{"id":5902,"date":"2024-05-10T09:04:50","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T09:04:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=5902"},"modified":"2024-05-10T09:24:56","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T09:24:56","slug":"is-it-normal-to-talk-to-yourself-all-day-what-experts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=5902","title":{"rendered":"Is It Normal to Talk to Yourself All Day? What Experts Say."},"content":{"rendered":"<div><\/div>\n<p id=\"article-summary\" data-testid=\"onsite-summary\" class=\"css-1n0orw4 e1wiw3jv0\">There, I said it.<\/p>\n<section class=\"meteredContent css-1r7ky0e\">\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">This morning, I looked out my kitchen window and announced, to the empty room, \u201cThere\u2019s something wrong with that squirrel \u2014 his tail seems extra twitchy.\u201d Then I pulled out my air fryer, wondering aloud if 10:30 a.m. was too early for French fries. (\u201cIt\u2019s not,\u201d I said. Again, out loud.)<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I never used to talk to myself. Now I do it constantly. When I asked my middle-aged friends if they did it, too, the confessions flooded in. One said that when she texts people, she says the message out loud when she\u2019s typing, even in public.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI just looked in my cabinet and said aloud, \u2018Please, god, let there be vanilla extract,\u2019\u201d said another.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Do middle-aged people talk to themselves all day, every day? And is this a problem? I consulted some experts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-s99gbd StoryBodyCompanionColumn\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<h2 class=\"css-kypbrf eoo0vm40\" id=\"link-700f3a7d\">Talking about self-talk<\/h2>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">I couldn\u2019t find any research on middle-aged muttering, so I asked Ethan Kross, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan and the author of \u201cChatter,\u201d if I had missed it. He told me I hadn\u2019t. Talking to yourself in midlife is an \u201cunderstudied phenomenon,\u201d he said, adding that it was pretty common.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When people have conversations in their own heads, it is known as \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/psychology\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2020.00279\/full\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">inner speech<\/a>.\u201d When they do it aloud, it\u2019s called <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC7041485\/\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">private speech<\/a> or <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/07\/12\/magazine\/talking-to-yourself.html\" title>external self-talk<\/a>. Studies suggest that private speech <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/journals\/psychology\/articles\/10.3389\/fpsyg.2019.01708\/full\" title rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">peaks in early childhood<\/a>, said Charles Fernyhough, a professor of psychology at Durham University in England and the author of \u201cThe Voices Within.\u201d But in midlife, many of us pick up the habit again, he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"css-1336jj\">\n<div class=\"css-121kum4\">\n<div class=\"css-171d1bw\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"css-asuuk5\">\n<div class=\"css-7axq9l\" data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-noscript-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">We are having trouble retrieving the article content.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1dv1kvn\" id=\"optimistic-truncator-a11y\">\n<hr \/>\n<p>Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F10%2Fwell%2Ftalking-to-yourself-age.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">log into<\/a>\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F10%2Fwell%2Ftalking-to-yourself-age.html\">subscribe<\/a>\u00a0for all of The Times.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"css-1g71tqy\">\n<div data-testid=\"optimistic-truncator-message\" class=\"css-6yo1no\">\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Thank you for your patience while we verify access.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Already a subscriber?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"log-in-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.nytimes.com\/auth\/login?response_type=cookie&amp;client_id=vi&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F10%2Fwell%2Ftalking-to-yourself-age.html&amp;asset=opttrunc\">Log in<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3kpklk\">Want all of The Times?\u00a0<a data-testid=\"subscribe-link\" class=\"css-z5ryv4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/subscription?campaignId=89WYR&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2024%2F05%2F10%2Fwell%2Ftalking-to-yourself-age.html\">Subscribe<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There, I said it.This morning, I looked out my kitchen window and announced, to the empty room, \u201cThere\u2019s something wrong with that squirrel \u2014 his tail seems extra twitchy.\u201d Then I pulled out my air fryer, wondering aloud if 10:30 a.m. was too early for French fries. (\u201cIt\u2019s not,\u201d I said. Again, out loud.)I never used to talk to myself. Now I do it constantly. When I asked my middle-aged friends if they did it, too, the confessions flooded in. One said that when she texts people, she says the message out loud when she\u2019s typing, even in public.\u201cI just looked in my cabinet and said aloud, \u2018Please, god, let there be vanilla extract,\u2019\u201d said another.Do middle-aged people talk to themselves all day, every day? And is this a problem? I consulted some experts.Talking about self-talkI couldn\u2019t find any research on middle-aged muttering, so I asked Ethan Kross, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan and the author of \u201cChatter,\u201d if I had missed it. He told me I hadn\u2019t. Talking to yourself in midlife is an \u201cunderstudied phenomenon,\u201d he said, adding that it was pretty common.When people have conversations in their own heads, it is known as \u201cinner speech.\u201d When they do it aloud, it\u2019s called private speech or external self-talk. Studies suggest that private speech peaks in early childhood, said Charles Fernyhough, a professor of psychology at Durham University in England and the author of \u201cThe Voices Within.\u201d But in midlife, many of us pick up the habit again, he said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5904,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5902"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5905,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5902\/revisions\/5905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}