什么是“说梦话”？

张恒

Nearly everyone has a story about people talking in their sleep. It is morecommon in children， but it can also happen at any age. A 2010 study suggested thataround two-thirds of people have at least one episode1 of sleep talking when theywere over 18 years old.

几乎每个人都有一段关于人们说梦话的经历。说梦话在儿童中更常见，但也可能发生在任何年龄。2010 年的一项研究表明，大约三分之二的人在18 岁之后至少说过一次梦话。

Sleep talking is not a sleep disorder2， but a usual kind of human sleepbehavior3. But it can have unwanted impacts4 on a persons sleep and on the sleepof someone sharing a room or bed with them. Here， we look at the science behindsleep talking.

说梦话不是一种睡眠障碍，而是一种常见的人类睡眠行为。但它可能会对一个人的睡眠以及与他们同住一个房间或睡一张床的人的睡眠产生不好的影响。在这里，我们来看看说梦话背后的科学原理。

Sleep talking is when a personmakes vocalizations5 while asleep. Thesevocalizations can be full words andphrases， or they can be mumblings6，shouts or even laughter.

说梦话是指一个人在睡觉时发出声音。这些声音可以是完整的单词和短语，也可以是喃喃自语、叫喊甚至是笑声。

Children commonly talk in their sleep， with half of all kids talking in theirsleep once a year or more， and around a quarter sleep talking at least once a week，according to a 1980 paper.

根據1980 年的一篇论文，孩子们通常在睡觉时说梦话，一半的孩子一年说一次梦话或更多，大约四分之一的孩子每周至少说一次梦话。

A 2017 study found that the word that most sleeptalkers said was “no”. As to whether people tell the truthwhile sleep talking， thats mostly a myth7， a researcher said.“It doesnt seem to be the case that [people say their] deepdark secrets.”

2017 年的一项研究发现，大多数说梦话者说的一个词是“不”。一位研究人员说，关于人们在睡觉时是否会说实话，这很可能是个错误的看法。“（人们）似乎并不会说出他们深藏不露的秘密。”

Researchers still dont know what causes sleep talking. Sleep talking and otherunusual sleep behaviors are much more common in kids. Certain conditions8 andcircumstances9 make sleep talking more likely. It runs in families.

研究人员仍然不知道是什么导致说梦话。说梦话和其他不寻常的睡眠行为在孩子身上更为常见。某些条件和情况会使人们更有可能在睡觉时说梦话。它是在家族之间遗传的。

To stop a person talking in their sleep， you can give them a little nudge10. Ifyou dont have enough sleep， your sleep talking will be worse. And it is not good foryour health.

为了阻止一个人说梦话，你可以轻轻推他们一下。如果你睡眠不足，说梦话的情况会变得更严重，而且这对身体健康不好。