張恒

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.

幾乎每個人都有一段關于人們說夢話的經歷。說夢話在兒童中更常見，但也可能發(fā)生在任何年齡。2010 年的一項研究表明，大約三分之二的人在18 歲之后至少說過一次夢話。

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.

說夢話不是一種睡眠障礙，而是一種常見的人類睡眠行為。但它可能會對一個人的睡眠以及與他們同住一個房間或睡一張床的人的睡眠產生不好的影響。在這里，我們來看看說夢話背后的科學原理。

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

說夢話是指一個人在睡覺時發(fā)出聲音。這些聲音可以是完整的單詞和短語，也可以是喃喃自語、叫喊甚至是笑聲。

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 年的一篇論文，孩子們通常在睡覺時說夢話，一半的孩子一年說一次夢話或更多，大約四分之一的孩子每周至少說一次夢話。

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 年的一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，大多數說夢話者說的一個詞是“不”。一位研究人員說，關于人們在睡覺時是否會說實話，這很可能是個錯誤的看法。“（人們）似乎并不會說出他們深藏不露的秘密。”

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.

研究人員仍然不知道是什么導致說夢話。說夢話和其他不尋常的睡眠行為在孩子身上更為常見。某些條件和情況會使人們更有可能在睡覺時說夢話。它是在家族之間遺傳的。

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.

為了阻止一個人說夢話，你可以輕輕推他們一下。如果你睡眠不足，說夢話的情況會變得更嚴重，而且這對身體健康不好。