Are you a sleep-texter?

Ever get up in the morning only to be asked what the heck you meant to say with that text you sent in the middle of the night? The problem is that you don't recall even getting up and sending a text. It is a phenomenon that has become quite common. Sleep-texting happens often because most of us sleep within close proximity to our cell phones. A recent story on CNN repeated some examples of such messages that were sent in the middle of the night by those who had no idea the next morning that they had sent them. Some examples included: "Wtf did they put in those little bomb things," "No bounces issues with monh..., pillow helps," "I legittt wish veggird were enough to fuelme," and "The bullet holes really look great on my teddy bear."

Sleep-texting is becoming more common

Dr. Jim Fulop, the corporate medical director for OhioHealth Sleep Services, and Dr. Shelby Harris, director of behavioral sleep medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, say that the younger generation texts in their sleep more often because some young professionals need to text and respond to emails late into the night for their jobs. And some teens wake up in the middle of the night confused, and quickly reach for their handset.

Actually, the sleep-texting term might be a misnomer as the person sending the message isn't exactly sleeping, but is half awake. While some people might get up and open the refrigerator and make a sandwich, others unlock their phones and send out a text message. Dr. Harris calls it a form of sleepwalking. But there are some easy solutions. You can make sure your handset is turned off, put in a different room from the one where you're sleeping, or protect it by using a passcode (unless you have an Apple iPhone running iOS 6.1).

"It's like your brain is on autopilot. Think about the rate at which people are texting nowadays, and most people sleep right next to (their phones), so if they wake up it's another automatic behavior. ... This is sort of a form of sleepwalking, that's kind of the way that I look at it."-Dr. Shelby Harris, director of behavioral sleep medicine, Montefiore Medical Center in New York

Did you ever get up in the morning and find that you've sent out some texts that sounded like gibberish? And worse, did you not remember sending them in the first place? Drop us a comment and tell us all about it in the box below. But please make sure you're awake before you comment.

source: CNN