Sexsomnia; A Sleep Disorder You Didn't Know Existed

Sexsomnia, although rare, is a sleeping disorder that causes a person to engage in sexual act while asleep. It is possible you have heard of insomnia which is the inability to sleep but you might have not heard of sexsomnia. People who are sexsoniac engage in sexual acts whilst asleep and it is not a wet dream or any type of sexual organsm, it is full time sexual acts such as masturbation or intercourse but when they wake up, they do not know what really happened to them.

Sexsomnia is a type of parasomnia which falls in the class of Sleep talking, and Sleep walking. In fact, a person with Sexsomnia can suffer from the other two which means they could be out, sleep talking, sleep walking, and doing naughty things, they would be thankful if they perform these act in a enclosed place with no person there.

While Sleeptalking and Sleepwalking are the two common types of parasomnia, there are others like sleep-related eating disorder, sleep drunkenness, REM sleep behavior disorders, and so on. Different types of parasomnia happen at different sleep cycles. In case you do not understand what the sleep cycle is, when you first fall asleep, that point when it looks like you are dozing and nodding off, then you are in the first cycle stage which is actually light sleep known as non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep 1 (N1), the second stage and third stage are deep sleep known as non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep (N2) and (N3), where our body begins to repair itself, its immune system, and body tissues, after which a person reaches rapid eye movement (REM) sleep cycle stage which usually last for around 90 minutes. This is the point where the brain becomes active and memory starts to consolidate and we dream at this stage.

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Cases of Sexomnia occur during the deep NREM stage which the brain isn't in full control. During NREM stages, the part of the brain that controls vision, movement, and emotion are active but the part of the brain that controls memory, decision making, and rational thinking are not active. Similar to Sexomnia occuring in NREM sleep, other parasomnia like sleeptalking and sleepwalking occur during NREM sleep as well but disorders like Sleep Paralysis doesn't occur in NREM sleep, it occurs in REM sleep.

There is still little understanding about this disorder, as it is very difficult to perform controlled testing for this although, some scientist say that sexsomnia can be caused by exhaustion, alcohol, drug, anxiety, and poor sleeping conditions. To understand how rare this case it, as at the year 2020, only 194 cases were reported. This could be as a result of people not reporting as a result of shame or not remembering what happened.

While sexsomnia may sound like something out of a peculiar tale, it is a real and potentially disruptive sleep disorder that warrants further investigation and understanding within the medical community. As awareness of this condition grows, individuals affected by sexsomnia may feel more comfortable seeking help and support, ultimately leading to improved management and treatment options in the future.

Reference

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/parasomnias/sexsomnia
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8340885/
https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-42226868
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526132/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/sleepless-in-america/200902/sexsomnia
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7954066/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389945723000230
https://www.self.com/story/9-parasomnias-sleep-disorders
https://sleepdoctor.com/sleep-faqs/what-happens-when-you-sleep/