One in Twelve People Are Suffering From ‘Sex While Sleeping’

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Andrew Hough, reporting in today’s Telegraph, cites a new Canadian study which claims a growing number of people claim to suffer from “Sexsomnia”, a type of sleeping disorder where sufferers have sex while they sleep. Canadian researchers found almost one in 12 people had admitted engaging or initiating some sort of sexual activity while they slept.

Men accounted for three-quarters of the self-reported “sexsomniacs”, they found.

Experts say such sexual behavior that occurred while sleeping can range from masturbation through to physical intercourse.

In their study, presented at a recent sleep conference, researchers from the Sleep Research Laboratory at the University Health Network in Toronto, found the disorder was more common than previously thought.

In the study, which has not been published, researchers interviewed 832 patients who they suspected of suffering from some sort of sleep disorder.

The 428 men and 404 women, who had also been referred to the clinic, also completed questionnaires about their symptoms, fatigue, mood and behavior during sleep.

The study, presented last week at the annual Associated Professional Sleep Societies conference, in San Antonio, Texas, found that more than one in 10 male and four per cent of female interviewees admitted they had engaged in “sleep sex”.

Dr Sharon Chung, a scientist from the UHN, said people who suffered from it generally had no recollection of engaging in such activity.

“We were surprised at how common it was. We thought we’d get just a handful of people, yet it was almost one in 12 (people),” said Dr Chung, who led the study.

“There have been no previous studies of how frequently sexsomnia occurs.”