Did I really do that in my sleep? ― sexsomnia

Did I really do that in my sleep? ― sexsomnia

By Lee Ha-na Almost eight percent of patients with sleep disorders suffered from sexsomnia, a disease causing people to engage in sexual activity while asleep, according to a report by the Associated Professional Sleep Societies in June 2010. The report showed that this was more common in men than in women. In March last year, a 30-year-old Belgian father was acquitted of charges for raping his four-year-old daughter because he suffered from sexsomnia and was unaware of the act. Darren Greenwood, 33, was also cleared of raping a young woman in his home because he was asleep when he did it. His claim of having no recollection of what he did in his sleep was backed up by medical experts in court. However, problems arise as this disturbing condition gives sexual predators an excuse for criminal behavior. How can you distinguish between someone who lies about being a sexsomniac from someone who actually is one? The medical community declares that there are three ways to prove that someone is a sexsomniac. First, the person must have suffered from similar conditions in the past or from parasomnia, which is a sleep disorder involving unwanted behavior such as sleepwalking. The person cannot simply declare one day that he/she is a sexsomniac after such incident takes place. Second, it must be proven that the act was not planned out in any way and that it was accidental. If the slightest evidence exists that there was some planning involved, it will not be recognized as sexsomnia. Finally, a true sexsomniac will have no memory of what happened, thus won’t display emotions of panic or come up with excuses to cover up the reason why the act was initially committed.