Do you talk in your sleep? Then you are empathetic and social

‘Honey, I'm going to fix the television for a moment, okay?’. ‘Okay’, I mumble. A minute later I hear some rustling in the living room.

I decide to take a look. My husband is taking apart 38 cables and it's night. And the television is not broken at all. He sometimes has issues with sleepwalking or talking in his sleep. Usually, I ignore it, but this time I had to clearly explain to him that we would continue fixing the television tomorrow. The next morning he knows nothing about it and asks me why all those cables are lying around the living room. Oh well, I can laugh about it, as long as he doesn't walk down the street in his boxers.

Sleep talkers are also fun people, research shows. Because if you chat in your sleep, you would be empathetic and social. You are also more unique than most people, according to research published in the Journal Brain and Development. About half of the children talk in their sleep, but this often goes away as they get older. As a child, you simply have a larger fantasy world and have a lot of information from the day to process. Only 5 percent of adults still do this, so if you have a talker next to you, or if you are one yourself, then you are very special.

The official name for the phenomenon is somniloquy and it occurs more often in men than in women. When you sleep, most of your muscles are temporarily ‘paralyzed’, so you don't really move when you dream that you are running. But for some, this doesn't go quite right and as a result, you do move or talk for real, while you are actually just dreaming about broken televisions. By the way, are you very emotional or tired, then the chance is greater that you will babble in your sleep. But, nothing to be ashamed of: it shows that you can empathize well with others and relate to their situation. It also shows what is bothering you, what you are worried about, who you would like to help.

In short, I have a husband who is quite fond of... the television. And who is quite afraid that it will break, so to speak. Now I know that too.