n.
A sleep disorder in which a person engages in sexual behavior while asleep.
Example Citations:
The phenomenon, called sexsomnia, is a form of parasomnia, a disorder in which people who are asleep but in a state of semi-arousal engage in behaviors they are not conscious of. Sexsomnia is defined by the International Classification of Sleep Disorders and may take place during a sleepwalking episode.
—Roni Caryn Rabin, " No Sex, Please: You're Sleeping: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/health/research/08beha.html," The New York Times, June 8, 2010
It's hard to believe, but sexsomnia — making advances and performing sexual acts while in the grip of sleep — appears to be more common than once thought. Researchers have found almost 8 per cent of patients at a Toronto sleep clinic reported they initiated or engaged in sexual activity with a partner while asleep. The prevalence of sexsomnia was almost three times higher in men (11 per cent) than in women (4 per cent).
—" Sexsomnia found more often in men: http://www.thespec.com/News/CanadaWorld/article/783296," The Hamilton Spectator, June 7, 2010
Earliest Citation:
OBJECTIVE: To describe a distinct parasomnia involving sexual behaviour, which we have named sexsomnia. ... Sexsomnia has some distinct features that separate it from sleepwalking.
—C. M. Shapiro, N. N. Trajanovic, J. P. Fedoroff, " Sexsomnia—a new parasomnia?: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12866336," Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, June 1, 2003
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New words. 2013.