SEXSOMNIA (SLEEP SEX) CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

Sleep sex, or sexsomnia, is a condition in which a person will engage in sexual activities while still asleep. This condition falls within the broad classes of sleep disorders known as parasomnia. In extreme cases sexsomnia has even been alleged as the cause of rare instances of sexual assault and rape. 
The proposed medical diagnosis is NREM arousal parasomnia – sexual behaviour in sleep. Sexsomnia is considered a type of non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM) parasomnia. Sexsomniacs do not remember the acts that they perform while they are asleep. Sexsomnia can co-occur alongside other sleep disorders such as sleepwalking, sleep apnea, night terrors and bedwetting and can be triggered by stress, previous sleep deprivation and excessive consumption of alcohol or drugs. Sleep related epilepsy may be associated with sexual arousal, pelvic thrusting and orgasms, though in these sorts of cases the acts are often not remembered. Sexsomnia episodes could be triggered by physical contact with a bed partner. Sexsomnia, which is a fairly new medically recognized behaviour, has been used in criminal defense cases of rape.

CASES REPORTED

On November 2005, a Toronto court acquitted a man of sexual assault after he was diagnosed with sleep sex disorder, although prosecutors filed an appeal of the acquittal in February 2006. The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld the acquittal on 7 February 2008.

In Britain, a man from York was cleared of three counts of rape on 19 December 2005.

In Australia, a woman was reported as leaving her house at night and having sex with strangers while sleepwalking.

On 8 August 2007, a British RAF mechanic was cleared of a rape charge after the jury found him not responsible for his actions when he had sex with a 15-year-old girl.

On 12 February 2010, an Australian man was found not guilty of rape due to sexsomnia.This similarly happened to a Welsh man on 4 July 2011.

On 7 March 2012, a British woman gave an interview in which she described how her sexsomnia had made sustaining a relationship difficult.