Reasons for chewing in your sleep
Chewing in sleep or grinding teeth has its own medical term - bruxism. During sleep, a person's masticatory muscles reflexively contract, so he makes sounds similar to grinding or chewing. As a rule, such sounds are short-lived (a few seconds) and can be repeated several times during the night. It has been noted that the autonomic nervous system is also triggered by these movements. So, in a person suffering from bruxism, during the next episode of teeth grinding, the heart rate increases and the blood pressure level increases. Until now, it has not been possible to reliably identify a reason that would explain this phenomenon. One thing is clear - bruxism is not associated with the presence of worms in the human body, as has always been believed. Doctors draw a parallel with the presence of other changes during sleep, for example, snoring, enuresis, the presence of nightmares and sleepwalking.
Medical rationale
When a child slurps in his sleep, it seems that he was not fed before being put to bed. There are several explanations for the origin of the sounds made:
- Experts do not associate such phenomena with a lack of diet or pleasant dreams about tasty food. Often, smacking your lips in a dream is due to the fact that the sleeper's mouth is slightly open. With this type of breathing, the mucous membranes dry out. Reflexively, slurping movements are made to moisten the surface of the oral cavity. Also, a provoking factor may be congestion or a crooked nasal septum, which forces the sleeper to breathe through the mouth.
- When it comes to babies, most professionals agree that newborns intuitively seek out their mother's breast. After all, it is not just a source of nutrition for babies, but also a prerequisite for harmonious development.
- Chomping sounds and grinding of teeth during sleep are called bruxism by doctors. It is noted as a result of reflex muscle contraction. The sounds produced are short-term in nature. Unlike snoring, they stop without additional external influence.
Scientists have found that the autonomic system responds to slurping movements. During the next episode, the sleeper’s blood pressure rises and the pulse quickens.
Treatment
Bruxism, slurping and smacking are not pathologies as such. Therefore, there is no one surefire recipe for treating strange sounds that a person makes during sleep. In most cases, such phenomena disturb those around them, although the person himself may wake up more than once due to his own grinding of teeth. The main danger of this condition is damage to teeth and abrasion of enamel. General recommendations for solving the problem include: • avoiding stressful situations; • relaxing gymnastics or yoga before bed; • ventilation of the room; • treatment of chronic diseases of the nasal cavity that impair free breathing; • relaxing bath before bed; • an evening walk; • comfortable bed. If you cannot cope with this condition yourself, you should seek help from a doctor. Among the specialists who can help you, it is worth highlighting two – a psychologist and a neurologist. Because Most often, such phenomena may be associated with stress factors or other mental disorders; these specialists will be able to help solve your problem. In addition, such people should more often contact their dentists to assess the damage to their teeth and, if necessary, make a special mouthguard to protect their teeth, which must be worn at night.
What is bruxism and its manifestations
Bruxism is a pathological condition that occurs due to excessive clenching of the jaws.
By the age of 5 years, teeth grinding occurs in almost 50% of children. This occurs involuntarily and is associated with a spasm of the masticatory muscles. Usually the pathology occurs at night, in attacks of 10-15 seconds. Attacks may recur during the daytime. At the same time, daytime teeth grinding causes more concern for parents, since it is more noticeable.
Reference!
Isolated cases of teeth grinding are not dangerous and do not require intervention. If the attacks become chronic, you need the help of a pediatrician.
In addition to grinding teeth, a child may experience the following manifestations of pathology:
- headache;
- daytime drowsiness, lethargy;
- neck pain;
- tearfulness;
- tooth sensitivity is the result of abrasion and damage to the enamel;
- restless sleep with frequent awakenings;
- congestion in the ears.
Dentists identify a triad of symptoms in childhood bruxism (up to 5 years). These are erosive wear of baby teeth, malocclusion and narrowing of the dental arches. Teeth grinding usually goes away on its own when a child reaches puberty. Teeth grinding is a rare occurrence among teenagers and young adults.
Why does a person chew in a dream?
Both chewing in your sleep and grinding your teeth are bruxism. This term comes from the Greek word brychein. Literally, this, in fact, means grinding one’s teeth, i.e. paroxysmal contractions of the masticatory muscles, which are accompanied by compression of the upper and lower jaws, as well as grinding of teeth, chewing movements and unpleasant creaking. Interestingly, this disease can occur in both children and adults.
What to do if your child grinds his teeth
Pay attention to when attacks most often occur - during the day, at night, at home or in a public place. Also record other disturbances in the child’s behavior and health complaints. Consult a pediatrician or pediatric dentist for advice. Take the necessary tests and undergo examinations prescribed by your doctor.
The following tips will also help you cope with bruxism:
- Improve the psychological climate at home. Try not to quarrel with loved ones in front of your child, talk to your child more often and ask him to talk about his feelings and fears.
- Do not burden your child with various early development clubs.
- Organize a proper daily routine with mandatory daytime sleep. The child’s nervous system needs a break during the day, even if he himself seems active and does not want to sleep. 1-2 hours before bedtime, take a bath with relaxing additives and read a book. Active games should be prohibited.
- Review your diet. Add solid vegetables to your menu to provide exercise to your chewing muscles.
If your baby often catches colds or suffers from a chronic runny nose or nasal congestion, then you need to check the adenoids. If the child has hyperactivity syndrome and emotional excitability, it is recommended to visit a psychologist or neurologist.
Why do people chew in their sleep?
It is worth noting that bruxism is a fairly common phenomenon. Interestingly, people suffering from this disease may chew and grind their teeth several times in one night. Until now, official science cannot explain the reasons for the occurrence of this strange phenomenon in humans. The fact is that scientists do not find any personality changes among “lovers” of chewing in their sleep.
Typically, several episodes of bruxism occur during sleep. They last no more than 15 seconds. If their duration is longer, this can lead to damage to the teeth and surrounding soft tissues.
However, doctors now associate sleep chewing with other manifestations of sleep depth dysregulation. These, of course, include snoring, nightmares, somnambulism (sleepwalking) and nocturnal enuresis (urinary incontinence).
It is curious that even in the 21st century, the popular point of view of the origin of bruxism does not lose its popularity. Today, as always, there is a widespread belief among people that chewing and grinding teeth in sleep is evidence of the appearance of worms in the sleeping body. However, scientists have not yet found significant confirmation of this! In addition, worms are no more common among “lovers” of night chewers than among other people who do not grind their teeth in their sleep.
What do scientists say?
Scientists increasingly agree that bruxism is common among those who regularly experience some kind of stress. The fact is that internal anxiety, anger, excitement before bedtime, and tension do not go unnoticed for both adults and children.
Treatment of bruxism still does not have any uniform principles. It depends entirely on the time of development of the phenomenon, as well as on the nature and reasons for its manifestation.
In addition, scientists make allowances for short-term chewing or grinding of teeth during sleep, lasting up to 10 seconds. They believe that this manifestation is also characteristic of completely healthy people who are on a positive note, experiencing positive emotions.
What does it mean to dream about Chewing?
You will benefit like never before.
Chewing something in a dream means bitter disappointment.
Fixed (conscious), long delays.
Dissatisfaction, erotic hunger.
Tasty things - you won't have any flaws. Tasteless dishes mean displeasure, illness. Seeing people eating is an invitation. In the fresh air - instability. To be invited to this is luck. Burnt food is bad news. If a person sees himself chewing leaves in a dream...
You may lose your home and have to become homeless.
Chewing
In medical language there is a term - bruxism, which means chewing, as well as grinding teeth in sleep.
Bruxism affects both children and adults.
In a dream, a person, of course, will not chew exactly as he does in a conscious state. A sleepy person makes low-frequency sounds similar to clicking or grinding. This usually lasts no longer than a few seconds. If the duration of jaw movements increases, this threatens damage to the teeth and soft tissues of the oral cavity.
Causes
In truth, slurping is a fairly common occurrence. Those who are susceptible to this disease may chew and grind their teeth many times during the night. Medicine cannot yet reliably answer the question of why this phenomenon occurs. This does not entail any personal changes.
Doctors associate this with sleep disorders such as sleepwalking, enuresis, snoring, and nightmares. As for worms, those suffering from bruxism do not get them more often than other people.
This phenomenon is sometimes considered a bad habit, which is easy to break with willpower. But the fact that chomping, chewing and grinding of teeth occurs during sleep, i.e. reflexively, indicates that willpower alone is not enough.
If slurping annoys you, psychiatrists have a separate term for it.
Have you ever noticed that you are incredibly irritated by people who chew gum? Or loudly sipping tea? Or snacking on an apple with gusto? If this is the case, do not rush to blame others for lack of culture. You may have misophonia, a disease whose name can literally be translated as “hatred of sounds.”
The term "misophonia" was coined in 2001 by American neuroscientists Pavel and Margaret Yastrebov to refer to a neurological disorder that is characterized by a person's extremely negative reaction to certain sounds, such as slurping, smacking lips, squelching, clicking a pen or tapping a keyboard. After hearing something from the list above, people suffering from misophonia experience anger, irritation, and even uncontrollable rage. And the thoughts running through their head change from “Is he doing this on purpose?!” to “I’ll kill him now!”
We recommend reading: Causes of sleepwalking in adolescents: how does it manifest itself and how is it effectively treated?
In addition to emotional manifestations, misophonia also has quite obvious physical symptoms. People with this diagnosis may feel pressure in the head and chest, muscle tension, and increased heart rate. For some misophonics, irritating sounds cause an increase in body temperature, others sweat, gasp, and even feel pain similar to the pain of bee stings.
If you recognize yourself in the description of the symptoms of misophonia, do not be discouraged. Research conducted at Northwestern Illinois University found that increased sensitivity to sound may be a sign of creative thinking. In an experiment conducted by university specialists, in which 97 people took part, it turned out that the ability to filter sound signals in creative individuals is much less developed than in average people.
100% effective treatments for misophonia have not yet been developed, but various relaxation exercises and cognitive behavioral therapy are currently used to alleviate the symptoms: patients are taught to deal with the negative reaction that irritating sounds cause in them. In some cases, patients may be prescribed antidepressants and drugs that reduce anxiety.
Treatment
There are no exact recipes for treating this disease. It all depends on the age at which symptoms appeared and how they manifest themselves.
Dentists do not recommend dental implantation or veneers for people suffering from bruxism, because involuntary jaw movements during sleep damage tooth enamel and can even crumble teeth.
This problem causes inconvenience not only to those who are nearby, but also to the person himself. The patient may wake up several times a night from his own teeth grinding, and this is also fraught with problems with the jaw joints.
