n., seks•säm•nē•uh
It’s easiest to think of sexsomnia as a form of sleepwalking, explains Michael Grandner, the director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona. Grandner describes it as an unemotional state—less passion, more programmed, with a high incidence of errors. There are relatively few cases of reported sexsomnia, likely because a partner initiating sex in the middle of the night, however trancelike and clumsy they appear, would not automatically indicate a sleeping disorder. But in cases where sexual advances are unwanted, the consequences can be severe. David C. Brodner, an otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat doctor) and sleep medicine specialist in Boynton Beach, Florida, has consulted on court cases of unwanted sexual advances where sexsomnia was in question. “You get incidences of date rape,…
