It’s likely you’ve heard of sleep talking, sleep walking and sleep eating. Now you can add sleep texting to the list of activities people unknowingly can do while snoozing.
Researchers at Villanova University’s M. Louise Fitzpatrick College of Nursing in Radnor, Pennsylvania, found that a growing number of teens and college students are tapping away on their phones in the middle of the night with no recollection of it the next day.
A survey found that 25.6% of students had sleep texted. Of those, 72% said they did not remember doing so.
“The majority of sleep texting students had no memory of the texting behavior, as well as who or what they texted,” said Elizabeth B. Dowdell, professor of nursing and lead author of the study, which was published online Oct. 26 in the Journal of American College Health. “The lack of memory is not surprising as sleep research has found that people awakened after sleeping more than a few minutes are usually unable to recall the last few minutes before they fall asleep.”
So, what are they texting? According to a Nov. 27 Medical Xpress news release, the students reported that most of their messages were nonsensical responses to questions — embarrassing but not dangerous.
One student said she had started wearing mittens to bed to keep her from texting. “Moving the phone from being in my bed to next to the bed is not an option; I have to keep my phone with me,” she said.
