To address the widespread misinformation about sex, News18.com is running this weekly sex column, titled ‘Let’s Talk Sex’, every Friday. We hope to initiate conversations about sex through this column and address sexual health issues with scientific insight and nuance.
The column is being written by Sexologist Prof (Dr) Saransh Jain. In today’s column, Dr Saransh Jain explains the disorder – Sexsomnia and suggests ways to treat it.
Although sleep is supposed to be a restive state, there are individuals who do are active during their sleep. Mostly, it happens due to some disorder or medical condition like sleepwalking or talking in one’s sleep. There is also one such disorder which is sexual in nature. Known as Sexsomnia, it happens when an individual engages/initiates sexual acts (with oneself or with others) while he/she is asleep.
Also called “sleep sex” sexsomnia is a type of parasomnia, where the brain is caught in transition between sleeping and waking states. If their behaviour is misunderstood or happens when sharing a house or bed with others, it can have legal consequences. In fact, this disorder is often used as a defence in rape and molestation cases.
Why Does Sexsomnia Occur?
Most available studies have found that sexsomnia occurs mostly during non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM), the dreamless, deepest stage of the sleep cycle. The brain doesn’t sleep as a single unit, and different parts of the brain can behave as if they are partially awake at times through the night.
This is what happens with non-REM parasomnias. For parasomnia to occur, there needs to be activation of the more primitive parts of the brain, such as the brain stem and parts that control automatic responses and behaviours, whilst other parts of the brain, such as the cerebral cortex remain deactivated. This results in someone having active muscles and being able to respond to simple inputs or questions, so they can carry out simple, basic or automatic behaviours, but not being conscious or having any recollection of what has happened.
What Are The Symptoms of Sexsomnia?
Sexsomnia often causes self-touching or sexual motions, but it can also cause an individual to seek sexual intimacy with others unknowingly. Common symptoms of sexsomnia episodes include heavy breathing and elevated heart rate, initiating foreplay with someone else, spontaneous orgasm, no recollection or memory of sexual events, blank or glassy stare during events, unresponsive to the outside environment during events, inability or difficulty waking during events, denial of activities during the day when fully conscious, sleepwalking or talking
What Makes Sexsomnia More Likely To Occur?
Sexsomnia is usually made worse by three factors — two factors which increase sedation of the cortex (sleep deprivation and alcohol), and one that increases activation of the brain stem or arousal system (stress) are the basic reasons. The more tired people are, the more likely parasomnias are likely to occur as well. There are some people who very predictably develop parasomnias during busy work periods or coming up to exams
Alcohol or other sedatives: Alcohol and other sedatives including some prescription medications and illicit substances such as marijuana can increase the risk of parasomnias. Alcohol has the effect of sedating the cerebral cortex and also activating the brain stem, which is the mechanism via which parasomnias occur.
Stress: Stress can increase the risk of parasomnias occurring. Often stress and sleep deprivation occur together, with work or study deadlines, and this combination can bring out parasomnias.
Once sexsomnia starts to cause problems such as disturbing a partner or causing stress in a relationship, people can be anxious or fearful of it continuing to occur. This increases the likelihood of it occurring more, so people can get into a vicious cycle of escalating trouble with sexsomnia, which often is the trigger for them to get help and see a sleep specialist.
How Is Sexsomnia Treated?
If you have sexsomnia, here are some factors that will help to reduce the likelihood of sexsomnia.
Manage trigger factors: As sexsomnia can be triggered or made more frequent by trigger factors such as being sleep deprived, stress and sedatives such as alcohol, medications or drugs it’s important to manage these as best as possible. I’ll often enlist the help of a psychologist to help up-skill people in stress management techniques
Treat co-existent sleep disorders: As disturbed or fragmented sleep is one of the common associated features of sexsomnia it’s important to look at sleep quality. This is usually done with a clinical interview with a sleep specialist and measurement of sleep using a sleep study (polysomnography). If there is a sleep disorder present, such as insomnia, restless legs syndrome, sleep apnea or a circadian rhythm disorder treating that will often reduce symptoms of sexsomnia.
Medications: Anti-anxiety and antidepressant medications can be very effective in reducing sexsomnia. However, none of these medications can be taken with alcohol. This means people with sexsomnia are at particular risk when drinking alcohol, as it can make sexsomnia more likely to occur and they are not able to take medication to reduce it.
Relationship Counselling: Because of the nature of sexsomnia it can cause difficulties in relationships. If the behaviour is self-stimulation, partners can be disturbed by it or be concerned that it’s happening because of unsatisfied needs within the relationship. If the behaviour is initiating sex, partners can understandably feel intimidated or violated and working with a psychologist or counsellor can help.
If you have sexsomnia, it’s worth seeing a health professional like a sleep physician to look at factors that may be increasing the risk of events occurring and what can be done to reduce that risk.
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