Somniloquy, What's That?

Photo from sleepzine.com

Macrine talks while sleeping. Sometimes she even sings, laugh or scream. Most of the time she just mumbles. There are times, when her sentences are clear. Since I am a light sleeper, I oftentimes engage her in a conversation while she is asleep. In the morning, I ask her if she remembers our conversation. She has no idea of what happened that previous night. If she mumbles, I do not disturbed her, but if she screams or start shouting, I touched her so she could wake up. Macrine is suffering from Somniloquy, that is sleep talking. Here's some information in this subject from sleepzine.com.

Somniloquy or sleep-talking is a parasomnia that refers to talking aloud in one's sleep. It can be quite loud, ranging from simple sounds to long speeches, and can occur many times during sleep. Listeners may or may not be able to understand what the person is saying.

Sleep-talking usually occurs during transitory arousals from NREM sleep, which is when the body does not move smoothly from one stage in NREM sleep to another, and they become partially aroused from sleep. Further it can also occur during REM sleep at which time it represents a motor breakthrough (see sleep paralysis) of dream speech, words spoken in a dream are spoken out loud.

Sleep-talking can occur by itself or as a feature of another sleep disorder such as:

Rapid eye movement behavior disorder (RBD) - loud, emotional or profane sleep talking
Sleepwalking
Night terror - intense fear, screaming, shouting
Sleep-related eating disorder (SRED)

Sleep-talking is very common and is reported in 50% of young children, with most of them outgrowing it by puberty, although it may persist into adulthood (about 4% of adults are reported to talk in their sleep). It appears to run in families.

Sleep-talking by itself is harmless; however, it can wake up others and cause them consternation—especially when misinterpreted as conscious speech by an observer. If the sleep-talking is dramatic, emotional, or profane it may be a sign of another sleep disorder (see above). Sleep-talking can be monitored by a partner or by using an audio recording device; devices which remain idle until detecting a sound wave are ideal for this purpose. Polysomnography (sleep recording) shows episodes of sleep talking that can occur in any stage of sleep.

It's a very common occurrence and is not usually considered a medical problem.

The night time chatter may be harmless, or it could be graphic, even R rated. Sometimes, listeners find the content offensive or vulgar. Sleep talkers normally speak for no more than 30 seconds per episode, but some people sleep talk many times during a night.

Note: Do you have a member of your family that has somniloquy? Talking while asleep is not serious, but It could lead to sleep walking, a more serious disorder.