The Truth to Sleep Talking

I'm pretty sure that you have all heard of someone talking in their sleep. Sleep talking, along with various other unusual sleep behaviors are known as non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) parasomnias. Other examples of these behaviors are: sleep eating, sleep walking and night terrors.

You may be wondering, what causes these things to happen? Well, to better understand this we need to take a look at the sleep cycle. When you go to sleep you first enter a light sleep, then drift into a deep sleep, after that you re-enter a lighter sleep and that may be followed by the rapid eye movement phase of sleep (when dreams are most vivid). These parts of sleep are determined by brain wave patterns.

During the transition of these sleep phases one may wake up (partially or fully). Usually you fall right back to sleep, but sometimes part of your brain stays 'awake' while the other part transitions into another sleep phase. This is when NREM's happen. People going through NREM's are unaware of what they are doing and have no recollection of what happened when they wake up.

A few things that can trigger NREM's are:

• Sleeping in a unusual location
  


• More frequent in someone who is sleep deprived
  


• Can happen when you move a child after they have fallen asleep



• Can occur when you get sick

The reason these things may cause abnormal sleep behaviors is our body is trying to protect itself but the need for sleep is more dominant and our minds get stuck in the middle phase of conscious and unconscious.

What to do when you come across a person going through one of these sleep abnormalities:

• Don't try and wake then up! This will do no good and could potentially be traumatic for the sleep walker (or talker, or eater).



• Guild them to bed safely.



• Medications can be used but are for the most part unnecessary if proper steps are taken to prevent these things from happening.
  
  

Now you know why these things happen and ways to help prevent them and handle them. I hope this was helpful.

Nail Biting

Nail biting, just a simple childhood habit right? Well, not exactly, it stems from some place deep inside our (well, their) mental condition. Nail biting or 'chronic onychophagia' is often caused by nervousness, stress or boredom. It is a method of simple stress relief and can sometimes be a mental or emotional disorder.


Facts and Statistics:

• Affects 50% of toddlers



• Affects 28%-33% of Children age 7-10



• Affects 44% of adolescents



• Affects 19%-29% of teens



• And 5% of adults
  

If you are a nail biter be sure to have good hygiene! There are loads of germs hiding under human nails. Wash hands often and keep fingernails nice and clean.

How does nail biting affect the body? Well, as I mentioned before, nails can carry lots of germs so nail biting can make you sick! It also can cause damage to the front teeth over time and excessive gnawing. Also when a person constantly has their hand in their mouth it slows down their productivity.

What to do:

Some things that may help with nail biting are: behavioral therapy, medication or bad tasting nail polish.

Behavioral therapy has been proven to help patients 'unlearn' the nail biting habit by often replacing it with a healthier, more beneficial habit.

Medication can help compliment the therapy, but may be a bit extreme for a minor nail biter.

Bad tasting nail polish is a simple solution that can help 'ween' you off of your nail biting

Overall nail biting is bad for the body and can be a nasty habit. Did you know a kiss is healthier then a handshake? Now imagine all those germs from that other person, or the keyboard you've been typing on, or that door knob you touch are under your nails.. waiting to enter you mouth via nail biting. Break the habit if you can, you wont regret it.