Researchers are struggling to understand a rare medical condition where sufferers unknowingly demand, or actually have, sex while asleep, New Scientist magazine reported on Wednesday.Research into sexsomnia — making sexual advances toward another person while asleep — has been hampered as sufferers are so embarrassed by the problem they tend not to own up to it, while doctors do not ask about it.
As yet there is no cure for the condition, which often leads to difficulties in relationships.
“It really bothers me that I can’t control it,” Lisa Mahoney told the magazine. “It scares me because I don’t think it has anything to do with the partner. I don’t want this foolish condition to hurt us in the long run.”
Most researchers view sexsomnia as a variant of sleepwalking, where sufferers are stuck between sleep and wakefulness, though sexsomniacs tend to stay in bed rather than get up and walk about.
“Most of the time sleep sex occurs between people who are already partners,” Mark Pressman, a sleep specialist at Lankenan Hospital in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, told the New Scientist.
“Sometimes they hate it,” added Pressman of the reactions of sexsomniacs’ partners. “Sometimes they tolerate it. On rare occasions you have stories of people liking it better than waking sex.”
With no cure, addressing triggering factors — stress or sleep deprivation — can help, while Michael Mangan, a psychologist at the University of New Hampshire in the U.S. has set up a Web site to help sufferers.
Research is being developed to offer legitimate medical defense for a sexsomniac who gets busted for sexual assault while asleep. This will be followed immediately by 1700 lawyers adopting it as a defense for their own sleazy clients.
I needed a laugh today. Thanks.
Wow, did I miss the boat when I was looking for a partner.
If I am ever not married, I’ll have to troll that web site listed above to find my new girlfriend.
Don
What do you call partners who avoid sex both awake and asleep?
(okay, it’s called a wife)
“Are you a Sexsomniac?”
I certainly hope so. As someone who never gets sex when he’s awake, I’d like to at least have the hope that I’m getting it while I’m asleep!
force of habit?
the cure for this is to only sleep in bed, and only have sex in the car. after 21 days the habit should be broken!
That’s why you should never sleep in the same room as your grandmother.
5.
Hopefully no one on ambien will try that method.. they’ll be driving to work and having sex in the car while still asleep.
What would a quickie be while asleep? A Nappy? Or this happening to a group of these folks in one place? A Snorgy?
LOL 7
Ambien was classified as a narcotic recently.
Or so I heard.
Maybe if they had sex berfore sleeping…
This is so hard for me to admit but I am a sexsomniac… There… I said it… I want to thank you all for your understanding, support, and concern… and remind you that I’m having a slumber party this weekend…
Okay, you all are going to think I’m a liar, but I have this “condition” (although I’d never heard it referred to as such before) and I can’t believe they are acting as if this is something that needs to be treated! I have been married for 5 years, and have for most of my married life made sexual advances toward my wife while I’m asleep. It doesn’t happen a lot, and I usually start to wake up during foreplay, but I would hardly call it a problem. We refer to the event as having a visit from the “nookie fairy”.
sexsomniac
sexsomaniac
anyone else read that wrong?
I’ve had a couple of girlfriends who have initiated sex while I was asleep. I’d wake up and find them riding me in the middle of the night. I’ve never complained.
It brings a whole new meaning to “wake me up when you’re done.”
0113addiv – How did you blow them up in your sleep? I can never get the valve closed in time without letting some air out…whats the secret?
I need NUMERS
PHONE numbers….
What’s that photo about?
Where do i join the self help group?
16. 🙂 Just when I was thinking, even all things considered, maybe it would be ok to be 0113addiv.
RBG
LOL!!!
“…It really bothers me that I can’t control it…”
2 words – duct tape.
that’ll stop ya
HHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHA you guys rock.
i have been a sexsomniac since i was 17-18 and im now 31. i just found out that its a condition this week. i started doing some research on it since im in a commited relationship and i jumped on my friend in the middle of the night last weekend. Yes, usualy its in a commited relationship, but thats only because men and women dont randomly sleep together. if they did, id be in trouble for sure. i usualy wake up with my dick in my sweeties mouth. luckily, again, my lady sees it as a turn on. an aggressive male statment or something. “oh baby, you want me soo bad” its hot!
the crazy thing is (crazier), i feel so damn good all over right when i wake up. im soo hot, ive just got! to have it. another crazy thing is i also eat in my sleep. i wake up starving, in the middle of the kitchen or i just wake up in bed in the morning with a pb&j stuck to my face (no joke!) with only a vague feeling that i was hungry last night, and thats it.
I lost my virginity to seximniac scared the hell out of me for months, the relationship didn’t last long.
Just because some of you people find this to be hilarious doesn’t mean it isn’t a serious problem. As someone who has to deal with this on a weekly basis I can tell you that it is a real annoyance to be woken up in the middle of the night and have your partner continously grabbing at you. This is especially disturbing if you have ever had any kind of traumatic experiences in your past. Make jokes and laugh about it all you want, but it is still a serious issue and should be studied further for those of us who need an answer.
I knew there was sommething wrong a long time ago while I was in University. I lived in a party house and had a king size bed which usually resulted in a lot of sleep overs. I would wake up in the morning and be questioned to what that was all about… I would find out that the girl who was in bed with me that we had had sex or that I had groped them.. i guess the positive of it was that I never had sex with someone who was not consenting.. apprently I would stop if they stopped me in my advances.. not sure if any of them slept through it though.. the scary part was that I never recalled the sex, nor did I recall or find that I had used any form of protection. I am just glad that I never allowed men to sleep in my bed. The crappy part of this is that I lost a couple of plutonic friends because of my advances and felt like a real pervert.. I never knew there was another name for it, but I did learn not to let people sleep in my bed with out signing a waiver : )