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Sleepwalking woman had sex with strangers
New Scientist.Com ^ | October 15th, 2004

Posted on 10/15/2004 10:57:23 AM PDT by missyme

Sleep medicine experts have successfully treated a rare case of a woman having sex with strangers while sleepwalking.

The behaviour had disrupted the lives of the woman and her partner. At night while asleep, the middle-aged sleepwalker - who lives in Australia and cannot be identified for reasons of confidentiality - left her house and had sexual intercourse with strangers. The behaviour continued for several months and the woman had no memory of her nocturnal activities.

Circumstantial evidence, such as condoms found scattered around the house, alerted the couple to the problem. On one occasion, her partner awoke to find her missing, went searching for her and found her engaged in the sex act.

“Incredulity is the leading player in cases like this,” says Peter Buchanan, the sleep physician at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, who handled the case. But a combination of factors convinced him that the case was a real sleepwalking phenomenon, including the distress of the couple, and an in-depth clinical evaluation.

During that evaluation, the patient was assessed by psychiatrists, and checked for physical problems such as brain tumours, which may cause unusual behaviour. Neither of those examinations could find a cause.

However, she was found to have a history of talking in her sleep as a teenager and when monitored in the sleep laboratory, she was found to have a higher number of arousals from deep sleep than is usual. Both of these factors might indicate a susceptibility to abnormal sleep behaviour.

However, Roger Allen, a sleep specialist in private practice in Brisbane is sceptical. “Sex is a primal behaviour so it’s not impossible - men have erections in their sleep after all - but this case involved such complex behaviour it seems less likely.” He also points out that eliminating psychiatric conditions as a cause of the behaviour would be difficult.

But there are some extraordinary cases of sleep walkers leaving their homes, driving cars, or engaging in behaviours that they would not usually. In 1987, Ken Parks, drove 23 kilometres from his home in Pickering, Ontario, to his in-laws house, where he strangled his father-in-law unconscious, and stabbed his mother-in-law to death. He was acquitted of murder because he was sleepwalking at the time. Sleepwalking is often triggered by stress, and this may have been the case with the Sydney woman, says Buchanan. She stopped her night-time excursions after psychiatric counselling. Drugs such as benzodiazepines, which are sometimes used to treat sleep walkers, were not necessary.

Any type of sleepwalking is rare. It occurs in around 3% of children and young adolescents, and about 0.5% of adults. Usually it involves little more than walking around in a fairly purposeful way while asleep, although sleepwalkers may lash out if awoken.

The results were presented at a sleep conference in Sydney on Friday.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: sleep
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To: longshadow
I don't think sleepwalking is the proper word for this.
21 posted on 10/15/2004 11:06:34 AM PDT by PatrickHenry (Hic amor, haec patria est.)
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To: lilylangtree

Nearly choked on my lunch! Seriously!


22 posted on 10/15/2004 11:06:51 AM PDT by Lowcountry
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To: lilylangtree

LOL! To be repeated at the next happy hour!


23 posted on 10/15/2004 11:06:57 AM PDT by Time is now (We'll live to se it......)
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To: missyme

All the fun happens Down Under. (So to speak.)


24 posted on 10/15/2004 11:07:15 AM PDT by PBRSTREETGANG
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To: lilylangtree

That is damn funny... :)


25 posted on 10/15/2004 11:07:34 AM PDT by Thrusher (Laffer curve: decreasing tax rates increases tax revenue.)
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To: missyme
I wonder how many NOW will use this method for a great excuse...

Won't work for most NOW members.
This article describes HETEROSEXUAL somnobulistic activity.
(just joking...sort of)
26 posted on 10/15/2004 11:09:07 AM PDT by VOA
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To: xsmommy; RikaStrom; Slip18; WhyisaTexasgirlinPA; NYC GOP Chick; hobbes1; Argh; camle; VRWCmember; ..

Now this is a Friday thread


27 posted on 10/15/2004 11:10:32 AM PDT by NeoCaveman (Kerry/Edwards is a nuisance, terrorism is serious)
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To: missyme

"Circumstantial evidence, such as condoms found scattered around the house, alerted the couple to the problem."

Excuse me honey, but are any of these used condoms yours?


28 posted on 10/15/2004 11:11:25 AM PDT by Time is now (We'll live to see it......)
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To: VOA

hahah..I see your point!


29 posted on 10/15/2004 11:11:33 AM PDT by missyme
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To: missyme; Willie Green
Yet another missed opportunity, Willie.:)


30 posted on 10/15/2004 11:12:18 AM PDT by xJones
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To: missyme
“Incredulity is the leading player in cases like this,” says Peter Buchanan, the sleep
physician at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, who handled the case.


Only a science writer from the U.K. (or the Commonwealth) could get
away this number of double entendres in one "science" article!
31 posted on 10/15/2004 11:12:50 AM PDT by VOA
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To: missyme
"Incredulity is the leading player in cases like this," says Peter Buchanan, the sleep physician at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research...

No! Ya think? If it's not, it should be!

32 posted on 10/15/2004 11:13:07 AM PDT by Ryan Spock
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To: dubyaismypresident

i beleive this story like i beleive that kerry is an honorable man. seems like this chick got caught, and has found a sympathetic shrink to help save her. hubby would be wise to give her the boot bigtime.

wonder how she's paying the shrink?


33 posted on 10/15/2004 11:13:08 AM PDT by camle (keep your mind open and somebody will fill it with something for you))
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To: xJones

Geez! I bought her a drink last night!


34 posted on 10/15/2004 11:13:22 AM PDT by Time is now (We'll live to see it......)
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To: Time is now

WHo were the strangers? Was she going to the local bar? if it was the middle of the night then everything would of been closed right? maybe she was knocking on the neighbors doors asking the men if they wanted to come over and have sex with her?


35 posted on 10/15/2004 11:13:41 AM PDT by missyme
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To: missyme

Rush is now talking about this. I wonder if he frequents Free Republic often?


36 posted on 10/15/2004 11:13:50 AM PDT by diamond6 (Everyone who is for abortion has already been born. Ronald Reagan)
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To: missyme; Lowcountry; Time is now; Thrusher

:) This joke was forwarded to me by a mid-60ish catholic woman. Besides, we on FR need jump starting today.


37 posted on 10/15/2004 11:13:50 AM PDT by lilylangtree (Veni, Vidi, Vici)
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To: missyme
Australian Woman..

Okay. My Lulu reference was to an episode of The Honeymooners show where Norton was Sleepwalking. You may be too young to have seen it. Of course I've only watched re-runs. LOL

38 posted on 10/15/2004 11:14:02 AM PDT by lindor
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To: missyme

," she was found to have a higher number of arousals from deep sleep than is usual. "

Considering she is out banging the night away, I'd say this statement was self evident.


39 posted on 10/15/2004 11:14:14 AM PDT by TASMANIANRED (What did Kerry know and when did he know it?)
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To: missyme
Rush talking about this now
40 posted on 10/15/2004 11:14:55 AM PDT by Fraulein
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