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Nearly everyone has a story about people talking in their sleep. Though it tends to be more common in children, it can happen at any age: A 2010 study in the journal Sleep Medicine (opens in new tab) suggested that around two-thirds of people have at least one episode of sleep talking in adulthood. 

Sleep talking is not considered a sleep disorder but a normal variation of human sleep behavior. The International Classification of Sleep Disorders (opens in new tab) lists sleep talking under “isolated symptoms, apparently normal variants and unresolved issues,” along with things like snoring and sleep starts — the sudden jerking motion some people have when falling asleep, also known as hypnagogic jerks.

However, although sleep talking isn’t a disorder, it can have unwanted impacts on a person’s sleep and on the sleep of someone sharing a room or bed with them. Here, we look at the science behind sleep talking.What is sleep talking?

Sleep talking, or somniloquy, is when a person makes vocalizations while asleep. These vocalizations can be full words and phrases, or they can be mumblings, shouts or even laughter.

Children commonly talk in their sleep, with half of all kids talking in their sleep once a year or more, and around a quarter sleep talking at least once a week, according to a 1980 paper in the journal Brain & Development (opens in new tab) . Most children grow out of these episodes of nighttime babble, though sleep talking can recur later in life, brought on by stress or sleep deprivation, Dr. Jennifer Martin (opens in new tab) , a professor of medicine and the president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, told Live Science.

Around half of sleep talking is incomprehensible, audio recordings from a 2017 study published in the journal Sleep (opens in new tab) suggested. The same study found that, out of 3,349 understandable recordings, the word that most sleep talkers said was “no.”

As to whether people tell the truth while sleep talking, that’s mostly a myth, Martin said. “It doesn’t seem to be the case that [people say their] deep dark inner secrets,” she said. Dr. Jennifer L. Martin Social Links Navigation

Dr. Jennifer L. Martin serves as president of the board of directors for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and is board-certified in behavioral sleep medicine by the American Board of Sleep Medicine (ABSM). She is a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Martin received her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of California, San Diego, as part of the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program.

Some people sleep talk in their dreams, saying phrases that align with what they later remember dreaming about, a 2009 study in the Sleep (opens in new tab) journal found. But most sleep talking is unrelated to dreaming, as it happens while people are in a stage of sleep with fewer dreams, Martin said.

“Sleep talking tends to occur in a stage of sleep that we call non-rapid eye movement, or non-REM sleep,” she said. “During this stage our brain is relatively quiet, compared to what we see during rapid eye movement sleep [where we dream].”

During REM sleep, the body is effectively paralyzed to prevent the acting out of dreams, said Martin, and this paralysis should stop people from talking. If sleep talking does occur during REM sleep, then it could be a sign of something more serious.

“There is a sleep condition called REM behavior disorder where the system that paralyzes your muscles — really so you can’t hurt yourself during your sleep — is not working properly,” Martin said.

If this is the case, an early diagnosis is important, said Dr. Erik K. St. Louis (opens in new tab) , the head of the Division of Sleep Neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. “REM behavior disorder often evolves into violent sleep behaviors like screaming, shouting, punching and arm flailing, which may lead to injury to the patient or their bed partner,” he told Live Science. “It may also be the initial presentation of disease in older adults, usually Parkinson’s disease or dementia with Lewy bodies.”  What causes sleep talking?

Researchers still don’t know what causes sleep talking, but studies that measure brain activity can offer some insight.

Recent analyses show similarities between sleep talking and normal awake speech, St Louis said. Linguistic studies, like the 2017 paper in the journal Sleep, have also shown that the properties of sleep talk — the language, patterns, syntax and semantics — follow the same rules as people’s day-to-day conversations and are therefore comprehensible.

These discoveries further neurologists’ understanding of the sleeping brain and the purpose of sleep itself, which remains understudied, St. Louis said.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Sleep talking could be linked to memory consolidation, when the sleeping brain revisits experiences to commit the important ones to long-term memory. A 2018 review published in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews (opens in new tab) suggested sleep talking could sometimes be a verbal replay of the memories the brain is sifting through at the time.

The cause of sleep talking could be different in children and adults, Martin told Live Science. Sleep talking and other unusual sleep behaviors are much more common in kids, and this could simply be the child’s brain “learning what not to do while it’s asleep,” Martin said. It could also be related to the phases of brain development during childhood, she said.

In adults, however, certain conditions and circumstances make sleep talking more likely. For one, sleep talking can have a genetic component: it runs in families, according to a 2001 study published in the journal Psychiatric Genetics (opens in new tab) . It has also been linked with obstructive sleep apnea — a condition in which people experience pauses in breathing, or shallow breathing during sleep — according to the Cleveland Clinic (opens in new tab) .Can you stop sleep talking?

Sleep talking is usually considered a harmless trait, but it can be unpleasant for anyone in earshot — nearly 10% of sleep talking in the 2017 Sleep study contained profanities and swearing.

“Sleep talking has also been associated with sleep disturbance and shallower sleep, so may not be quite as benign as we presume,” St Louis said.

To stop a person talking in their sleep, Martin advises giving them a little nudge. This gentle interruption can stop the behavior, she said.

Sleep talking, along with other sleep behaviors like sleep walking and snoring, tend to get worse when people are sleep deprived, Martin told Live Science. A 2013 study in the Journal of Sleep Research (opens in new tab) showed sleep deprivation increased disturbance in slow-wave, non-REM sleep, which can lead to sleep talking and sleepwalking. 

“So, making sure that you’re getting good healthy sleep tends to decrease how often it happens,” Martin said. This means that staying up late to let a partner fall asleep first might actually make sleep talking worse.

This article is for informational purposes only, and is not meant to offer medical advice.

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Technology

Amazon CEO Jassy says AI will lead to ‘fewer people doing some of the jobs’ that get automated

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Amazon CEO Jassy says AI will lead to 'fewer people doing some of the jobs' that get automated

AI will change the workforce, says Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the rapid rollout of generative artificial intelligence means the company will one day require fewer employees to do some of the work that computers can handle.

“Like with every technical transformation, there will be fewer people doing some of the jobs that the technology actually starts to automate,” Jassy told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in an interview on Monday. “But there’s going to be other jobs.”

Even as AI eliminates the need for some roles, Amazon will continue to hire more employees in AI, robotics and elsewhere, Jassy said.

Earlier this month, Jassy admitted that he expects the company’s workforce to decline in the next few years as Amazon embraces generative AI and AI-powered software agents. He told staffers in a memo that it will be “hard to know exactly where this nets out over time” but that the corporate workforce will shrink as Amazon wrings more efficiencies out of the technology.

It’s a message that’s making its way across the tech sector. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff last week claimed AI is doing 30% to 50% of the work at his software vendor. Other companies such as Shopify and Microsoft have urged employees to adopt the technology in their daily work. The CEO of Klarna said in May that the online lender has managed to shrink its headcount by about 40%, in part due to investments in AI and natural attrition in its workforce.

Jassy said on Monday that AI will free employees from “rote work” and “make all our jobs more interesting,” while enabling staffers to invent better services more quickly than before.

Amazon and other tech companies have also been shrinking their workforces through rolling layoffs over the past several years. Amazon has cut more than 27,000 jobs since the start of 2022, and it’s announced smaller, more targeted layoffs in its retail and devices units in recent months.

Amazon shares are flat so far this year, underperforming the Nasdaq, which has gained 5.5%. The stock is about 10% below its record reached in February, while fellow megacaps Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia are all trading at or very near record highs.

WATCH: Jassy says robots that will eventually do delivery and transportation

Over time we will have robots that will do delivery and transportation, says Amazon CEO Andy Jassy

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Politics

PM faces threat of major rebellion during key vote today

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PM faces threat of major rebellion during key vote today

Sir Keir Starmer continues to face the threat of a major rebellion during a key vote on welfare reforms later – despite making last-minute concessions to disgruntled Labour MPs.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall has confirmed that all existing claimants of the personal independence payment (PIP), the main disability benefit, will be protected from changes to eligibility.

The combined value of the standard Universal Credit allowance and the health top-up will rise “at least in line with inflation” every year of this parliament.

And an additional £300m for employment support for sick and disabled people in 2026 has been announced, which will rise every year after.

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Welfare cuts ‘needed to be made’

Ms Kendall has also promised that a consultation into PIP – “co-produced” with disabled people – will be published next autumn.

She said the U-turn on welfare cuts will cost taxpayers about £2.5bn by 2030 – less than half the £4.8bn the government had expected to save with its initial proposals.

Modelling by Ms Kendall’s own department, released yesterday, suggested the proposals would push 150,000 more people into poverty by 2030, down from the 250,000 estimated under the original plan.

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But after announcing the U-turns, Labour MPs were still publicly saying they could not back the plans as they do not go far enough to allay their concerns.

Disabilities minister Stephen Timms would not say he was “confident” the proposals would pass the Commons when asked on Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge.

“We’ve got a very strong package, I certainly hope it passes,” he replied.

Read more: What are the concessions to the welfare reform bill?

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‘Disabled people thrown under the bus’

A total of 86 charities united yesterday to call on MPs to reject the reforms, saying they will harm disabled people and calling it “a political choice”.

The likes of Oxfam, Child Action Poverty Group, Mind and Shelter said the bill has been brought to a vote without consulting disabled people and without any assessment “of its impact on health and employment outcomes”.

When asked to name “a single” disability organisation in favour of the reforms, Ms Kendall declined to do so.

Several Labour MPs indicated they would still vote against the changes, leaving the government in the dark over how big a rebellion it still may face.

Ms Kendall tried to allay their fears, telling MPs: “I believe we have a fair package, a package that protects existing claimants because they’ve come to rely on that support.”

Richard Burgon presented a petition to parliament yesterday evening against the cuts, signed by more than 77,000 people.

Several Labour MPs questioned why the vote was going ahead before the review into PIP is published – including Rachael Maskell, who said she could not “countenance sick and disabled people being denied support” and added: “It is a matter of conscience.”

Connor Naismith said the concessions “undoubtedly improve efforts to secure welfare reform which is fair”, but added: “Unfortunately, I do not believe these concessions yet go far enough.”

Nadia Whittome
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Labour rebel Nadia Whittome said the government was ‘ignoring’ disabled people

Nadia Whittome accused the government of “ignoring” disabled people and urged ministers to go “back to the drawing board”.

Ian Byrne told the Commons he will vote against the “cruel cuts” to disability benefits because the “so-called concessions go nowhere near far enough”.

The vote will take place this evening, with coverage on Sky News’ Politics Hub live blog and on TV.

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World

Benjamin Netanyahu to meet Donald Trump next week amid calls for Gaza ceasefire

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Benjamin Netanyahu to meet Donald Trump next week amid calls for Gaza ceasefire

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be meeting Donald Trump next Monday, according to US officials.

The visit on 7 July comes after Mr Trump suggested it was possible a ceasefire in Gaza could be reached within a week.

On Sunday, he wrote on social media: “MAKE THE DEAL IN GAZA. GET THE HOSTAGES BACK!!!”

At least 60 people killed across Gaza on Monday, in what turned out to be some of the heaviest attacks in weeks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, with US President Donald Trump. Pic: Reuters
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Benjamin Netanyahu, left, with Donald Trump during a previous meeting. Pic: Reuters

According to the Hamas-run health ministry, 56,500 people have been killed in the 20-month war.

The visit by Mr Netanyahu to Washington has not been formally announced and the officials who said it would be going ahead spoke on condition of anonymity.

An Israeli official in Washington also confirmed the meeting next Monday.

More on Benjamin Netanyahu

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration was in constant communication with the Israeli government.

She said Mr Trump viewed ending the war in Gaza and returning remaining hostages held by Hamas as a top priority.

Read more from Sky News:
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The war in Gaza broke out in retaliation for Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and saw a further 250 taken hostage.

An eight-week ceasefire was reached in the final days of Joe Biden’s US presidency, but Israel resumed the war in March after trying to get Hamas to accept new terms on next steps.

Talks between Israel and Hamas have stalled over whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire.

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