Why do people talk and walk while sleeping?

 Why do people talk and walk while sleeping?

Talking in sleep is usually associated with stress, depression, lack of sleep, alcohol consumption, and fever.

Sleepwalking is considered more dangerous because the person is not aware that they are walking and can cause injuries.

You must have experienced someone who suddenly started talking or mumbling something in their sleep. This habit can happen to some people. At that time, the sleep of others sleeping together may be disturbed. Or the relationship itself may also be affected.

Because such people sometimes talk about personal things. Moving their arms and legs, shouting, and screaming are normal. Some even get up and walk in their sleep. However, sleepwalking is considered more dangerous than talking while sleeping.

Many people consider this habit normal. However, if this habit continues to increase, it can be a health problem.

Why does this happen? What are the ways to avoid it?

Sleep talking

While we sleep, a kind of safety mechanism is working in the brain. This mechanism prevents the neural activity associated with dreams from being converted into speech or body movements.

But this system does not always work properly. Sometimes it can have problems. And, that is why people talk, walk, and fidget even while they are asleep.

According to experts, it can be linked to various physical and mental causes. Especially stress, depression, lack of sleep, alcohol consumption and fever can be the reasons for this.

Dr. Mohsin Wali of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi considers sleep talking to be a stress-related issue rather than a symptom of a serious illness. He says that if a person sleeps under stress or keeps playing things in his mind, such people may talk in their sleep. He says that some people even talk when they are scared in their dreams.

Dr. Sonia Lal Gupta, Senior Consultant Neurologist at Metro Group of Hospitals, also considers the habit of talking during sleep to be a common problem. He says that it is more common in children. If this problem increases, he says that we should be concerned.

Sleepwalking

Sleepwalking is more dangerous than talking. According to Dr. Mohsin Wali, when walking like this, the person does not realize that he is walking. In such a situation, there is a higher risk of falling or colliding with something.

According to experts, night sleep is completed in several stages.

We fall asleep but do not fall asleep completely. First, we feel light sleep. After about 20 minutes, we gradually start falling into deep sleep.

Then the sleep becomes light again for a while. Then we fall into deep sleep again. That state is called Rapid Eye Movement (REM) in the health sector.

All these stages of sleep are repeated several times throughout the night. With each cycle, the duration of REM, or deep sleep, also increases. This process continues until we wake up in the morning.

It is during REM sleep that we dream the most. In this state, the body remains almost completely relaxed. That is, the body does not move at all according to the activities taking place in the dream.

However, the problem of sleepwalking is also seen in this. Because at that time, the coordination between the brain and the body deteriorates. A kind of confusion is created. On the one hand, the brain is so active that it gives the body a signal to move. But on the other hand, the person is not so active that he is completely awake.

The brain activity of people who sleepwalk was studied at the Niguarda Hospital in Milan, Italy. In the process, it was found that some parts of their brain were active at that time and the rest remained in a state of sleep.

The study indicated that the problem of sleepwalking is the result of an 'imbalance between sleep and wakefulness'.

In what situation should we worry?

According to Dr. Sonia Lal Gupta, people who talk or mumble in their sleep do not even remember what they said or did at night. Which is completely normal.

As mentioned above, in children, this problem disappears on its own as they grow older. But if such a problem occurs in adults or older people and it continues to increase, he says, the cause should be investigated.

He says that it is especially important to see whether this problem affects the quality of sleep. If someone repeatedly talks, screams, or behaves violently in their sleep, they need to be examined.

What is the treatment?

According to doctors, there is no specific treatment for this problem. They say that to cure it, the cause needs to be understood and worked on.

This problem especially occurs when the sleep schedule is not regular or when there is a lot of stress. Therefore, improving this habit is considered the best solution.

Dr. Sonia Lal Gupta says that to improve the quality of sleep, there should be a fixed time for going to bed and waking up. He says that caffeine (tea, coffee) should not be consumed after three in the afternoon and that one should stay away from using mobile phones before going to bed.

But if a person goes to bed with stress and this problem continues to increase, he says that this problem will continue to increase.