9:38 am Monday, 21st October, 2013
This is a type of recognised insomnia, where the sexsomniac engages in sexual activity during their sleep yet remembers nothing of their antics upon wakening. How many people are suffering with this condition and why does it come about?
Triple ZZZ
Just as some children may have nightmares due to an overactive imagination, some adults may become aroused and endure a form of sleepwalking where they will perform sexual acts an sometimes even full intercourse. During a ‘sex-walk’, the part of the sexsomniac’s brain that controls things such as planning and logical thinking is turned off whereas the section responsible for basic urges such as eating and mating is still functioning.
Stressed by Day, Horny By NIght
Scientists believe that these ‘sex walks’ may occur when the sufferer is stressed or anxious. Approximately three quarters of the sexomniacs so far have been male and these numbers of officially diagnosed patients are on the increase, yet it is still an extremely rare condition.
The Whole Truth And Nothing But
The issues that sexomnia drags up can be serious in nature due to people believing they’ve been sexually attacked, when in reality they’ve shared a sleeping space with a sexomniac who’s suffered an episode. To complicate things, more and more sexual predators are attempting to use this condition as an excuse to get themselves off the hook from sexual crimes they’ve committed. A genuine sexsomnia sufferer will have no inkling of what they’re doing and won’t remember anything once they wake up, unfortunately though with this condition being so rare and with the increase of offenders lying about it, it’s becoming harder for a true sexomniac to prove their innocence.
Generally the condition only affects people with a history of sleepwalking and other sleep related activity such as talking and teeth grinding so those that haven’t experienced such things will most likely be fine and never be affected by sexsomnia, unless they date a sufferer of course.
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