somniloquy

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The act or habit of talking in one's sleep.

[SOMNI– + Latin loquī, to speak; see soliloquy.]

Somniloquy is the phenomenon of sleep talking-speaking out loud while asleep. It is not an abnormal phenomenon, in that the majority of people have spoken in their sleep, but individuals under stress and some neurotics experience somniloquy with above average frequency. Unlike somnambulism (sleepwalking), which occurs only during the deepest levels of sleep (Stage 4), sleep talking occurs with apparent equal frequency during both rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep. People awakened while in deep, non-REM sleep are unable to recall dreams that might conceivably be connected with their talking episode, or with any part of the actual somniloquy. This pattern changes during lighter sleep; when subjects in REM stages are awakened during or after a somniloquy, they are often able to connect dream segments with their sleep talking.

People sometimes fear revealing their deepest secrets via sleep talking. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, for example, Tom secretly witnesses a murder:

Tom's fearful secret and gnawing conscience disturbed his sleep for as much as a week after this; and at breakfast one morning, Sid said:

"Tom, you pitch around and talk in your sleep so much that you keep me awake about half the time."

Tom blanched and dropped his eyes.

"It's a bad sign," said Aunt Polly gravely. "What you got on your mind, Tom?"

"Nothing. Nothing't I know of." But the boy's hand shook so that he spilled his coffee.

"And you do talk such stuff," Sid said. "Last night you said, 'It's blood, it's blood, that's what it is!' You said that over and over. And you said, 'Don't torment me so-I'll tell.' Tell what?"

Sleep talking can vary from single-word utterances to extended, comprehensible discourses. One of the more unusual examples of a sleeping monologue (spoken by a sleeper who is a professional writer of lyrics), which has appeared in several psychological publications, is the following:

Attention! Attention! Let me stand on that table, they can't hear me. Attention! Now this is a scavenger hunt. You all got your slips.

First one there: a yellow robin's egg! Second one: a wolf's dream! Third: a Welsh shoelace! Fourth: a dirty napkin used by Garbo! Fifth: a tree trunk! Sixth: Valentino's automobile hubcap! Seventh: one of the swans in Swan Lake! Eighth: a Chattanooga choo-choo! Ninth: a bell from the Bell Song in Lakme! Tenth: Myrna Loy! Eleventh: the Hudson River! Twelfth: a teller from the San Francisco Bank of America! Thirteenth: a witch's tail! Fourteenth: David Susskind's mother! Fifteenth: nobody and his sister: That's it! That's it! Now everybody disperse, disperse. Meet back here-three-quarters of an hour, three quarters of an hour.

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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:

• REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) - loud, emotional or profane sleep talking
• Sleepwalking
• Night terrors - 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 can be associated with fever.

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.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Dion McGregor, whose somniloquies were made into records.
• Sleepwalking scene in which Lady Macbeth delivers a somniloquy.

External links

• SleepEducation.com
• OSF Healthcare
• The Sleep Well
• Sleep Talking Personal Accounts & Support
• Example of a man sleep talking
• Regular Recordings and Discussion of Sleeptalk
• Somniloquies in the form of poems, audio and video pieces by Nancy Graham
• Home of The Parasomnial Order.

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