Sleepwalking and Sleeptalking

SLEEP WALKING, TALKING INTERRUPT SLEEP FOR MANY

OVERVIEW: Talking or walking in one's sleep affects many people, particularly children. The bedroom mates of a sleep talker or sleep walker have their sleep interrupted as well. While the phenomena are basically harmless, sleep walking can be dangerous if the individual leaves the room. Worse yet, sometimes they leave the house! When a sleeping person is engaged in sleep talking, their coherence can range from just a few slurred words to being able to carry on a conversation with another person in the room. It may not make a lot of sense, however.

CAUSES: Sleep talking, called "somniloquy," appears to be caused to some degree by emotional stress, missing sleep, or having a fever. Some people just talk aloud in their sleep more than others. It appears to happen when the person is in a state between waking and sleeping. Sleep walking takes place during the deep stages of non-REM sleep. In children, it is caused by missing sleep or emotional anxiety, or more often, the cause is simply unknown. In adults, it can sometimes be traced back to drug or alcohol abuse. It can also be part of a disease of the brain, or a symptom of seizures.

SYMPTOMS: A sleep walker usually looks as though they are wide awake. Their eyes are open and they can walk around and do various activities, like dressing or undressing or even going to the bathroom. It has actually happened that people have driven cars in their sleep. The episode usually only lasts a few minutes, but can last as much as half an hour. People of any age can walk in their sleep, but the most common age is 4-8. The tendency seems to run in families. Sleep talking involves the sleeping person mumbling words or carrying on a conversation with you or someone in their dreams.

DIAGNOSIS: Both sleep walking and sleep talking are what are known as "parasomnias." These are unusual behaviors that people do during their sleep. Often, they happen because the person is not getting enough sleep in the first place. A physician will want to determine just why the patient seems to be missing sleep, and treat that disorder. For instance, sleep apnea, a condition in which the patient quits breathing for a few seconds from time to time throughout the night, can cause a person to show signs of sleep deprivation, including parasomnias like sleep walking and talking. Sleep apnea is a serious, life-threatening disorder that disrupts the restorative quality of normal sleep. When apnea, or another underlying sleep problem is taken care of, the parasomnias, like walking and talking in your sleep, are often taken care of, too.

TREATMENT OPTIONS: Treatment involves treating any underlying reasons that sleep is not restorative for the individual. Sleep talking is not usually a serious problem, and generally does not require any treatment. If it is disrupting the other people in the house, the doctor can prescribe sleeping medications If you are caring for a sleep walker, you will want to remove any dangerous items from the room so the person won't trip or injure themselves.