at night, you may have a rare sleep disorder called catathrenia. It makes you produce those sounds and hold your breath while you sleep.
The truth is you should wake them up if they are in danger or putting someone else in danger. But, most times, the best option is to lead them back to bed. It is hard to wake someone up when they are sleepwalking because they are in deep sleep.
While it's a great plot device for a TV drama, revealing secrets while sleep talking is probably unlikely to occur. According to a study, it's not the best method to get someone to reveal their secrets!
The most important sleep stage is Stage 3, Non-REM or, Delta (Slow Wave) Sleep, it takes up 25% of our total sleep cycle, and it's known as the 'deepest' period of sleep. It's in Stage 3 that sleep is at its most restorative, helping our bodies heal themselves and our minds rest.
Adults generally average 1-2 hours of deep sleep per night, somewhere between 15 and 25% of your nightly sleep. Most of our deep sleep comes in the first sleep cycle of the night, usually 45-90 minutes.
Most adults, but not all, require 7 – 9 hours of sleep. Deep sleep must be a part of this nightly sleep. If you do not routinely get enough deep sleep, a number of issues can arise or be exacerbated including heart disease, a weakened immune system, an increased risk of stroke, and (for men) erectile dysfunction.
This is also the stage of sleep where it is most difficult to wake you up. Deep sleep is as important, if not more important, than REM sleep when it comes to physical rest, so keep an eye on this stage if you're tracking your sleep patterns.
Deep sleep could be defined as a state in which thoughts, images, sensations and perceptions are not present. You add to this definition that neither you nor awareness is present 'there'.
Traditionally, dreamless sleep has been straightforwardly defined as the part of sleep that occurs you're not dreaming, and it has been looked at as one uniform stage. Rather, research shows that people have conscious experiences during all states of sleep, including deep sleep, Thompson told Live Science.
According to The Sleep Foundation, it's been proven to be one of the ways our body restores energy. It does this by restoring two particular chemicals in our bodies while we sleep: glycogen and adenosine. Glycogen helps store energy in the brain, and these decrease while we are awake. They are restored while we sleep.