Somniloquie

As somniloquy is called speaking during sleep. The spectrum of this parasomnia ranges from uttering undifferentiated sounds to the pronunciation of words and entire sentences.

Typically speaking during sleep occurs when switching between different stages of non-REM sleep , but it can also occur during REM sleep , causing dreamed sentences to be pronounced out loud.

Somniloquie can be used alone or alongside other sleep disorders such as B. Somnambulismus or Pavor nocturnus or Pavor diurnus occur. It occurs in around 50 percent of all children and usually disappears with puberty , but it can also occur in adulthood (around 5 percent of adults speak during sleep).

The somniloquia in itself is harmless, but it can disturb others in their sleep. It cannot be controlled by the sleeper, but psychological stress, fever and the influence of alcohol are known to be favorable factors. Treatment is usually not necessary.

Somniloquia in sleep research

In the sleep research the definition is clarified by somniloquy Arthur Arkin. Since reports of such events often do not guarantee an assignment to sleep stages and, moreover, the utterances are often associated with movements of varying degrees and thus possible waking reactions, the term "speaking in connection with sleep" ( in association with sleep ) is used there, "Speaking in sleep" not selected ( during sleep ).

This includes one or more clearly formulated words or mumbled words that are incomprehensible but clearly convey the impression of language, as well as affective, non-linguistic sounds that have a psychologically meaningful quality such as laughing, crying, humming or whimpering. In contrast, “utterances in connection with sleep” ( sleep utterance ) also include non-verbal sounds such as isolated monosyllabic grunts, short moans, groans and sighs .

Somniloquie assumes that the person is not aware of the real environment and context in the way that they appear to an awake observer.

When assessing the frequency of occurrence, it must be taken into account that the people do not remember the process themselves and that the information is based on external observation. Often, however, the partner or people in the immediate vicinity also sleep at the time in question, which means that part of the occurrence remains undetected. The frequency of occurrence in children can therefore be proportionally overestimated because parents are still awake and have a better chance of hearing the events.

With regard to the syntactic and semantic structures of the words and sentences uttered during sleep, it was found that these are largely grammatically correct. This suggests that the brain uses the same neural network during sleep that is responsible for speech production during wakefulness.

Somniloquie in literature

In George Orwell's 1984 , the protagonist is afraid of making treacherous statements in a dream that would expose him as a delinquent.

literature

• Arthur M. Arkin: Sleep Talking: Psychology and Psychophysiology . Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ 1981, ISBN 978-0-89859-031-9 (English).

Web links

• Sleep Medicine Center Munich

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.schlafzentrum.med.tum.de/index.php/page/parasomnien-und-stoerungen-des-schlaf-wachrythmus
2. ↑ Study on the syntactic and semantic structures of sleep-related utterances. Sleep and sleep research website. Retrieved March 1, 2019.

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !