Is It Normal To Laugh While Sleeping?

Laughing while sleeping is known as hypnogely medical. This phenomenon is part of sleep talking alias delirious. Although it looks strange, this condition is quite common, especially in infants.

Normal or not laughing while sleeping depends on the underlying cause. Usually, laughing while sleeping is a natural response to something that happens in a dream. Not a funny dream, people who experience this phenomenon after waking up will feel that the dream is very strange.

Dream appearances usually occur during REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. When you enter REM sleep, breathing becomes faster, irregular, and the eyes move in all directions quickly. Well, hynogely that occurs due to REM sleep is considered normal and you don’t need to worry.

Apart from dreams, hypnogely can be caused by certain health problems. This is the cause that leads to abnormal conditions and should get doctor’s treatment.

Some conditions that cause hypnogely include:

REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD)

RBD sleep disorders are also called parasomnia. People who have this sleep disorder usually experience strange events, one of them laughing while sleeping. This condition is more common in men over the age of 50 years.

In addition to laughing, people with RBD may also shout, talk, or move limbs, such as punching, kicking, and sleepwalking. This condition can irritate and harm yourself and your partner who sleeps on the same mattress.

This parasomnia is most likely to attack people who consume excessive alcohol. It could also be the opposite, which is to stop drinking alcohol suddenly. The risk of RBD also increases if a person lacks sleep or uses certain drugs, such as zolpidem, zopiclone, tricyclic antidepressants, venlafaxine, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

Neurological problems

A rare cause of laughter during sleep is neurological problems, such as Parkinson’s disease. People with this condition experience muscle abnormalities that make control of muscle movements as muscles worsen or even disappear.

Another neurological problem is hypothalamic hamartoma (HH), which can cause gelastic seizures. This condition indicates the presence of a tumor as the fetus develops. People with this condition cannot control themselves to laugh, so it is very likely to occur during sleep.

Starting with the appearance of a tickling sensation in the abdomen that radiates to the chest area so that it triggers laughter and eventually causes headaches. These symptoms can occur many times and last about 10 to 20 minutes.

If you feel that this condition disturbs sleep, of course it must be addressed immediately. The reason is your deep sleep is disrupted and may make you sleep less. This will affect the activity as well as overall body health.

Here are some ways you can take to overcome hypnogely, including:

• Improve sleep quality, including waking and sleeping at the same time every day and avoiding all things that interfere with sleep, like playing a cellphone or drinking coffee.
• Reducing alcohol consumption gradually with the guidance of a doctor if needed.
• Replacing drugs that have side effects causes laughter while sleeping with other medications that are in accordance with doctor’s recommendations.
• Underwent treatment according to underlying health problems routinely.

The various ways above can generally help you overcome hypnogely. However, it takes time for your sleep to improve again. If you cannot overcome this condition yourself, do not hesitate to consult a doctor.