the xlog : x-rated weblog

Researchers are struggling to understand a rare medical condition where sufferers unknowingly demand, or actually have, sex while asleep. Research into sexsomnia - making sexual advances towards 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. 

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. While sleepwalking affects 2-4 per cent of adults, sexsomnia is not thought to be as common a problem. But an internet survey of sexsomniacs carried out in 2005 that drew 219 reliable respondents concluded it was more prevalent than medical case reports alone might suggest. And on rare occasions you have stories of people liking it better than waking sex.

As yet there is no cure for the condition, which often leads to difficulties in relationships. Scientists are working on devising a procedure for diagnosing sexsomnia in legal cases where sufferers have been accused of sexual assault or ‘sleep assault.’

Click here for photos and videos of sleep sex and sleep assault.