While You Were Sleep Talking

Words by Katherine Castillo Eustaquio

I used to catch my brother talking in his sleep. There were nights when he’d suddenly sit up on his bed, look around with a dazed look on his face, and say something like “Hindi pa ko tapos sa research. Nag-email si Lana.”

My brother is currently in junior college taking up Psychology; Lana is his org mate. That explained the research and the girl’s name. Then he would sluggishly slump back into bed and after a few silent moments would sit up again and say something like, “Nanood si Tokii sa Trinoma.” (Tokii is our Shih Tzu.) It was only later that we found out that he went through a series of emotional stress during his first two years in college, one of which involved Lana.

Also known as Somniloquy (sahm-ni-lê-kwi), sleep talking is one kind of parasomnia—a group of acute and intermittent physical phenomena that occur during sleep. A parasomnial phenomenon is distinguished by a person’s partial arousal during an episode wherein he or she exhibits signs of being awake and asleep at the same time. Sleep talking is not usually considered as a mental disorder. However, some people who sleep talk manifest disturbing verbal and/or physical behaviors. And like sleepwalkers, sleep talkers can’t recall ever talking in their sleep.

An episode usually last for about 30 seconds. Oftentimes, it seems that the person is talking to himself while others appear to be continuing a previous conversation during his waking hours and can range from hilarious to offensive to disturbing. A sleep talker does not pose immediate danger whenever he dives into his nighttime tirades but it could be annoying for some people.

Sleep talking is common among children and adults who suffer from emotional stress. Statistics show that almost 50% of children sleep talk and sleep walk and most of them are girls. Since somniloquy can occur at any time during sleep, scientists can’t pin down the possible link with the occurrence of dreams among adults. However, nightmares and separation anxiety that are common among children could explain some sleep talking episodes.

Shouting and screaming during sleep are common among people who have sleep terrors and/or REM (rapid-eye movement) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) along with the kicking and thrashing episodes that can range from moderate to violent. Sleep talking is also evident to people who have nocturnal sleep-related eating disorder(NS-RED). Apart from these links, emotional stress, mental disorders, substance abuse, and certain medications can also cause somniloquy.