More People Suffers from ‘Sleep Texting’, Sending Text Messages While Sleeping
More and more people are getting addicted to technology, more and more people also experience sleep disturbances. Not experiencing difficulty to sleep due to busy using a cell phone, but sending random text messages without knowing while you’re asleep.
This behavior is referred to as “sleep texting” or sending text messages while sleeping. Under the mechanism, the behavior of this sleep disorders is grouped in the same category by walking during sleep (sleep walking), delirium (sleep talking) or having sex while sleeping (seksomnia).
“Usually I roll back and forth in bed for 2-3 hours before actually falling asleep,” said Elizabeth Hammonds, a 16-year-old, according to MSNBC, Monday (11/21/2011).
Once Hammonds is asleep, something unexpected happened. If others start talking, experience nightmares or sleepwalks, she does something that is actually difficult to do while you sleep, which is typing and sending text messages.
Hammonds did not realize his behavior at all, until her friends complained the next day for receiving unclear text messages from the girl. Hammonds did not believe initially, but all the evidence was recorded in the cell phone.
“You send a text at 3 am and I don’t understand what you mean,” said her friend.
Hammonds types and sends text messages randomly to her friends, in fact she sometimes sends longer texts through an email. Her mother, Betty Hammonds is worried that her son would send things that are not appropriate given today there are a lot of cases of “sexting” or obscene text message.
Sleep health expert, Dr. Marcus Schmidt acknowledges the current tendency to have sleep texting tends to increase among teenagers. Another cause is not due to addiction to technology, to the extent that the cell phone are also taken to bed and not turned off.
“Four out of five children who have cell phones always carry their cell phone to bed. While those who actually turns it off are only one of 10 children,” said Dr. Schmidt.
Dr. Schmidt said, sleep texting behavior tends to increase when the sufferers do not sleep soundly or when they experience lack of sleep. When they do not sleep soundly, they tend to be restless, the presence of cell phones in bed can stimulate motor reaction to reach out and use it.
To be able to reduce sleep texting behavior, Dr. Schmidt suggested that children and teenagers do not stay up too late, so that they can sleep more soundly. In addition, the phone should be placed as far away from range, or turn it off during sleep.
