The Co-Occurrence of Sexsomnia, Sleep Bruxism and Other Sleep Disorders
Open accessAbstract
Background: Sleep sex also known as sexsomnia or somnambulistic sexual behavior is proposed to be classified as NREM (non-rapid eye movement) parasomnia (as a clinical subtype of disorders of arousal from NREM sleep—primarily confusional arousals or less commonly sleepwalking), but it has also been described in relation to REM (rapid eye movement) parasomnias. Methods: The authors searched the PubMed database to identify relevant publications and present the co-occurrence of sexsomnia and other sleep disorders as a non-systematic review with case series. Results: In the available literature the comorbidity of sexsomnia and other sleep disorders were reported mainly in case reports and less in case series. Sexsomnia was reported both with one and with multiple sleep-related disorders, with NREM parasomnias and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) being the most commonly reported. Furthermore, the authors enrich the article with new findings concerning two novel cases of sleep bruxism triggering recurrent sexsomnia episodes. Conclusions: Sexsomnia has still not been reported in the literature as often as other parasomnias. The coexistence of sexsomnia and other sleep-related disorders should be more thoroughly examined. This could help both in sexsomnia as well as other sleep-related disorders management.
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Comorbid sleep conditions that may act as triggers for sexsomnia episodes include obstructive sleep apneas, periodic limb movements, sleep bruxism, or sleep-related head jerks.
“Comorbid sleep conditions that may act as triggers for sexsomnia episodes include obstructive sleep apneas, PLM, sleep bruxism, or even sleep-related head jerks [173,174,177,178].”
From Diagnosis and Management of NREM Sleep Parasomnias in Children and Adults (2023) · cites this paper as [177]
The Abstract reports sexsomnia with obstructive sleep apnea and describes two cases of sleep bruxism triggering recurrent episodes; Results §3.5 says the authors suspect bruxism-related arousals can trigger sexual behavior. The cited paper does not identify periodic limb movements or sleep-related head jerks as triggers. Results §3.4 mentions hypnic jerks and exploding head syndrome in a patient with sleep-related orgasms, but does not establish either as a trigger. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- Martynowicz, H., Smardz, J., Wieczorek, T., Mazur, G., Poreba, R., Skomro, R., Zietek, M., Wojakowska, A., Michalek, M., & Wieckiewicz, M.
- Affiliations
- Wroclaw Medical University (PL)
- Department of Internal Medicine, Occupational Diseases and Hypertension, Wroclaw Medical University, 50-367 Wroclaw, Poland
- University of Saskatchewan (CA)
- Department of Periodontology, Wroclaw Medical University, 50-367 Wroclaw, Poland
- Corresponding author
- Wieckiewicz, Mieszko
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Clinical Medicine
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2018-08-23
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 233
- ISSN
- 2077-0383 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6162860
- OpenAlex
- W2888291060
- Cited by
- 31
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 0.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- dx.doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Clinical Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Uniwersytet Medyczny im. Piastów Slaskich we Wroclawiu (STM.B022.17.011)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Sleep and related disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Obstructive Sleep Apnea Research
- Keywords
- sexsomnia, sleep bruxism, parasomnias, obstructive sleep apnea, comorbidities, NREM parasomnias, sleep disorders
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