Anyone who has a smartphone may have found themselves experiencing the embarrassment of sending a private message to the wrong person.

But a new study out of Villanova University found that a new type of texting problem is on the rise – sleep texting.

“I would wake up sometimes and I found out I was having full conversations with people while I was sleeping,” says New Jersey resident Brandon Stephen.

The study found that sleep texting is especially on the rise with young adults who are chronically sleep-deprived. Most of the messages are gibberish or just plain awkward. But most sleep texters say that they do not have any memory of sending the messages.

“We’ve become a society that’s extremely attached to their phones,” says Dr. Alison Kole with Summit Medical Group. “Being in front of the bright light, constantly exposed on our cellphones…that further disrupts your sleep.”

Dr. Kole is a sleep specialist. She says that sleep deprivation while holding a smartphone could potentially have serious implications.

“Are you insulting your boss because you were mad at them that day and somehow subconsciously it came out in a text message? And now someone has that as evidence and it leads to bad things,” she says.

Health officials say that the best solution to combat the issue is to make it a habit of creating a safe sleeping schedule by turning off the phone and keeping it out of reach at bedtime.

The study also found that women seemed to be more likely than men to text in their sleep.