What Is Sleep Talking?
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Medically reviewed by Valerie Cacho, MD
Sleep talking, known as somniloquy, is a common sleep disorder in which someone speaks while they sleep. Nearly 66% of adults report sleep talking in their lifetime, but it is even more common in children and adolescents.
Sleep talking is technically a type of parasomnia—unusual behaviors during sleep like talking, walking, and paralysis. While talking in your sleep isn't a typical part of a sleep cycle, sleep talking rarely causes health issues and is considered a normal sleep variant. However, sleep talking can be triggered by lack of sleep, emotional stress, and underlying health conditions.
Sleep Talking Symptoms
Sleep talking can occur anytime during sleep, including nonrapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. During NREM sleep, a person's brain and body relax into a deep sleep. During REM sleep, brain activity picks up—causing the eyes to move rapidly, breathing and heart rate to speed up, and dreaming to occur.
Sleep talking symptoms vary from person to person. Sleep talkers may babble incoherently, speak clearly, swear, yell, or whisper. Speech can be complete gibberish or sound like a complicated conversation. Others may make sleep utterances—like mumbling, groaning, laughing, or shouting.
Sleep talking episodes often occur in short bursts between three and 10 seconds, followed by extended or short periods of no talking. People may talk in their sleep often or infrequently. People with chronic sleep talking will speak in their sleep nightly or several times a week. Those who never sleep talk may randomly start due to sleep deprivation or intoxication.
When sleep talking episodes occur, the person is completely unaware they are talking and won't remember talking when they wake up. You may only know you sleep talk if a partner or someone else in your household hears you.
What Causes Sleep Talking?
The exact cause of sleep talking isn't well understood. However, sleep talking is more common in people with other types of parasomnia, like sleepwalking, night terrors, and sleep paralysis. People with Parkinson's disease, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) are also more likely to start sleep talking.
Like other types of parasomnia, sleep talking may be caused by emotional and physical triggers. Anxiety, stress, or fear can all trigger sleep talking. Health conditions and substances that lead to poor sleep quality can also cause sleep talking, including:
Alcohol and illicit drug use
Mental health conditions (like anxiety, depression, and PTSD)
Insomnia, or difficulty falling or staying asleep
Sleep deprivation
Illness
Medications like anticholinergics, sedatives, and hypnotic agents (Z-drugs and benzodiazepines like Xanax (alprazolam))
Sleep talking often runs in families and may have a genetic component. Both sexes appear to be at the same risk of sleep talking. However, children and adolescents are more likely to sleep talk. Adults who sleep talk typically started as children.
Is Sleep Talking Harmful?
Sleep talking is usually harmless on its own. However, sleep talking can cause sleep issues and be a sign of a more serious condition that needs treatment. People who sleep talk often have other types of parasomnia, like sleepwalking or night terrors, which can cause fragmented and low-quality sleep.
Sleep talking can also be very disruptive to your partner or household's sleep. As a result, some sleep talkers and their partners may develop excessive sleepiness or insomnia.
Sudden or more severe sleep talking can also indicate an underlying condition. If you reenact dreams and have violent movements during your sleep talking episodes, you may have REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD). If left untreated, this condition may cause you to accidentally harm yourself or your partner in your sleep.
Sleep talking can also be a sign of a serious health condition like:
Obstructive sleep apnea: When the airway muscles relax and cause a full or partial obstruction, temporarily cutting off breathing.
Parkinson's disease: A progressive central nervous system disorder that damages nerve cells and causes stiffness and shaking.
Dementia: Conditions that affect brain function, leading to memory and judgment loss.
Epilepsy: A seizure disorder caused by abnormal brain activity from injury or genetics.
When To See a Healthcare Provider
Sleep talking doesn't usually require medical attention. However, if sleep talking is affecting your ability to sleep, your partner's sleep, or your relationships due to violent movements and speech, see your healthcare provider.
Your provider can refer you to a sleep specialist to help determine what is causing your sleep talking. A sleep specialist will likely have you complete a sleep study, which monitors sleep behavior and physical reactions like breathing and heart rate.
Sleep talking can also be a sign of an underlying health condition if symptoms start suddenly, happen more frequently, and become more severe.
How To Stop Sleep Talking
There is no simple or proven cure for sleep talking. However, improving sleep quality may help reduce sleep talking and other parasomnia symptoms. Some ways to get better sleep and potentially improve sleep talking symptoms include:
Going to sleep at the same time every night
Waking up at the same time every morning
Sleeping in a dark, cool, and quiet room
Avoiding sleep-disrupting blue light from phones and other electronic devices before bed
Limiting or avoiding caffeine in the afternoon
Exercising during the day
Avoiding large meals and alcohol before bed
Other treatments used to stop or reduce sleep talking related to underlying health conditions include:
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT): This form of therapy helps people identify thought and emotional patterns that may be related to anxiety, PTSD, or stress. From there, the person can develop coping mechanisms to help change that behavior.
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP): Sleep talkers with sleep apnea may use a CPAP breathing device to help them breathe better at night and improve their sleep.
Medication: People who sleep talk due to insomnia or night terrors may be prescribed medications to reduce symptoms and improve sleep. This may include supplements like melatonin or prescription sleeping pills.
What To Do If You Share a Bed With a Sleep Talker
If your partner is a frequent sleep talker, it can be tough to get enough sleep when you're woken up by babbling or shouting throughout the night. To help improve your sleep, try wearing earplugs or noise-canceling headphones to help block your partner's talking.
A white noise machine, sound machine, or fan can also help drown out talking. If you still can't get enough sleep, you may want to consider sleeping in different rooms—at least a few nights a week.
If your partner's sleep talking begins to make it impossible to get enough sleep or affects your relationship, talk to them about how it affects you. They may not know how loud or disruptive they are at night if no one has told them.
You may also want to suggest that your partner visit a healthcare provider like a sleep specialist and that you are concerned about their sleep talking. Seeing a sleep specialist can help rule out underlying health conditions or help your partner find treatments to improve their sleep talking.
Related: The Best Sleep Products: Reviews of Mattresses, Pillows, & More
A Quick Review
Sleep talking is a common sleep disorder in which someone speaks, mumbles, or shouts in their sleep. It often happens alongside other sleep disorders like sleepwalking or night terrors. The exact cause of sleep talking isn't well known. However, it may be triggered by intense emotions, lack of sleep, and underlying health conditions.
Conditions that put you at risk of sleep talking include insomnia, sleep apnea, anxiety, depression, epilepsy, and Parkinson's. Sleep talking usually isn't harmful and can often be managed with better sleep habits. If your sleep talking affects your sleep quality and relationships, talk to your healthcare provider.
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