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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| "Sexsomniacs" puzzle medical researchers |
| 2006-10-27 |
| YJCMTSU Researchers are struggling to understand a rare medical condition where sufferers unknowingly demand, or actually have, sex while asleep, New Scientist magazine reported on Wednesday. Research into sexsomnia -- making sexual advances toward another person while asleep -- has been hampered as sufferers are so embarrassed by the problem they tend not to own up to it, while doctors do not ask about it. As yet there is no cure for the condition, which often leads to difficulties in relationships. "It really bothers me that I can't control it," Lisa Mahoney told the magazine. "It scares me because I don't think it has anything to do with the partner. The hell you say! I don't want this foolish condition to hurt us in the long run." Would it really be much of a problem for a woman in a heterosexual relationship to have "sexomnia"? Most researchers view sexsomnia as a variant of sleepwalking, where sufferers are stuck between sleep and wakefulness, though sexsomniacs tend to stay in bed rather than get up and walk about.Boring, even in their dreams. *sigh!* While sleepwalking affects two to four percent of adults, sexsomnia is not thought to be as common a problem, according to Nik Trajanovic, a researcher at the sleep and alertness clinic at Canada's Toronto Western Hospital. But an Internet survey of sexsomniacs carried out in 2005 that drew 219 reliable respondents concluded it was more prevalent than medical case reports alone might suggest. Don't ask what you can rely on them for. "Most of the time sleep sex occurs between people who are already partners," Mark Pressman, a sleep specialist at Lankenan Hospital in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, told the New Scientist. "Sometimes they hate it," added Pressman of the reactions of sexsomniacs' partners. "Sometimes they tolerate it. On rare occasions you have stories of people liking it better than waking sex." Again, YJCMTSU With no cure, addressing triggering factors -- stress or sleep deprivation -- can help, while Michael Mangan, a psychologist at the University of New Hampshire in the U.S. has set up a Web site, www.sleepsex.org, to help sufferers. Meanwhile Trajanovic is devising a procedure for diagnosing sexsomnia in legal cases where sufferers have been accused of sexual assault. I am shocked, shocked, that a lawyer would try to exploit this for unethical purposes! |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #12 So get two sexomniacs to pair up and marry and it is not a condition any more. Just set up a website: sexomniacsmatch.com and they can network and nobody gets hurt. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-10-27 19:58 |
| #11 Well I've been doing it with the same woman since 1977. Pretty much one of us has to be asleep. |
| Posted by: J.D. Lux 2006-10-27 18:40 |
| #10 some of the best sex I had was when I was asleep.... Jenna Bush, was it good for you? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-10-27 18:39 |
| #9 Why do they try to turn all my good times into some kind of "condition" ? I blame the large pharmaceutical houses. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-10-27 18:32 |
| #8 Pure dee jealousy, lol. |
| Posted by: .com 2006-10-27 18:28 |
| #7 Why do they try to turn all my good times into some kind of "condition" ? |
| Posted by: J.D. Lux 2006-10-27 18:27 |
| #6 Most researchers view sexsomnia as a variant of sleepwalking, where sufferers are stuck between sleep and wakefulness In Lisa's case, more like getting "stuck" during sleep. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-10-27 14:45 |
| #5 Did they have girls like that back when I was single? |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-10-27 12:27 |
| #4 I'm thinking this could save a number of relationships, especially if the woman is the sexsomniac. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-10-27 11:25 |
| #3 This just begs to be a Lifetime movie of the week. |
| Posted by: Jonathan 2006-10-27 10:30 |
| #2 Something tells me, she's into |
| Posted by: Raj 2006-10-27 09:47 |
| #1 Bill Clinton: "I just dozed off, and the next thing you know..." Gary Hart: "Boating always makes me sleepy" Wilbur Mills: "The sound of running water, like a fountain, it's so peaceful..." Yep, "I was asleep" will work with my wife. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2006-10-27 09:24 |