Do You Talk in Your Sleep?

icon175x175When I was a freshman in college, I woke up one morning to find my roommate tapping away at his computer. “Morning,” I mumbled from my upper bunk.

He nodded and said, “Do you remember what you said last night?”

After a solid night’s sleep, I had no idea what he was talking about, so he filled me in. Apparently at 3:00 am in the morning, I sat up in bed, looked at my roommate (who was still awake at his computer), and recited what sounded to him like a lengthy poem. I then reclined and went back to sleep.

Since then, multiple girlfriends have told me about some odd things I’ve said in my sleep. Sometimes they’ve encouraged me to keep talking, including the time I explained how dragons work.

I’ve never actually heard myself sleeptalk, though, and I’ve been morbidly curious about the types of things I say, especially since I’ve been single for a while.

IMG_4585So last week when I heard about an app called Sleep Talk, I downloaded it immediately and started using it. All you do is activate it when you go to sleep, and it leaves the mic on all night. Whenever it starts to pick up sounds, it starts to record, and it condenses all of the night’s recordings into a handy chart.

I’ve activated the app for 5 nights in a row now, and I’ve already learned a little about myself:

  • I laugh in my sleep almost every night at around the same time (about an hour after I fall asleep). I wish I knew what I was laughing about!
  • I don’t snore nearly as much as I thought I did (or as much as women tell me I do). Usually 1 or 2 spurts a night, each lasting less than a minute. I should add this selling point to my online dating profile.
  • The cats wake me up several times a night. Sometimes we communicate through a series of chirps and whistles before they let me fall asleep again; other times I have to get up for them to show me things.

But the big question is: Has the app caught me sleeptalking?

To my delight, the answer is yes. Two nights ago, at the time of the night when I’m usually laughing, I said the following: “I think we’re too…too far back or front?”

The words are very clear. I’m not completely coherent (obviously the sentence doesn’t make any sense out of the context of the dream I was having), but it wasn’t as nonsensical as I thought it would be.

Anyway, I’m loving this app. I’m sure I’m way more fascinated by my sleep habits than anyone else, so I’ll refrain from reporting them here unless something really interesting happens. In the meantime, if you have any stories about things you’ve said in your sleep (or that you discover through the Sleep Talk app), I’d love to hear them in the comments.

22 thoughts on “Do You Talk in Your Sleep?”

  1. I downloaded this app the other day, and finally remembered to use it for the first time last night.

    A few weeks ago I was informed that I sometimes whimper in my sleep, so I was most curious to find out if the app would catch such a thing last night. It didn’t catch any whimpering, but it did catch some other things that I thought were interesting and enlightened me about how I sleep.

    I already knew I was a pretty sound sleeper, but the app just further proved that by picking up a rather loud and long siren screeching around 3 am (I had my windows open since it was so nice outside and may need to adjust the microphone sensitivity to not pick up so much background noise in the future) and at least 15 instances of my dog getting out of bed and click-clacking with his nails around my bedroom floor– I didn’t make a peep or wake up during any of those things. I learned that about an hour before I woke up this morning I had a small bout of intense snoring that lasted less than 5 minutes, and I’m curious if that’s something that happens often or if it was an anomaly.

    There was a fun feature I discovered within the app where you can listen to and vote on sound recordings that others have uploaded. Have you checked that part out yet?

    I wonder if there is an optimal place to sit your phone while the app is running, and how the recordings will vary is the phone is placed right next to your head on the bed or a little father away on a bedside table. This is a really neat app and I’m excited to keep using it and see what else I can learn about my sleep-time. Thanks for recommending it!

    Reply
    • Wow, I had no idea about that sharing feature! That elevates the app to a whole new level. Some of those clips are amazing.

      I’m impressed that you’re able to sleep through your dog’s click-clacking on your wooden floor.

      I usually set the phone on my headrest, but I think if you set it on a bedside table, it should work fine.

      Reply
      • Well, I’ve only had the last 7 years to get used to Jasper’s click-clacking. 🙂
        I think I may actually tend to have trouble sleeping peacefully when he’s not around because I’m so used to his little nightly strolls and the nail clicking is white noise to me now.

        Reply
  2. My son laughs in his sleep pretty much every night at about 5 am and has since he was tiny. He’s 7 now. He had the hiccups at 5 pm pretty much every day from 18 weeks gestation onwards until he was about six weeks old. Sleep cycles are really interesting.

    Reply
  3. You know how dragon works and didn’t tell anyone about it!? I’m a little disappointed that your girlfriend at the time didn’t record that conversation. How hard it is to grab a tape recorder? Now the important question is: How can we bring that dragon conversation back up in your sleep?

    Reply
    • I wish I still knew how dragons work! Perhaps I’ll explain more of it in future sleep chats. I’ll think about it before I go to sleep tonight in case that helps.

      Reply
  4. I love this post! I just downloaded the app and I am going to try it tonight. My favorite sleep talking story is from when I was maybe 7 or 8. I was sleeping in my parents’ bed, I sat straight up, lifted the covers, and yelled, “Where is my book?!” Then, I just laid back down and went back to sleep. I know I make noises when I’m falling asleep, because I have actually woken myself up. I get told I snore, and being diagnosed with sleep apnea, I’m not surprised. Finally, I have been told I talk in my sleep when it’s really deep, but not everyone can understand me. I remember having dreams in Spanish and Italian, so I want to see if I speak tongues!

    Reply
  5. As someone who was a heavy sleepwalker for many, many years, I have enough stories to last a lifetime. I do sleep talk as well, and I’ve said innocent things like, “Hand me the nail polish” or shadier things like, “I’ll have your money soon.” There are a lot of times I wish someone had recorded me so that I could go back and hear it later.

    However, I’m pretty sure this concept would make a great beginning to a horror movie. You download the app, thinking you’ll catch yourself saying some funny things. But when you play it back the next morning, you hear some things you can’t explain.

    Unfamiliar voices speaking in a language you don’t know…

    A child’s giggle, but you don’t have any kids…

    A whisper at 2am, telling you to have sweet dreams…

    Have fun with your demon app, Jamey. Your days are numbered now!

    Reply
    • OK, see, I thought about those things, and I wasn’t going to say anything. But, you did, and now it’s real, and now I’m scared.

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    • I’m scared… Those are really scary thoughts. However, in Jamey’s case , it’s probably going to record a demand from the cat demon commanding Jamey get more catnip for Biddy and Walter. And maybe occasional foot steps by no one.

      Reply
    • As I downloaded the app the one thing that I kept thinking was “What if I hear someone who isn’t me??” Luckily when I played it this morning all I could hear was me tossing and turning all night and I laughed once.

      Reply
  6. Clever idea for an app. Does it eat battery? How long does it take to process a full night’s rest into the tracks?

    I was told one night that I had kept asking “Did you find it? Did you find it?” in my sleep. That night I had a dream I had lost my watch in the backyard and hired a group of Mexican day laborers to find it. They stood in a line, arms on shoulders, and sang about milking cows while they shuffled the dirt with their feet.

    My oldest often talks in her sleep. One morning I heard her call for me, and when I went in she shouted “NOT THE HIPPOPOTAMUS!” and then rolled across the bed.

    Reply
    • It eats up a lot of battery, but you could leave it plugged in at night, or just recharge it while you’re getting ready in the morning.

      “Not the hippopotamus!” Ha ha…that’s awesome.

      Reply

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