Are you a Sexsomniac?
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.
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.
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.
Posted: Thu - October 26, 2006 at 11:29 AM