Sexsomnia: it sounds like a made-up disease, but ask any psychiatrist and they’ll tell
you it’s very real, and very, very serious.
Hey guys, Tara here for Dnews - with what is quite possibly, one of the weirdest afflictions
we’ve seen yet, here on Dnews.
A man from Sweden was recently acquitted of rape, after it was revealed that he suffers
from sexsomnia - which is a fancy way of saying “sleep-sexing.”
According to officials, the man had no recollection of the incident, and was completely asleep
while it happened.
Turns out his ex-girlfriend, also claimed that he once tried to have sex with HER while
asleep, but she stopped him - at which point he woke up, acting confused and asking what
had happened.
Now whether or not you believe THIS guy’s story, it turns out sexsomnia is a very real
disorder - and this isn’t the first time it’s been used to acquit someone of rape
charges.
So what is sexsomnia?
And how common is it really?
Well, the disorder was first described in 1996, but the actual term ‘sexsomnia’
wasn’t coined until 2003, when researchers published an article in the Canadian Journal
of Psychiatry describing 11 different cases of people who had engaged in sexual behaviors
while asleep.
Technically, it falls into the category of parasomnias - sleep disorders, which is what
happens when your brain gets caught in between the stages of falling asleep and waking up.
Now typically, when you sleep - you go through cycles consisting of 4 distinct stages.
The first 3 stages, are what we call Non-rapid eye movement, or NREM, sleep.
This is when your brain is still functioning relatively normally - and your mental activity
is very thought-like and organized.
The 4th and final stage of sleep, is rapid-eye movement, or REM.
And this is your deepest form of sleep - your muscles become paralyzed, your eyes are quickly
darting back and forth, and you tend to have very bizarre, almost hallucinogenic dreams.
Sexsomnia, like most other sleep disorders, happens during those first 3 phases - NREM.
So people who don’t progress through the sleeping stages normally, for whatever reason
- will get stuck in NREM sleep.
And because your muscles aren’t paralyzed during that phase, you can still move freely
- even though technically, you are asleep.
Medically speaking, it’s an extremely rare disorder, affecting less than 1% of the population.
But there are outside factors that can trigger an episode: stress, sleep deprivation, sleeping
pills, excessive consumption of alcohol or drugs, and physical contact with another person
in bed, can all increase the likelihood of an episode occurring.
The two most common types of parasomnia, sleep-walking and sleep-talking, typically co-exist with
sexsomnia.
So for cases like the one in Sweden, doctors will usually look for a history of those other
disorders, when determining their diagnosis.
Unfortunately, as devastating as sexsomnia can be for its sufferers, and their victims
- there’s really no “cure” for the disorder.
Most doctors just recommend that you completely avoid any and all triggers.
But in extreme cases, the first line of treatment is usually Clonazepam, also known as Klonopin
here in the US.
Sadly, that’s only a short-term solution, since Klonopin is a benzodiazepine - which
is one of the most highly addictive classes of drugs out there.
Now - switching gears for a second, I wanna remind all you guys that I host another another
show here on Discovery called TestTube, that’s a lot like Dnews - but more focused towards
current events.
Trace hosted an episode recently on the legalization of marijuana, and what the real effects of
those laws are.
So if you’re interested in learning more, you can find that episode - along with many
others - over at youtube.com/testtubenetwork.
In the meantime, let us know in the comments below - if you, or anyone you know, has ever
suffered from sexsomnia.
That’s it for me, but as always - thank you guys for watching!