Do you talk in your sleep? Adam Lennard does, not that he remembers anything about it, but his every utterance is recorded by his wife, Karen, and blogged on a daily basis.
Millions of people have visited the blog, Sleep Talkin’ Man, (4,481,944 unique visitors according to the site’s counter today) to catch Adam’s unconscious wisdoms – or wise cracks – such as:
“Don’t worry. I’ll find it. That’s what I do, find things. I find you annoying. See?”
“Hmm, linguini on the ceiling! It adds a certain texture. Interesting … Just don’t use penne. Or those crappy twisty ones.”
“Squid wrestling: all tentacles and no substance.”
“Don’t leave the duck there. It’s totally irresponsible. Put it on the swing, it’ll have much more fun.”
If you’ve ever worried about what you might let slip while you’re fast asleep, worry some more. Then worry lots more. Or see the funny side and laugh it off, as Adam and Karen do, because most of what slips from Adam’s mouth on a nightly basis is crass, insulting, totally x-rated and very funny when you realise that Adam is – apparently – a mild mannered, polite Londoner.
One of our Dream Show podcast listeners emailed me to ask if I’d seen the blog, and wondered how sleep talking may or may not relate to dreaming. A good question.
“I’ve got a really terrible terrible feeling about this custard tart. Terrible.”
Adam says he doesn’t remember his dreams, and he’s been observed in sleep labs and it turns out that his sleep talking occurs outside REM sleep. So Adam and Karen feel his ramblings are unrelated to dreams and therefore just – well – just what? Just unconscious? Aha, but the unconscious is always interesting, and revealing. But don’t worry Adam, I’m not going there.
Everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers their dreams. It used to be said – and it is still said by many – that we only dream during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) phase of sleep. The first REM sleep phase occurs about 90 minutes into sleep.
Hands up everyone who has had a full on dream during a half hour nap. Or less.
Dreams often occur during REM but they also occur during other sleep phases, and it’s during these other sleep phases that our motor muscles stir from sleep paralysis, enabling us to move a little, whisper a few words maybe. People do report waking from a dream sleep talking, and able to relate what they were saying to the dream content.
What do you think? Check out the Sleep Talkin’ Man blog, watch the the Today Show video (2019: Video link no longer live.).
I leave you with one last unconscious gem from Adam:
“I’ve got a really terrible terrible feeling about this custard tart. Terrible.”
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