Sleep talking is a type of parasomnia that causes a person to talk during his or her sleep. The medical term for sleep talking is somniloquy that is very common to affect anyone from all age groups but is more abundant or common in younger children. Most of the time, sleep talking is harmless and is not usually considered to be a type of medical problem. Sleep talking can range from murmurings to complex vulgar sentences. There are even times that the person affected with sleep talking talks R rated during sleep, which makes listeners find the sleep talking offensive.

What Causes Sleep Talking?

It is commonly believed by many people that sleep talking is greatly associated with a person’s dream. However, there are no definite connections or links between sleep talking and nighttime dreams of a person. It has even been proven that sleep talking can occur in any stage of sleep. Most cases of sleep talking is considered to be harmless especially when it is not in conjunction with other sleep disorders. However, there are some cases of sleep talking that can be caused by other sleep disorders or other medical conditions. Causes of sleep talking can include but not limited to:

• Rapid Eye Movement Behavior Disorder or RBD
• Sleep Terrors – sleep terrors is a type of sleep disorder that causes a person to be very frightened during the middle of his or her sleep. Sleep talking in sleep terrors does not only involve soft mumblings or short phrases, sleep talking in sleep terrors involve shouting, thrashing, and even kicking. During an episode or attack of sleep terror, it is almost impossible to wake the person up. Children are usually affected with sleep terrors, thus they are more prone to sleep talking.
• Nocturnal Sleep Related Eating Disorder or NS-RED – nocturnal sleep related eating disorder is a type of sleep disorder that involves a person to eat while sleeping. The person affected with NS-RED are completely unaware of their eating episode while they are sleeping and are usually surprised when other people will tell them the next day that they ate during their sleep.
• Emotional Stress – emotionally stressed people are more likely to sleep talk during their sleep.
• Hyperthermia or Fever – people who are having fever are at a higher risk for sleep talking. However, sleep talking in people who are having a fever do not usually last long.