# The things you never knew you did while asleep **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 18, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901 "2005-04-18T15:22:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/1 "2005-04-18T15:22:17Z")
Apart from snoring, my girlfriend let me know about something I apparantly did a while ago, when we first slept together (in the sense of sharing a bed, not a bit of rough and tumble) I dozed off first being an easy sleeper. Girlfriend then recounted how as she was dozing off and I was fast asleep, I took her hand and placed it on my groin, where she suddenly found that I was throughly \ aroused. She removed her hand only for me to place it right back there again :o She reckoned I must have been having quite a pleasant dream šŸ˜ƒ Anyone else found out that they do odd things in their sleep? ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/2 "2005-04-18T16:03:11Z")
My wife tells me about some odd things. Once, she says, I sat upright in bed and said, as though really irritated, ā€œWell, FINE then!ā€ and then just laid back and went right back to sleep. She has no idea what triggered it. But, she had a dream a few nights ago that we had a pet pelican that lived on our kitchen island, so Iā€™m not the only nutā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/3 "2005-04-18T16:16:19Z")
My wife accused me of having ā€œJimmy legā€ \*the other night. My legs sort of thrashed around and crashed into hers. \*As in Seinfeld. > [@](#): > > [SIZE=1]KRAMER: Yeah, because sheā€™s throwing off my whole sleep. Sheā€™s got the jimmy legs. > > ELAINE: (confused) Jimmy legs? > > Kramer raises one leg and judders it in the air, as illustration. > > KRAMER: Jimmy leg. [/SIZE] ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/4 "2005-04-19T00:06:46Z")
My SO has informed me that I grind my teeth in my sleep. Strangely, this is the same thing my last SO said. Very strange as of course I donā€™tā€¦well, of course I donā€™t. I also never snore. Preposterous. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/5 "2005-04-19T00:09:50Z")
On warm nights I kick off my undies and throw the bedsheets aside in the middle of the night. I have to be careful who I share hotel rooms with. ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/6 "2005-04-19T00:32:02Z")
My girlfriend told me Iā€™m a sleep cuddler. When she tries to get past me to get water or whatever in the middle of the night, Iā€™m liable to wrap my arms around her without waking up. ---
**Author:** ![Jojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecd19e/32.png) [@Jojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jojo)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/7 "2005-04-19T00:40:32Z")
Not long ago I was informed that I talk in my sleep. But no previous girlfriend (or anyone else Iā€™ve slept near) has ever mentioned this to me. So now Iā€™m getting a bit paranoid about it. - have I always done it or is this a new phenomenon? - were all my previous girlfriends too polite to mention it to me? - is that a general thing? If you had a friend or partner who talked in their sleep, would you tell them? I think I would but maybe Iā€™ve been misreading people all this time - maybe most people think itā€™s rude to tell someone that they talk in their sleep, so people generally donā€™t do it. - what do I say? - how loud do I say it? - how long do I do it for? - do I do it every night or just occasionally? - do I tend to do it more when drunk or less when drunk? So many questions. Itā€™s like thereā€™s a whole new side to myself that other people know about but I donā€™t. I was thinking that the only way to answer some of these questions is to maybe video myself while asleep. But can you record something for 8 hours? I havenā€™t even got a video camera and have no idea. And then, when would I watch it - Iā€™d have to sit through several hours of watching me asleep listening out for any juicy bits, which could get a bit boring. Suppose I could watch an hour a day or so and just video myself once a week. But then if I only video myself once a week, itā€™s not a proper scientific experiment because I need results on a nightly basis in order to get some kind of angle on how often I do it and under what circumstances. The only way to do it properly would be if I slept by night and then spent all day watching videos of me asleep. Which would be a pretty bizarre way to spend your time. I wonder if thereā€™s a more efficient way to do it? ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/8 "2005-04-19T01:34:01Z")
I canā€™t think of anything weird I do in my sleep. Apart from killing all those hobos, of course. (Actually, Iā€™ve been told that I snore like a wounded bear being attacked with chainsaws. And Iā€™ve had a couple of friends and cow-orkers that Iā€™ve shared hotel rooms with on trips, tell me that I talk in my sleep. Let me tell you thatā€™s great for building up the paranoia, when youā€™re still in the closet, you were having one of _those_ dreams, and your male co-worker says you were talking in your sleep.) ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/9 "2005-04-19T02:09:43Z")
My mom and I were sleeping at my grandmotherā€™s house. We had to share the same bed because somebody else was sleeping in my usual room. I woke up in the middle of the night to find that I was pounding my fists on my momā€™s back. I donā€™t remember if she woke up or not, though. ---
**Author:** ![EvilHamsterOnCrack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3ab097/32.png) [@EvilHamsterOnCrack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilHamsterOnCrack)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/10 "2005-04-19T02:32:45Z")
> [@Lisa-go-Blind](#): > > My mom and I were sleeping at my grandmotherā€™s house. We had to share the same bed because somebody else was sleeping in my usual room. I woke up in the middle of the night to find that I was pounding my fists on my momā€™s back. I donā€™t remember if she woke up or not, though. I slept over at a friends house onceā€¦ and when I woke up, he told me that I was talking for 5 minutes straight, no stopping, in hebrew (Iā€™m Israeli), and while sleeping. I couldnā€™t believe him, but he seemed serious enough and isnā€™t a liar. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/11 "2005-04-19T02:50:16Z")
When I was very small, I remember that I used to dream about smurfs who would inexplicably turn into leaves at the end of the dream. When I woke up, there was a leaf in my hand. Being a small person and having a small person view of the world, I logically concluded that the last thing you dream about would appear in the real world in your hand. For the rest of that week, I would concentrate really hard on dreaming about smurfs but I always ended up inexplicably dreaming about leaves and waking up with a leaf in my hand. Finally, at the end of the week, I gave up and thought no more about it. It wasnā€™t until a few years later that I was struck by how utterly bizarre this was. For me to have got a leaf, I would have had to get up, pull a chair to the door, get up on the chair, unlock the door, pull the chair away from the door, open the door, go outside, pick up a leaf, go back inside, pull the chair back to the door, lock the door, put the chair back and go to sleep, all without remembering it. And I did this consistantly for a week. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/12 "2005-04-19T03:08:37Z")
Okay, whoā€™s been taking the leaves from my centerpiece? A couple of months ago I woke myself up singing. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/13 "2005-04-19T07:40:25Z")
Shalmanese wins I think, not only odd but quite skillful too šŸ˜› ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2005, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-things-you-never-knew-you-did-while-asleep/299901/14 "2005-04-19T10:56:06Z")
Until not very long ago, I talked in my sleep. Apparently, I could also hold a conversation too! I was crazy enough to mention this to some friends back when I was in college. So naturally, as soon as I would fall asleep, thereā€™d be a bunch of people crowded around me, asking me questions, and Iā€™d be replying. Theyā€™d record the conversations and then wake me up and make me listen to it. Most of the time Iā€™d be mumbling nonsense, but there was a two way conversation going on for sure. I believe it doesnā€™t happen anymore.