I have had a history of talking in my sleep, sitting up and having a full-blown conversation with anyone in the room, and petting popcorn bags because I was dreaming that I was petting my cat. So, I was curious how these habits are impacting my sleep and my health in general, because it isn’t an overtly harmful issue to have.
As I was searching for literally ANYTHING that looked at the impacts of sleep talking on our sleep, I stumbled across a very interesting article titled Prospective Study of Sleep Talking and Risk of Stroke. So let’s go on a journey together as we unpack this new prospective study from October 2024!
In China, 8001 people filled out a questionnaire about sleep talking and other sleeping habits back in 2012. This study looked at the association between sleep talking and stroke, adjusting for other sleep parameters and other possible connections. Throughout 8 years of follow-up, 333 stroke cases were identified. Participants with sleep talking at the beginning of the study had a higher risk of developing a stroke at 30%. Those that have rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior compared to sleep talkers who do not have REM are also at a higher risk of stroke at 93% .
Among the participants, most sleep talkers were men who worked blue collar jobs, were smokers or drinkers, and lower education and physical activity levels. Other sleep abnormalities were linked to a higher chance of sleep talking. With longer duration of sleep talking, there was a higher risk of stroke. The higher risk factor of 30% is actually independent of age, sex, health issues, and other parameters. The risk factor for those with sleep talking and REM was 93% higher than in those with neither. 75% to 80% of sleep talking occurs during nonrapid eye movement compared to 20% to 25% during rapid eye movement.
Luckily, individuals that only had sleep talking or REM abnormalities did not have a significant risk of future stroke. So, if you do have REM behavior and sleep talking, then there may be a significant influence of a pathway that makes a stroke more likely to occur. Sleep talking is correlated with a high-level activity, which could influence the possibility of ischemic strokes. Sleep talking can also lead to a higher sympathetic output during sleep, thus increasing cardiovascular stress.
(TLDR: People with sleep talking and REM behavior have a 93% higher chance of stroke. People with sleep talking compared to people without have a 30% higher chance of stroke. This could be due to the increase of sympathetic output during sleep that increases cardiovascular stress.)
Prospective Study of Sleep Talking and Risk of Stroke. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.124.035813
I find it interesting that folks who tend to talk more in their sleep have a higher chance of having a stroke when compared to those who don't have any REM sleep interruptions. The possibility of having a high chance of having a stroke when REM sleep gets interrupted makes sense, as REM sleep is important for body repairs and restoring spent energy, there being an increase in activity, especially during this time when the mind/body needs to repair can cause damages and future issues. This has made me think of what other negative effects can impact us when REM sleep gets interrupted.
ReplyDeleteSO interesting to read this post , I am from Vietnam , so I have seens many people in my country sleep and passing away , and event they are 19 years old too , I keep told my self research about that to understand why , Wow this is a great post to remind me . The connection of sleep talking REM behavior is cause a high stroke risk, I think sur to harmless sleep habit that is reflect underlying physiological stress and the increase of the sympathetic output is caused cardiovascular get stress and lead to high risk of stroke, I am interesting to see more research that will explore in this areas .
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this lovely topic