Why do we talk in our sleep?

Fortunately, I don't have any ‘trouble’ with this and I am a very quiet sleeper (my ex even checked sometimes if I was asleep and if I hadn't secretly kicked the bucket), but I have had the pleasure of lying next to someone who held complete monologues in his sleep. In this case, I could understand him very clearly (although his sentences had little logic), some people babble more. Or get the giggles in their sleep. But, how does that actually happen?

By the way, if you are convinced that you absolutely do not talk in your sleep, think again: research shows that more than half of people have babbled at some point. And that babbling occurs between the different sleep phases that we experience during a night's rest.

So we start at the falling asleep phase and end in REM sleep, where your brain is actually just as alert and active as when you are awake. The only difference is that your body is in a kind of state of paralysis. In the phase in between, when you are in a deep sleep, your brain activity is almost non-existent, but you can still move your body. This is the phase in which, for example, sleepwalking can occur.

The interesting thing is that sleepwalking occurs in a specific phase, but talking in your sleep does not: that can happen at random moments and is therefore much less predictable. In most cases, you start talking when you transition from one phase to another. And that also means that what you say does not always relate to what you are dreaming at that moment. It can, of course, but it doesn't have to be.

And then the big question: why? Well, that's not entirely clear. If you suffer a lot from stress or if you are generally a restless sleeper, the chance is greater that you can't be quiet in your sleep. But — as a Turkish study showed — it can also be genetic. So if you were kept awake at home because your parents held comatose dialogues, then there is a good chance that you also won't keep your mouth shut when you sleep.

Source: Quest