Why sleep is important
- Mental Health
Sleep is essential for a person’s health and wellbeing, according to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). Yet millions of people do not get enough sleep and many suffer from lack of sleep. For example, surveys conducted by the NSF (1999-2004) reveal that at least 40 million Americans suffer from over 70 different sleep disorders and 60 percent of adults report having sleep problems a few nights a week or more. Most of those with these problems go undiagnosed and untreated. In addition, more than 40 percent of adults experience daytime sleepiness severe enough to interfere with their daily activities at least a few days each month — with 20 percent reporting problem sleepiness a few days a week or more. Furthermore, 69 percent of children experience one or more sleep problems a few nights or more during a week.
According to psychologist and sleep expert David F. Dinges, Ph.D., of the Division of Sleep and Chronobiology and Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, irritability, moodiness and disinhibition are some of the first signs a person experiences from lack of sleep . If a sleep-deprived person doesn’t sleep after the initial signs, said Dinges, the person may then start to experience apathy, slowed speech and flattened emotional responses, impaired memory and an inability to be novel or multitask. As a person gets to the point of falling asleep, he or she will fall into micro sleeps (5-10 seconds) that cause lapses in attention, nod off while doing an activity like driving or reading and then finally experience hypnagogic hallucinations, the beginning of REM sleep. (Dinges, Sleep, Sleepiness and Performance , 1991)
Everyone’s individual sleep needs vary. In general, most healthy adults are built for 16 hours of wakefulness and need an average of eight hours of sleep a night. However, some individuals are able to function without sleepiness or drowsiness after as little as six hours of sleep. Others can't perform at their peak unless they've slept ten hours. And, contrary to common myth, the need for sleep doesn't decline with age but the ability to sleep for six to eight hours at one time may be reduced. (Van Dongen & Dinges, Principles & Practice of Sleep Medicine , 2000)
Psychologists and other scientists who study the causes of sleep disorders have shown that such problems can directly or indirectly be tied to abnormalities in the following systems:
Physiological systems
Brain and nervous system
Cardiovascular system
Metabolic functions
Immune system
Furthermore, unhealthy conditions, disorders and diseases can also cause sleep problems, including:
Pathological sleepiness, insomnia and accidents
Hypertension and elevated cardiovascular risks (MI, stroke)
Emotional disorders (depression, bipolar disorder)
Obesity; metabolic syndrome and diabetes
Alcohol and drug abuse (Dinges, 2004)
Groups that are at particular risk for sleep deprivation include night shift workers, physicians (average sleep = 6.5 hours a day; residents = 5 hours a day), truck drivers, parents and teenagers. (American Academy of Sleep Medicine and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Working Group on Problem Sleepiness. 1997).
Stress is the number one cause of short-term sleeping difficulties , according to sleep experts. Common triggers include school- or job-related pressures, a family or marriage problem and a serious illness or death in the family. Usually the sleep problem disappears when the stressful situation passes. However, if short-term sleep problems such as insomnia aren't managed properly from the beginning, they can persist long after the original stress has passed.
Drinking alcohol or beverages containing caffeine in the afternoon or evening, exercising close to bedtime, following an irregular morning and nighttime schedule, and working or doing other mentally intense activities right before or after getting into bed can disrupt sleep.
If you are among the 20 percent of employees in the United States who are shift workers, sleep may be particularly elusive. Shift work forces you to try to sleep when activities around you — and your own "biological rhythms" — signal you to be awake. One study shows that shift workers are two to five times more likely than employees with regular, daytime hours to fall asleep on the job.
Traveling also disrupts sleep, especially jet lag and traveling across several time zones. This can upset your biological or “circadian” rhythms.
Environmental factors such as a room that's too hot or cold, too noisy or too brightly lit can be a barrier to sound sleep. And interruptions from children or other family members can also disrupt sleep. Other influences to pay attention to are the comfort and size of your bed and the habits of your sleep partner. If you have to lie beside someone who has different sleep preferences, snores, can't fall or stay asleep, or has other sleep difficulties, it often becomes your problem too!
Having a 24/7 lifestyle can also interrupt regular sleep patterns: the global economy that includes round the clock industries working to beat the competition; widespread use of nonstop automated systems to communicate and an increase in shift work makes for sleeping at regular times difficult.
A number of physical problems can interfere with your ability to fall or stay asleep. For example, arthritis and other conditions that cause pain, backache, or discomfort can make it difficult to sleep well.
Epidemiological studies suggest self-reported sleep complaints are associated with an increased relative risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. For women, pregnancy and hormonal shifts including those that cause premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or menopause and its accompanying hot flashes can also intrude on sleep.
Finally, certain medications such as decongestants, steroids and some medicines for high blood pressure, asthma, or depression can cause sleeping difficulties as a side effect.
It is a good idea to talk to a physician or mental health provider about any sleeping problem that recurs or persists for longer than a few weeks.
According to the DSM, some psychiatric disorders have fatigue as a major symptom. Included are: major depressive disorder (includes postpartum blues), minor depression , dysthymia, mixed anxiety-depression, seasonal affective disorder and bipolar disorder .
According to a long-term study published in the 2004 April issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research , young teenagers whose preschool sleep habits were poor were more than twice as likely to use drugs, tobacco or alcohol. This finding was made by the University of Michigan Health System as part of a family health study that followed 257 boys and their parents for 10 years. The study found a significant connection between sleep problems in children and later drug use, even when other issues such as depression, aggression, attention problems and parental alcoholism were taken into account. Long-term data on girls isn't available yet. The researchers suggest that early sleep problems may be a "marker" for predicting later risk of early adolescent substance abuse — and that there may be a common biological factor underlying both traits. Although the relationship between sleep problems and the abuse of alcohol in adults is well known, this is the first study to look at the issue in children.
Nightmares are dreams with vivid and disturbing content. They are common in children during REM sleep. They usually involve an immediate awakening and good recall of the dream content.
Sleep terrors are often described as extreme nightmares. Like nightmares, they most often occur during childhood, however they typically take place during non-REM (NREM) sleep. Characteristics of a sleep terror include arousal, agitation, large pupils, sweating, and increased blood pressure. The child appears terrified, screams and is usually inconsolable for several minutes, after which he or she relaxes and returns to sleep. Sleep terrors usually take place early in the night and may be combined with sleepwalking. The child typically does not remember or has only a vague memory of the terrifying events.
In the August 2004 issue of the journal Sleep , Dr. Timothy Roehrs, the Director of research at the Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit published one of the first studies to measure the effect of sleepiness on decision making and risk taking. He found that sleepiness does take a toll on effective decision making.
Cited in the October 12, New York Times Science section, Dr. Roehrs and his colleagues paid sleepy and fully alert subjects to complete a series of computer tasks. At random times, they were given a choice to take their money and stop. Or they could forge ahead with the potential of either earning more money or losing it all if their work was not completed within an unknown remainder of time.
Dr. Roehrs found that the alert people were very sensitive to the amount of work they needed to do to finish the tasks and understood the risk of losing their money if they didn't. But the sleepy subjects chose to quit the tasks prematurely or they risked losing everything by trying to finish the task for more money even when it was 100 percent likely that they would be unable to finish, said Dr. Roehrs.
According to the National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research (1998) and reports from the National Highway Safety Administration (NHSA)(2002), high-profile accidents can partly be attributed to people suffering from a severe lack of sleep.
Each year the cost of sleep disorders, sleep deprivation and sleepiness, according to the NCSDR, is estimated to be $15.9 million in direct costs and $50 to $100 billion a year in indirect and related costs. And according to the NHSA, falling asleep while driving is responsible for at least 100,000 crashes, 71,000 injuries and 1,550 deaths each year in the United States. Young people in their teens and twenties, who are particularly susceptible to the effects of chronic sleep loss, are involved in more than half of the fall-asleep crashes on the nation's highways each year. Sleep loss also interferes with the learning of young people in our nation's schools, with 60 percent of grade school and high school children reporting that they are tired during the daytime and 15 percent of them admitting to falling asleep in class.
According to the Department of Transportation (DOT), one to four percent of all highway crashes are due to sleepiness, especially in rural areas and four percent of these crashes are fatal.
Risk factors for drowsy driving crashes:
Late night/early morning driving
Patients with untreated excessive sleepiness
People who obtain six or fewer hours of sleep per day
Young adult males
Commercial truck drivers
Night shift workers
Medical residents after their shift
According to sleep researchers, a night's sleep is divided into five continually shifting stages, defined by types of brain waves that reflect either lighter or deeper sleep. Toward morning, there is an increase in rapid eye movement, or REM sleep, when the muscles are relaxed and dreaming occurs, and recent memories may be consolidated in the brain. The experts say that hitting a snooze alarm over and over again to wake up is not the best way to feel rested. “The restorative value of rest is diminished, especially when the increments are short,” said psychologist Edward Stepanski, PhD who has studied sleep fragmentation at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. This on and off again effect of dozing and waking causes shifts in the brain-wave patterns. Sleep-deprived snooze-button addicts are likely to shorten their quota of REM sleep, impairing their mental functioning during the day. ( New York Times , October 12, 2004)
Certain therapies, like cognitive behavioral therapy teach people how to recognize and change patterns of thought and behavior to solve their problems. Recently this type of therapy has been shown to be very effective in getting people to fall asleep and conquer insomnia.
According to a study published in the October 2004 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine , cognitive behavior therapy is more effective and lasts longer than a widely used sleeping pill, Ambien, in reducing insomnia. The study involved 63 healthy people with insomnia who were randomly assigned to receive Ambien, the cognitive behavior therapy, both or a placebo. The patients in the therapy group received five 30-minute sessions over six weeks. They were given daily exercises to “recognize, challenge and change stress-inducing” thoughts and were taught techniques, like delaying bedtime or getting up to read if they were unable to fall asleep after 20 minutes. The patients taking Ambien were on a full dose for a month and then were weaned off the drug. At three weeks, 44 percent of the patients receiving the therapy and those receiving the combination therapy and pills fell asleep faster compared to 29 percent of the patients taking only the sleeping pills. Two weeks after all the treatment was over, the patients receiving the therapy fell asleep in half the time it took before the study and only 17 percent of the patients taking the sleeping pills fell asleep in half the time. (New York Times, October 5, 2004)
According to leading sleep researchers, there are techniques to combat common sleep problems:
Keep a regular sleep/wake schedule
Don’t drink or eat caffeine four to six hours before bed and minimize daytime use
Don’t smoke, especially near bedtime or if you awake in the night
Avoid alcohol and heavy meals before sleep
Get regular exercise
Minimize noise, light and excessive hot and cold temperatures where you sleep
Develop a regular bed time and go to bed at the same time each night
Try and wake up without an alarm clock
Attempt to go to bed earlier every night for certain period; this will ensure that you’re getting enough sleep
In clinical settings, cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) has a 70-80 percent success rate for helping those who suffer from chronic insomnia. Almost one third of people with insomnia achieve normal sleep and most reduce their symptoms by 50 percent and sleep an extra 45-60 minutes a night. When insomnia exists along with other psychological disorders like depression, say the experts, the initial treatment should address the underlying condition.
But sometimes even after resolving the underlying condition, the insomnia still exists, says psychologist Jack Edinger, PhD, of the VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University and cautions that treating the depression usually doesn’t resolve the sleep difficulties. From his clinical experience, he has found that most patients with insomnia should be examined for specific behaviors and thoughts that may perpetuate the sleep problems. When people develop insomnia, they try to compensate by engaging in activities to help them get more sleep. They sleep later in the mornings or spend excessive times in bed. These efforts usually backfire, said Edinger.
From his clinical work and research on sleep, psychologist Charles M. Morin, PhD, a Professor in the Psychology Department and Director of the Sleep Disorders Center at University Laval in Quebec, Canada says that ten percent of adults suffer from chronic insomnia. In a study released in the recent issue of Sleep Medicine Alert published by the NSF, Morin outlines how CBT helps people overcome insomnia. Clinicians use sleep diaries to get an accurate picture of someone’s sleep patterns. Bedtime, waking time, time to fall asleep, number and durations of awakening, actual sleep time and quality of sleep are documented by the person suffering from insomnia.
A person can develop poor sleep habits (i.e. watching TV in bed or eating too much before bedtime), irregular sleep patterns (sleeping too late, taking long naps during the day) to compensate for lost sleep at night. Some patients also develop a fear of not sleeping and a pattern of worrying about the consequences of not sleeping, said Morin. “Treatments that address the poor sleep habits and the faulty beliefs and attitudes about sleep work but sometimes,” said Morin, “medication may play a role in breaking the cycle of insomnia. But behavioral therapies are essential for patients to alter the conditions that perpetuate it.”
CBT attempts to change a patient’s dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep. “It restructure thoughts — like, ‘I’ve got to sleep eight hours tonight’ or ‘I’ve got to take medication to sleep’ or ‘I just can’t function or I’ll get sick if I don’t sleep.’ These thoughts focus too much on sleep, which can become something like performance anxiety — sleep will come around to you when you’re not chasing it,” said Edinger.
What works in many cases, said Morin and Edinger, is to standardize or restrict a person’s sleep to give a person more control over his or her sleep. A person can keep a sleep diary for a couple of weeks and a clinician can monitor the amount of time spent in bed to the actual amount of time sleeping. Then the clinician can instruct the patient to either go to bed later and get up earlier or visa versa. This procedure improves the length of sleeping time by imposing a mild sleep deprivation situation, which has the result of reducing the anxiety surrounding sleep. To keep from falling asleep during the day, patients are told not to restrict sleep to less than five hours.
Standardizing sleep actually helps a person adjust his or her homeostatic mechanism that balances sleep, said Edinger. “Therefore, if you lose sleep, your homeostatic mechanism will kick in and will work to increase the likelihood of sleeping longer and deeper to promote sleep recovery. This helps a person come back to their baseline and works for the majority.”
A person can also establish more stimulus control over his or her bedroom environment, said Morin. This could include: going to bed only when sleepy, getting out of bed when unable to sleep, prohibiting non-sleep activities in the bedroom, getting up at the same time every morning (including weekends) and avoiding daytime naps.
Finally, a person can incorporate relaxation techniques as part of his or her treatment. For example, a person can give herself or himself an extra hour before bed to relax and unwind and time to write down worries and plans for the following day.
In CBT, said Morin, breaking the thought process and anxiety over sleep is the goal. “After identifying the dysfunctional thought patterns, a clinician can offer alternative interpretations of what is getting the person anxious so a person can think about his or her insomnia in a different way.” Morin offers some techniques to restructure a person’s cognitions. “Keep realistic expectations, don’t blame insomnia for all daytime impairments, do not feel that losing a night’s sleep will bring horrible consequences, do not give too much importance to sleep and finally develop some tolerance to the effects of lost sleep.
According to Edinger, aging weakens a person’s homeostatic sleep drive after age 50. Interestingly, the length of the circadian cycle stays roughly the same over the lifespan but the amplitude of the circadian rhythm may decline somewhat with aging.
National Sleep Foundation http://www.thensf.org
American Academy of Sleep Medicine http://www.aasmnet.org/
American Insomnia Association http://www.americaninsomniaassociation.org/
Sleep Research Society http://www.sleepresearchsociety.org/
NIH National Center for Sleep Disorders Research http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/sleep
The MayoClinic.com Sleep Center
(Blake, et al, Psychological Reports, 1998; National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Working Group on Insomnia, 1998)
David F. Dinges, PhD , Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry, Chief, Division of Sleep and Chronobiology, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Jack Edinger, PhD , of the VA Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke University
Charles M. Morin, PhD , a Professor in the Psychology Department and Director of the Sleep Disorders Center at University Laval in Quebec, Canada
Timothy Roehrs, PhD , the Director of Research, Sleep Disorders and Research Center at Henry Ford Hospital
Edward Stepanski, PhD , who has studied sleep fragmentation at the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago
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Speech on Importance Of Proper Sleep
Sleep is more than just a nightly routine. It’s a vital part of life, just like eating or breathing. Without a good night’s sleep, your body and mind can’t function at their best.
Ignoring proper sleep can lead to many problems. It’s not just about feeling tired; it can affect your health, mood, and overall well-being. So, let’s understand the importance of proper sleep.
1-minute Speech on Importance Of Proper Sleep
Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, let’s talk about something we all love – sleep. Sleep is not just about closing your eyes and dreaming. It’s much more than that. It’s like a superpower that keeps us healthy, happy, and sharp.
Next, let’s think about our brains. When we’re sleeping, our brain is like a supercomputer, sorting and storing all the things we learned during the day. It’s like a giant filing cabinet, keeping our memories safe. If we don’t sleep, we can forget things, find it hard to focus, and even have trouble solving simple problems.
Our mood is another thing that sleep impacts. With good sleep, we wake up feeling happy and ready to face the day. But without it, we can feel grumpy, sad, or even angry. Sleep helps us keep our emotions stable.
Lastly, sleep is important for our safety. When we’re tired, we might make mistakes. We could drop things, trip over, or even have accidents. Good sleep keeps us alert and helps us stay safe.
In conclusion, sleep is very important. It’s like a magic potion for our body, brain, mood, and safety. So, let’s all promise to make sleep a priority, not just something we do when we have time. Good sleep equals a good life. Thank you.
2-minute Speech on Importance Of Proper Sleep
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, today I stand before you to talk about a topic that affects us all: the importance of proper sleep.
Think of sleep like the fuel for your car. Without it, the car won’t run well, if it runs at all. Our bodies are the same. Without enough sleep, we can’t think clearly, remember things, or feel our best.
Proper sleep makes our minds sharper. When we sleep, our brain sorts out everything we learned during the day. It’s like our brain is a closet, and sleep is the time when we tidy it up. If we don’t sleep enough, our closet becomes messy, and we struggle to find things we need, like memories or facts.
Sleep also helps our bodies stay healthy. While we sleep, our bodies are busy fixing and building things. They heal wounds, grow muscles, and even fight off sickness. If we don’t sleep enough, it’s like a construction site with no workers. Things take longer to fix, and we might get sick more often.
But what about feeling good? Well, sleep plays a big part in that, too. When we sleep, our bodies release hormones that help us feel happy and calm. Without enough sleep, we might feel grumpy, sad, or stressed. It’s like running out of sunshine on a cloudy day.
Now, you might be thinking, “I’ll just sleep more on the weekends to make up for it.” But that’s like eating all your meals for the week on Saturday. Your body needs regular, consistent sleep to function best.
Lastly, let’s imagine life without proper sleep. You’re at school, but you can’t focus on what the teacher is saying. You’re at soccer practice, but your legs feel too tired to run. You’re at home, but you’re too grumpy to play with your siblings. This is what happens when we don’t get enough sleep.
So, how can we get proper sleep? It’s simple. Make a bedtime routine and stick to it. Turn off screens an hour before bed. Make your room quiet, dark, and cool. And most importantly, make sleep a priority, just like eating healthy or exercising.
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A collection of TED Talks (and more) on the topic of Sleep.
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Exclusive articles about sleep, want to keep your relationship on solid ground get enough sleep, the 7 types of rest that every person needs, is sleeping in separate beds bad for your relationship a sleep scientist answers.
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Good Sleep for Good Health
Get the Rest You Need
Sometimes, the pace of modern life barely gives you time to stop and rest. It can make getting a good night’s sleep on a regular basis seem like a dream.
But sleep is as important for good health as diet and exercise. Good sleep improves your brain performance, mood, and health.
Not getting enough quality sleep regularly raises the risk of many diseases and disorders. These range from heart disease and stroke to obesity and dementia.
There’s more to good sleep than just the hours spent in bed, says Dr. Marishka Brown, a sleep expert at NIH. “Healthy sleep encompasses three major things,” she explains. “One is how much sleep you get. Another is sleep quality—that you get uninterrupted and refreshing sleep. The last is a consistent sleep schedule.”
People who work the night shift or irregular schedules may find getting quality sleep extra challenging. And times of great stress—like the current pandemic—can disrupt our normal sleep routines. But there are many things you can do to improve your sleep.
Sleep for Repair
Why do we need to sleep? People often think that sleep is just “down time,” when a tired brain gets to rest, says Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, who studies sleep at the University of Rochester.
“But that’s wrong,” she says. While you sleep, your brain is working. For example, sleep helps prepare your brain to learn, remember, and create.
Nedergaard and her colleagues discovered that the brain has a drainage system that removes toxins during sleep.
“When we sleep, the brain totally changes function,” she explains. “It becomes almost like a kidney, removing waste from the system.”
Her team found in mice that the drainage system removes some of the proteins linked with Alzheimer’s disease. These toxins were removed twice as fast from the brain during sleep.
Everything from blood vessels to the The system that protects your body from invading viruses, bacteria, and other microscopic threats. immune system uses sleep as a time for repair, says Dr. Kenneth Wright, Jr., a sleep researcher at the University of Colorado.
“There are certain repair processes that occur in the body mostly, or most effectively, during sleep,” he explains. “If you don’t get enough sleep, those processes are going to be disturbed.”
Sleep Myths and Truths
How much sleep you need changes with age. Experts recommend school-age children get at least nine hours a night and teens get between eight and 10. Most adults need at least seven hours or more of sleep each night.
There are many misunderstandings about sleep. One is that adults need less sleep as they get older. This isn’t true. Older adults still need the same amount. But sleep quality can get worse as you age. Older adults are also more likely to take medications that interfere with sleep.
Another sleep myth is that you can “catch up” on your days off. Researchers are finding that this largely isn’t the case.
“If you have one bad night’s sleep and take a nap, or sleep longer the next night, that can benefit you,” says Wright. “But if you have a week’s worth of getting too little sleep, the weekend isn’t sufficient for you to catch up. That’s not a healthy behavior.”
In a recent study, Wright and his team looked at people with consistently deficient sleep. They compared them to sleep-deprived people who got to sleep in on the weekend.
Both groups of people gained weight with lack of sleep. Their bodies’ ability to control blood sugar levels also got worse. The weekend catch-up sleep didn’t help.
On the flip side, more sleep isn’t always better, says Brown. For adults, “if you’re sleeping more than nine hours a night and you still don’t feel refreshed, there may be some underlying medical issue,” she explains.
Sleep Disorders
Some people have conditions that prevent them from getting enough quality sleep, no matter how hard they try. These problems are called sleep disorders.
The most common sleep disorder is insomnia. “Insomnia is when you have repeated difficulty getting to sleep and/or staying asleep,” says Brown. This happens despite having the time to sleep and a proper sleep environment. It can make you feel tired or unrested during the day.
Insomnia can be short-term, where people struggle to sleep for a few weeks or months. “Quite a few more people have been experiencing this during the pandemic,” Brown says. Long-term insomnia lasts for three months or longer.
Sleep apnea is another common sleep disorder. In sleep apnea, the upper airway becomes blocked during sleep. This reduces or stops airflow, which wakes people up during the night. The condition can be dangerous. If untreated, it may lead to other health problems.
If you regularly have problems sleeping, talk with your health care provider. They may have you keep a sleep diary to track your sleep for several weeks. They can also run tests, including sleep studies. These look for sleep disorders.
Getting Better Sleep
If you’re having trouble sleeping, hearing how important it is may be frustrating. But simple things can improve your odds of a good night’s sleep. See the Wise Choices box for tips to sleep better every day.
Treatments are available for many common sleep disorders. Cognitive behavioral therapy can help many people with insomnia get better sleep. Medications can also help some people.
Many people with sleep apnea benefit from using a device called a CPAP machine. These machines keep the airway open so that you can breathe. Other treatments can include special mouthguards and lifestyle changes.
For everyone, “as best you can, try to make sleep a priority,” Brown says. “Sleep is not a throwaway thing—it’s a biological necessity.”
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Here's What You Say When You Talk in Your Sleep
Worried you might say something you regret when talking in your sleep? Your concerns may be justified: According to a recent study from France, your midnight mumblings may be more negative and insulting than what you say while awake.
In the study, researchers found that sleep talkers said the word "no" four times more often in their sleep than when awake. And the F-word popped up during sleep talking at a rate of more than 800 times than what was spoken while awake.
To study sleep talking, the researchers recorded nearly 900 nighttime utterances from about 230 adults over the course of one or two consecutive nights in a sleep lab. Because sleep talking is a relatively rare event, the majority of people in the study had certain types of sleep disorders, or parasomnias, which are unusual behaviors that happen during sleep, the researchers noted. [ Top 11 Spooky Sleep Disorders ]
Once recorded, the nocturnal episodes were analyzed for such factors as wordiness, silences, tone, politeness and abusive language. These results were compared with the largest bank of French spoken language to see how sleep speech matched up to everyday spoken French in form and content.
The researchers found that the majority (59 percent) of the nighttime utterances were unintelligible or nonverbal, including mumbling, whispering or laughing .
But among the utterances that were intelligible, a surprising amount of what was said was offensive or aggressive : 24 percent of the utterances contained negative content, 22 percent had "nasty" language and almost 10 percent contained the word "no" in some form. (In comparison, the word "no" accounted for 2.5 percent of awake language.)
The F-word also made a frequent appearance and was one of the most common words spoken during sleep talking: It showed up 2.5 percent of the time, compared with just 0.003 percent of spoken words while awake. In total, 10 percent of all clauses spoken during sleep contained profanity .
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Why so negative? The findings may reflect what's called the "Threat Simulation Theory," which is one explanation for the function of dreams , according to the study. The theory posits that dreams are simulations that help "train" people for threats that could happen while awake, providing an evolutionary purpose for dreaming.
Though the study participants were French, the findings don't necessarily mean that French people are ruder than other nationalities, said lead study author Dr. Isabelle Arnulf, a neurologist at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris. In fact, the study mirrors anecdotal findings of sleep talk content from abroad, Arnulf told Live Science.
And although the content spoken during sleep may have been more offensive and nasty, the speech was otherwise similar to that used when awake, Arnulf said. Sleep talking tended to remain grammatically correct and followed patterns of everyday speech regarding pauses and the number of words used in a given statement.
Dr. Carl Bazil, director of the Division of Sleep and Epilepsy at Columbia University in New York City, who was not involved in the study, told Live Science that the findings show that sleep speech is much more "complex than expected" and supports the idea that there is "higher brain function" during all stages of sleep .
Indeed, the fact the phrases spoken during sleep were largely grammatically correct suggests that the same neural system is functioning as when people are awake, according to the study. At the same time, the large amount of mumbling shows that there is still some motor inhibition at play; in other words, the brain is still blocking muscle movement.
Ultimately, the sleep speech in the study suggests a complex level of brain functioning that could help give scientists more insight into the purpose and process of dreams, even if, at the same time, it shows a less-than-flattering side of ourselves, the researchers wrote.
The study was published last November in the journal Sleep .
Originally published on Live Science .
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The Science of Sleep: Understanding What Happens When You Sleep
Sleep accounts for one-quarter to one-third of the human lifespan. But what exactly happens when you sleep?
Before the 1950s, most people believed sleep was a passive activity during which the body and brain were dormant. “But it turns out that sleep is a period during which the brain is engaged in a number of activities necessary to life—which are closely linked to quality of life,” says Johns Hopkins sleep expert and neurologist Mark Wu, M.D., Ph.D. Researchers like Wu are spending many of their waking hours trying to learn more about these processes and how they affect mental and physical health. Here is a glimpse into the powerful (often surprising) findings of sleep researchers—and what they’re still trying to discover about the science of sleep.
All Sleep Is Not the Same
Throughout your time asleep, your brain will cycle repeatedly through two different types of sleep: REM (rapid-eye movement) sleep and non-REM sleep.
The first part of the cycle is non-REM sleep , which is composed of four stages. The first stage comes between being awake and falling asleep. The second is light sleep, when heart rate and breathing regulate and body temperature drops. The third and fourth stages are deep sleep. Though REM sleep was previously believed to be the most important sleep phase for learning and memory, newer data suggests that non-REM sleep is more important for these tasks, as well as being the more restful and restorative phase of sleep.
As you cycle into REM sleep , the eyes move rapidly behind closed lids, and brain waves are similar to those during wakefulness. Breath rate increases and the body becomes temporarily paralyzed as we dream.
The cycle then repeats itself, but with each cycle you spend less time in the deeper stages three and four of sleep and more time in REM sleep. On a typical night, you’ll cycle through four or five times.
Research Shows Your Genes Affect Your Sleep Clock
Johns Hopkins sleep expert and neurologist Mark Wu, M.D., Ph.D. , and fellow researchers recently identified a gene involved in the circadian regulation of sleep timing. When researchers removed this gene—called “wide awake”—from fruit flies, the flies experienced problems falling asleep and staying asleep. A similar sleep gene exists in both humans and mice. Scientists continue to study this gene in hopes of understanding more about how processes within our cells affect our ability to sleep.
Your Body’s Built-In Sleep Controls
According to Wu, there are two main processes that regulate sleep: circadian rhythms and sleep drive .
Circadian rhythms are controlled by a biological clock located in the brain. One key function of this clock is responding to light cues, ramping up production of the hormone melatonin at night, then switching it off when it senses light. People with total blindness often have trouble sleeping because they are unable to detect and respond to these light cues.
Sleep drive also plays a key role: Your body craves sleep, much like it hungers for food. Throughout the day, your desire for sleep builds, and when it reaches a certain point, you need to sleep. A major difference between sleep and hunger: Your body can’t force you to eat when you’re hungry, but when you’re tired, it can put you to sleep, even if you’re in a meeting or behind the wheel of a car. When you’re exhausted, your body is even able to engage in microsleep episodes of one or two seconds while your eyes are open. Napping for more than 30 minutes later in the day can throw off your night’s sleep by decreasing your body’s sleep drive.
Why You Need Sleep
If you have ever felt foggy after a poor night’s sleep, it won’t surprise you that sleep significantly impacts brain function. First, a healthy amount of sleep is vital for “brain plasticity,” or the brain’s ability to adapt to input. If we sleep too little, we become unable to process what we’ve learned during the day and we have more trouble remembering it in the future. Researchers also believe that sleep may promote the removal of waste products from brain cells—something that seems to occur less efficiently when the brain is awake.
Sleep is vital to the rest of the body too. When people don’t get enough sleep, their health risks rise. Symptoms of depression, seizures, high blood pressure and migraines worsen. Immunity is compromised, increasing the likelihood of illness and infection. Sleep also plays a role in metabolism: Even one night of missed sleep can create a prediabetic state in an otherwise healthy person. “There are many important connections between health and sleep,” says Wu.
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The importance of sleep
Staff Writer
Eric Suni has over a decade of experience as a science writer and was previously an information specialist for the National Cancer Institute.
Want to read more about all our experts in the field?
Alex Dimitriu
Psychiatrist
Dr. Dimitriu is the founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine. He is board-certified in psychiatry as well as sleep medicine.
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Table of Contents
What Is Sleep Talking?
What are the symptoms of sleep talking, is sleep talking dangerous, what causes sleep talking, how can you stop sleep talking, how can bed partners of sleep talkers get better sleep.
- Sleep talking, or somniloquy, is a sleep disorder most common during adolescence.
- Exact cause is unclear, but sleep talking may be triggered by stress and mental health conditions.
- Avoiding stimulants and electronics before bed may help reduce its occurrence during sleep.
- Partners of sleep talkers can try ear plugs and white noise machines to drown out nighttime disruptions.
Sleep talking, formally known as somniloquy, is a sleep disorder defined as talking during sleep without being aware of it. Sleep talking can involve complicated dialogues or monologues, complete gibberish or mumbling. The good news is that for most people it is a rare and short-lived occurrence.
It’s common for people to experience at least one episode of sleep talking during their life, making it one of the most common abnormal behaviors that can occur during sleep. Research has helped clarify the symptoms and consequences of sleep talking, but there is much that remains unknown about the causes and treatment of this condition.
Is Your Troubled Sleep a Health Risk?
A variety of issues can cause problems sleeping. Answer three questions to understand if it’s a concern you should worry about.
Sleep talking is a type of parasomnia. Parasomnias are abnormal behaviors during sleep. Unlike most parasomnias that happen only during specific parts of the sleep cycle, sleep talking can occur during either rapid eye movement (REM) or non-REM sleep.
Sleep talking is considered to be distinct from other vocalizations that can occur during sleep such as catathrenia Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source , a breathing disorder that causes audible groaning, or REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) , which involves a person physically acting out their dreams.
How Common Is Sleep Talking?
Studies have found that up to 66% of people Trusted Source Sleep Medicine Research Sleep Medicine Research (Sleep Med Res) is an official journal of the Korean Society of Sleep Medicine (KSSM), Asian Society of Sleep Medicine (ASSM), Korean Society of Sleep Research, and Korean Society of Sleep and Breathing. View Source have experienced episodes of sleep talking, making it one of the most common parasomnias. That said, it does not occur frequently, with just 17% of people reporting sleep talking episodes in the last three months. Even regular sleep talkers may have to be recorded for four nights or more to document an episode.
Sleep talking is found more often in children and is believed to affect fewer adults. It occurs equally in women and men. However, because an individual is very rarely aware of episodes, data about the prevalence of sleep talking may not be exact. Reports of sleep talking usually come from a family member or bed partner.
The central symptom of sleep talking is audible expression that occurs during sleep without the person being aware of it happening. It can be gibberish or resemble normal speech.
A linguistic study of somniloquy found that around half of recorded sleep talking was incomprehensible Trusted Source Oxford Academic Journals (OUP) OUP publishes the highest quality journals and delivers this research to the widest possible audience. View Source . In these cases, sleep talking was normally mumbling, silent speech (moving the lips with limited noise), or was muffled by pillows or blankets.
The other half of sleep talking that was comprehensible had a number of parallels to typical conversations. For example, it usually followed typical standards of grammar and included pauses as if talking with another person.
Many of the recorded utterances were negative, exclamatory, or profane, indicating that sleep talking may reflect conflict-driven dialogue taking place in the brain during sleep. However, people are very rarely aware that they are talking in their sleep at the time and typically have no recollection of the episodes when they wake up. Episodes of sleep talking tend to be short, and they rarely involve drawn-out conversations. The total episode may involve only a handful of words or a few sentences.
Research is mixed about the source of the content during episodes of sleep talking. Speech may not have any clear connection to a person’s life, recent events, or prior conversations. Some evidence indicates that it may at times be related to dreams Trusted Source National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. View Source , but not all sleep talking appears to be closely tied to dream activity.
In the majority of cases, sleep talking is harmless. It doesn’t usually have a major effect on the person’s sleep, and it normally doesn’t occur frequently enough to cause any serious problems. However, there are some situations in which sleep talking can cause problems:
- If sleep talking bothers a bed partner or roommate, it may interrupt their sleep and contribute to problems like insomnia or excessive daytime sleepiness.
- If the content of sleep talking is embarrassing, it may create awkwardness or stress between the person talking in their sleep and their bed partner.
- If sleep talking occurs alongside other parasomnias, such as nightmare disorder or sleepwalking , it may be connected to bigger sleeping difficulties that can cause fragmented or insufficient sleep.
Experts aren’t sure exactly why people talk in their sleep. There is evidence that it may have a genetic component with some studies finding that sleep talking can run in families.
In studies of twins, sleep talking was found to co-occur more frequently with sleepwalking, teeth grinding, and nightmares in both children and adults, and these all may share some genetic relationship. Further research is needed to better understand these potential connections.
Sleep talking appears to occur more often in people with mental health conditions Trusted Source SpringerLink SpringerLink provides researchers with access to millions of scientific documents from journals, books, series, protocols, reference works, and proceedings. View Source . In particular, it is believed to occur most frequently in people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) . Overall, though, most cases of sleep talking are not thought to be connected to mental illness.
Because the cause of sleep talking is not fully understood, there is limited knowledge about proven methods to stop sleep talking. In most situations, treatment for sleep talking is unnecessary because of its limited frequency and minimal negative consequences.
For people who want to try to limit or eliminate sleep talking episodes, focusing on sleep hygiene may be a helpful starting point. Most parasomnias are thought to be an abnormal state that blends wakefulness and sleep, and this state may be more likely to arise when normal sleep patterns are disturbed. For that reason, steps that promote consistent and stable sleep may help ward off parasomnias, including sleep talking.
Sleep hygiene includes a person’s sleep environment and their habits that can affect sleep. While healthy sleep tips can be adapted to fit an individual’s situation and eliminate potential causes of sleep interruptions, some of the key ways to enhance sleep hygiene include:
- Keeping a consistent sleep schedule every day, including on weekends.
- Avoiding caffeine or other stimulants late in the afternoon and evening.
- Giving yourself time to wind down and relax, including by dimming lights and putting away electronic devices for at least a half-hour before bedtime.
- Getting regular exposure to daylight and finding time for physical activity during the day.
- Creating a distraction-free sleep space that has limited light or sound pollution.
- Setting up a cozy sleep surface with the best mattresses , best pillows , and best bedding for your needs
People who are bothered by ongoing sleep talking, suffer from other sleeping problems, and/or have excessive drowsiness during the day should talk with their doctor who can help get to the bottom of those issues and recommend the most appropriate treatment.
It’s often bed partners or roommates of people who talk in their sleep who bear the brunt of the negative consequences of somniloquy. They may find themselves awoken unexpectedly in the night by sleep talking or be bothered or offended by its content.
If sleep talking is creating these problems on a regular basis, a focus on sleep hygiene may help their bed partner decrease the frequency of sleep talking episodes. In addition, other steps may help cut down on the disturbance from a bed partner’s sleep talking:
- Wearing ear plugs or headphones to block out the sleep talking.
- Using a white noise machine or a fan to create a soothing and stable background noise that drowns out most sleep talking.
- If necessary, sleeping in different rooms can keep the noise of sleep talking from causing nighttime interruptions.
If there are any other sleep disturbances or excessive daytime sleepiness along with sleep talking, sleep apnea should be considered. Consultation with a sleep doctor can help you to evaluate this.
About Our Editorial Team
Eric Suni, Staff Writer
Medically Reviewed by
Alex Dimitriu, Psychiatrist MD
References 6 sources.
Alonso J, Camacho M, Chhetri DK, Guilleminault C, Zaghi S. Catathrenia (Nocturnal Groaning): A Social Media Survey and State-of-the-Art Review. J Clin Sleep Med. 2017;13(4):613-622. Published 2017 Apr 15.
Bjorvatn, B., Grønli, J., & Pallesen, S. (2010). Prevalence of different parasomnias in the general population. Sleep medicine, 11(10), 1031–1034.
Arnulf I, Uguccioni G, Gay F, et al. What Does the Sleeping Brain Say? Syntax and Semantics of Sleep Talking in Healthy Subjects and in Parasomnia Patients. Sleep. 2017;40(11):10.1093/sleep/zsx159.
Nielsen T, Svob C, Kuiken D. Dream-enacting behaviors in a normal population. Sleep. 2009;32(12):1629-1636.
Hublin C, Kaprio J, Partinen M, Koskenvu M. Parasomnias: co-occurrence and genetics. Psychiatr Genet. 2001;11(2):65-70.
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Learn More About Parasomnias
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Sexsomnia: What to Know About Sleep Sex
Sleep Paralysis: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment
Sleepwalking: What Is Somnambulism?
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IMAGES
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COMMENTS
Read transcript. Sleep is your life-support system and Mother Nature's best effort yet at immortality, says sleep scientist Matt Walker. In this deep dive into the science of slumber, Walker shares the wonderfully good things that happen when you get sleep -- and the alarmingly bad things that happen when you don't, for both your brain and body.
An individual's need for sleep varies, but the consequences of not getting enough sleep can include drug, tobacco and alcohol abuse, nightmares and sleep terrors, poor decision making, reduced learning at school and traffic accidents. ... slowed speech and flattened emotional responses, impaired memory and an inability to be novel or multitask ...
From research, lack of sleep increases the risk of obesity, heart disease, and infections. During the night, your heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure rise and fall, which can be important for cardiovascular health. While you sleep, the body releases hormones that help repair cells and control the body's use of energy.
Go to sleep with this gentle sleep talk down. Sleep easy and relax with this guided meditation for soothing calm and sleep.Please support our work by purchas...
1-minute Speech on Importance Of Proper Sleep. Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, let's talk about something we all love - sleep. Sleep is not just about closing your eyes and dreaming. It's much more than that. It's like a superpower that keeps us healthy, happy, and sharp. Now, first, let's talk about our bodies.
Mental Health. Sleep is important due to the impact it has on your overall health. Appropriate sleep is needed for mental focus and memory, managing stress, maintaining proper body weight, boosting the immune system, and a host of other wellness needs. Some studies suggest sleep can help to prevent illness, such as diabetes or obesity.
One more reason to get a good night's sleep. Loading... Get a daily email featuring the latest talk, plus a quick mix of trending content. TED Members make our mission possible by supporting global access to inspiring ideas. Plus, they get to attend exclusive events. Help support a better future - and a brighter you.
Why Getting Enough Sleep Is Important. Sleep is an essential function that allows your body and mind to recharge, leaving you refreshed and alert when you wake up. Healthy sleep also helps the body remain healthy and stave off diseases. Without enough sleep, the brain cannot function properly, impairing your abilities to concentrate, think ...
Video playlists about Sleep. 10 talks. The most popular TED Originals of 2021. TED Original Series dive deep into fascinating topics -- from the future of work and how to achieve a more secure financial future to the secrets of sleep and how your body really works. Here, the ten most-watched Originals episodes published in 2021.
Professor Matthew Walker, Director of UC Berkeley's Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab discusses the latest discoveries about sleep and how it impacts our life, well...
Sleep is your life-support system and Mother Nature's best effort yet at immortality, says sleep scientist Matt Walker. In this deep dive into the science of...
Good sleep improves your brain performance, mood, and health. Not getting enough quality sleep regularly raises the risk of many diseases and disorders. These range from heart disease and stroke to obesity and dementia. There's more to good sleep than just the hours spent in bed, says Dr. Marishka Brown, a sleep expert at NIH.
In the study, researchers found that sleep talkers said the word "no" four times more often in their sleep than when awake. And the F-word popped up during sleep talking at a rate of more than 800 ...
Most dreams happen when you're in the deep, rapid eye movement (REM) phase of sleep. But sleep talking can happen during any stage of sleep, including both REM and non-REM sleep. Sleep talking ...
Consider a Coffee Nap. Yes, Sleeping Better Really Does Help You Get More Done. 3. Dan Gartenberg: "The brain benefits of deep sleep—and how to get more of it". The brain benefits of deep sleep—and how to get more of it. Before watching this speech in its entirety, skip ahead to the 04:55 mark, and have a listen.
Sleep is a state that is characterized by changes in brain wave activity, breathing, heart rate, body temperature, and other physiological functions. ... patterns also change during sleep. When we are awake, breathing is usually quite irregular, since it is affected by speech, emotions, exercise, posture, and other factors. As we progress from ...
Before the 1950s, most people believed sleep was a passive activity during which the body and brain were dormant. "But it turns out that sleep is a period during which the brain is engaged in a number of activities necessary to life—which are closely linked to quality of life," says Johns Hopkins sleep expert and neurologist Mark Wu, M.D., Ph.D. Researchers like Wu are spending many of ...
Calm your mind and improve your sleep with your FREE sleep guided meditation. https://www.jasonstephenson.net/lp/sleep-meditation/free-sleep-meditation/?utm_...
Sleep itself consists of several cycles After each cycle there is a transition stage, during which we wake up momentarily. On average we wake up about seven to ten times every night, usually without being aware of it. Within each cycle of about 1.5 hours, you go through the following 3 phases: Light sleep: he first stage of sleep is light and ...
Sleep talking, also known as somniloquy, is a sleep disorder. Learn more about this condition. ... Stages 3 and 4: The sleep talker is in a deeper sleep, and their speech is usually harder to ...
INTRODUCTION. Sleep is vital for health and well-being in children, adolescents, and adults. 1-3 Healthy sleep is important for cognitive functioning, mood, mental health, and cardiovascular, cerebrovascular, and metabolic health. 4 Adequate quantity and quality of sleep also play a role in reducing the risk of accidents and injuries caused by sleepiness and fatigue, including workplace ...
The latter occurs during a specific stage of sleep, called REM sleep, while sleep talking infers speech that occurs during any of the four stages of sleep. The characteristics of speech can differ by the stage: Stages 1 to 3: As a person transitions from wake to sleep, they may have a complete and understandable conversation with themselves. As ...
Sleep talking, or somniloquy, is a sleep disorder most common during adolescence. Exact cause is unclear, but sleep talking may be triggered by stress and mental health conditions. Avoiding stimulants and electronics before bed may help reduce its occurrence during sleep. Partners of sleep talkers can try ear plugs and white noise machines to ...