Texting in Your Sleep – What Causes It and How You Can Prevent It

Sleep texting is a condition that involves unconsciously sending text messages² when you’re not fully awake. When this occurs, the brain and body are in a state that’s not entirely conscious or asleep. When sleep texters wake up in the morning, they rarely remember sending the message².

A person with sleep texting disorder hears the notification their phone makes when they receive a text. Next, their body will answer the message on autopilot, often with their eyes still closed. Someone who texts in their sleep rarely initiates a text conversation. Instead, they usually respond to a text they’ve received.

As you can imagine, the words they text usually don’t make sense. However, there are instances when people have completely logical conversations via text message while they’re still asleep.

Before you disregard this disorder as unlikely and ridiculous, note that experts report that the number of people who text while sleeping is growing³. They theorize that because smartphones have become such a big part of our lives, often attached to us 24/7, they’re now “invading our subconscious³.” In fact, according to the Journal of American College Health, over 25% of students⁴ reported sleep texting behavior along with poor sleep habits.

When the brain and body are stressed, restful sleep is more challenging. As a result, sleep is often fragmented and fitful. Additionally, if your job is stressful and you use your phone for work, you might be more likely to send texts without realizing it⁵.

Learn More: Stress and Sleep

We’re all busy, but if your schedule is exceptionally hectic, your brain may not entirely shut down at night; this could cause you to send text messages about whatever’s on your subconscious mind.

According to research, Americans check their phones 80 times each day on average, indicating an attachment to our phones — 80 times a day is 10 times an hour during the eight-hour work day. If we’re as attached to our phones as the data reports, it’s likely becoming increasingly difficult for us to disconnect from them⁶. This inability to disconnect from our devices may be reflected when people text while they’re sleeping.

If you’re sleep-deprived, you may be suffering from a multitude of consequences without realizing it. Chronic sleep deprivation⁷ has been known to lead to high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, and heart failure. Further, dealing with physical ailments are often stressful on our minds as well, which could lead to a distracted mind come time for bed. So, if you’re distracted and stressed about your lack of sleep or your physical ailments, you may subconsciously attend to your text messages at night.

If a parent has a sleep disorder (even if it’s not texting-related), their child could also inherit the same condition. New research indicates that sleep conditions are tied to genetics, meaning if your parent struggles with any parasomnia disorders, there’s a chance you will too⁸. If your parent’s sleep is often disrupted and restless and they send texts subconsciously, you might have a similar experience.

When someone is in and out of consciousness, they’re more likely to engage in behaviors⁹ like texting, sleepwalking, sleep talking, or even cooking meals. Similarly to what we touched on in regards to sleep deprivation, frequent interruptions will result in less restorative sleep, possibly impacting your ability to sleep soundly— therefore leaving you vulnerable to incoherent midnight texting.

The simplest and most effective way to avoid sleep texting is to turn off your phone at night. However, we realize that may not be an option for everyone. They may be on call for work, be expecting an important message, use their phone as an alarm, or have another circumstance that requires them to have their phone on.

Since there are some cases where you can't turn your phone off at night, we will discuss some alternate solutions.

Silent mode can be great for those looking to detach from their phones. Silencing your smartphone could be an effective way to stop texting while sleeping. If you don’t hear a notification from your phone, you’re less likely to reply to messages. However, this option may be problematic for those who rely on their phone at night for messages.

We noted earlier that some people do initiate texting behavior while sleeping. If that’s the case, then you may need to strongly consider just shutting off your phone at night.

For those who can’t turn off their mobile devices, putting your phone far away from your bed could be a practical solution. Then, if your phone buzzes or rings, you won’t be able to reach for it blindly from your bed and begin having a conversation, still half asleep. Instead, you’ll have to physically get out of bed to get your phone, which will help you wake up more fully.

We often engage in odd behavior when we’re sleep-deprived, such as sleepwalking or sleep talking. Instances of parasomnias are more frequent when someone hasn’t gotten adequate sleep. Try your best to stick to a regular bedtime routine; go to bed at the same time each night, and wake up at the same time each morning. You can also do the same thing each night before going to bed, like reading a book or lighting a candle.

Giving your body some regularity should help keep your circadian rhythm healthy and let you sleep easier, which will hopefully reduce sleep texting behaviors.

While you’re awake, get in the habit of waiting to respond to texts. We often check and reply to texts as soon as we receive a notification. However, it might be beneficial to practice waiting to check your phone and to reply. If you practice this behavior while you’re awake, you’ll be less likely to respond immediately when half-conscious because you’ve already trained yourself not to react so quickly to a notification.

Any type of unusual or undesirable behavior while you’re sleeping is considered a parasomnia, which is otherwise known as a sleep disorder⁷. Sleep texting is similar to sleepwalking because they both involve performing a physical activity while not being awake. While not fatal, sleep texting can harm someone’s professional or personal reputation if the person unintentionally texts something unprofessional, rude, or revealing about themselves.

The best way to stop texting in your sleep is to turn off your phone or set it on silent mode when going to bed. If that’s not possible because you need to hear notifications for work or another reason, put your phone as far away from your bed as you can. You’ll still hear your phone’s notifications, but you’ll have to get out of bed to grab your phone. While there’s no guarantee you’ll fully wake up when walking to your phone, getting out of bed could jar you enough so that you’re fully alert. This way, you can choose to answer the message or not.

Sleep texting disorder is a type of parasomnia. A parasomnia is any type of abnormal behavior that someone does during sleep⁷. The person may be semi-conscious during the episode, while their brain is not fully alert. Examples of other parasomnias include sleepwalking, sleep eating, teeth grinding at night, night terrors, driving while sleeping, and having sex while sleeping, to name a few⁷.