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Sleep sex, or sexsomnia, is a condition in which a person will engage in sexual acts while still asleep. This condition falls within the broad classes of sleep disorders known as parasomnia. Sexsomnia includes fondling, heterosexual and homosexual intercourse,masturbation, and oral sex (i.e., fellatio and cunnilingus masturbation). In extreme cases sexsomnia even includes 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 they perform while they're 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 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 many criminal defense cases of rape. There have also been several cases of sexsomnia which have appeared in the news and also in pop culture as reality shows, movies etc.

History of sleep sex
The first research paper that suggested that sexual behavior during sleep may be a new type of parasomnia was published in 1996 by three researchers from the University of Toronto (Colin Shapiro and Nik Trajanovic) and the University of Ottawa (Paul Fedoroff). The term "sleepsex" was used in a 1998 case report by David Saul Rosenfeld, a neurologist and sleep specialist from Los Angeles. The term 'sexsomnia' was coined by Colin Shapiro in a case report published in June 2003.

The psychology of sexsomnia
Sleep sex may accompany relationship difficulties and feelings of embarrassment. Often the actions of the person who has sexsomnia are reported by his or her partner as the sexsomniacs are unaware of the event. may confirm the diagnosis.

Clonazepam has been used as a first line of treatment for this condition, when other measures are not enough to solve a case of sexsomnia.

Cases reported in the press
Natalie Pona, the then Sun reporter, broke the first press story of sexsomnia in the fall of 2005. On 30 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 23 March 2009, a British woman gave an interview in which she spoke about problems in her life caused by sexsomnia.

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

Pop Culture
Sexsomnia a topic much of which the population is unaware of is evidently present in much of our daily pop culture. The winner of many nominations and awards including two time winner of the Golden Globes Television series [link] House, included an episode of sexsomnia in its first season, episode #117 "Role Model." A women who declared she was not sexual active, but is now pregnant, with hickeys and other marks on her body, was diagnosed by the famous Doctor House as, 'sexsomnia.' It has also been on many other television shows as Law and Order: Special Victims Unit Season nine episode #2 "Avatar," Desperate Housewives Season seven episode #2, " You must meet my wife." It has also been present in novels and plays. In Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man, a farmer claims to have had sex with his daughter while asleep. In the play Yakish and Popcha by Hanoch Levin, Yakish only manages to have intercourse with his wife Popcha while both are asleep, by the end of the play.