When sleeping, we don’t normally think about what we are doing. But, many of us do things in our sleep that we don’t realize, and you’ll never know unless someone tells you. Perhaps you’ve seen the people that post their sleepwalking videos on YouTube, TikTok, or other streaming platforms. While it’s hilarious to see people unknowingly make fools of themselves, what other strange sleep habits exist? Here are some weird things we might do in our sleep.
Sleep Talking
The most common “weird thing” that people do in their sleep is sleep talking, or somniloquy. Studies have shown that 66 per cent of people have or experienced sleep talking. In some cases this can cause insomnia and even nightmare disorders and sleepwalking. For most people though, when they sleep talk they just feel embarrassed, especially if they said something that others were not meant to hear.
Sleep Walking
Similar to sleep talking, sleepwalking or somnambulism is a very common occurrence for individuals. Sleepwalking mostly occurs during the NREM sleep phase, or the “deep-sleep” phase. When this occurs, it is usually very difficult to try and wake up someone while they are sleepwalking, and it can be a bit creepy because most of the time their eyes will be wide open and glassy-looking. The saying “never wake a sleepwalker” is for the safety of those who are awake. When you wake someone during their NREM sleep, it can trigger their ‘fight or flight’ response and cause injuries to themselves or other people. It is not known exactly why people do this, but it seems to run in families.
Hypnic Jerks
The last most common “weird thing” that people do in their sleep is called sleep starts or hypnic jerks. This is very common when a person enters a state of deep-sleep or when they are in the light sleep stage. You see this most often in school: when classmates are super tired so they start dozing off in class, and then they jerk awake moments later. Sleep starts are sensations of falling or tripping, and they can occur in many different ages. Sixty to seventy per cent of adults have reported experiencing this sensation, and you might be one of those people.
There are so many different “weird things” that people do in their sleep. In some bizarre cases, someone drew a masterpiece, another conducted an Orchestra and someone even hurled themselves through a window. It is truly amazing what our brains can do when unconscious.
