What might explain sleep texting?
How might it relate to other abnormal sleep behaviors calledparasomnias?
Discover the causes of sleep texting and what can be done to prevent it from occurring.
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What Is Sleep Texting?
Sleep texting refers to the use of a cell phone to send text messages while remaining asleep.
These messages may be initiated, but more often they are sent in response to an incoming text alert.
Access to the phone on a nearby nightstand might also prompt the behavior.
Replying to a text message may be an almost automatic behavior.
The alert sounds, you reach over to grab the phone and begin typing a reply.
Unfortunately, during sleep, we are not quite as skillful as we might be during the day.
Although brief messages may make sense, complete gibberish may also be the result.
Autocorrect may attempt to make sense of the nonsense.
Some responses, especially shorter ones, may be appropriate while others are confused.
The actions of the affected person may not be recalled later.
Indeed, the part of your brain that allows you to be awake or conscious may be turned off.
Meanwhile, the areas that permit you to coordinate movement and send text messages might be working.
This may result in semi-conscious or semi-purposeful behaviors.
When these abnormal behaviors occur in the setting of sleep, they are called parasomnias.
Parasomnias include common things likesleepwalkingor sleep talking.
They might also includesleep terrors,sleep eating, and other complex behaviors like driving or sex.
In some people, the ability to briefly act out one’s dreams results inREM behavior disorder.
Similarly, sleep texting might be considered one of these behaviors that can occur during sleep.
Prevention
Teenagers seem to be more susceptible to sleep texting.
Teens may even use texts excessively so that it becomes an important component of their daily lives.
They also may be more likely to sleep with or near their cell phones.
Ideally, no one should sleep with a phone.
This can be disruptive to yoursleep environment, either through text messages or phone calls.
The light from thescreenmay also have negative impacts on the ability to fall asleep and causeinsomnia.
Anyone who has a problem with sleep texting might also benefit from observingbetter sleep guidelines.
In particular, it is important to eliminatesleep deprivation.
Sleep deprivation may fragment your ability to sleep soundly so that the overlapping states of consciousness occur more easily.
It will also help you to sleep better and wake refreshed.
Take a break from the disruptions and get the rest that you need.
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