While sleepwalking remains one of the most infamous sleep disorders, there’s also sleep apnea, bedwetting and night terrors.

However, did you know that you can also have sex while asleep?

Sleep sex or sexsomnia is defined as the condition when a person engages in sexual activities during sleep.

It’s relatively unknown, yes, but is being vociferously researched by scientists and as of now, falls under the category of parasomnia thanks to it being a form of unusual behavior as projected by the nervous system.

In generic terms, people suffering from sexsomnia are known to moan and masturbate and/or grope their partners and have intercourse with them.

However, in some cases, sleep sex is known to also make the victim turn sexually violent, making them molest and rape.

Not surprisingly, sexsomnia has been used in multiple court cases to defend rape.

What’s interesting to note is that as per studies, males account for nearly 2/3rd of all sexsomnia cases. 

Time and again, a lot of women have come out and spoken about the men in their lives suffering from sleep sex. More recently, a girl from UK shared how her boyfriend raped his ex in his sleep. 

While excessive consumption of alcohol and drugs coupled with stress and fatigue are known to trigger this condition, in some cases, sleep sex is found to be genetic as well.

Sexsomnia is known to cause both physical and emotional difficulties in a relationship as well as excess shame and embarrassment for the patient. 

The first step of the solution, of course, is to talk about it without any fear of judgment and treat it as a medical condition just like any other.