Violent Sleep Sex

A couple of weeks ago, I received this letter from a reader:

"Please give me info on moaning in sleep. Cannot find any info on it what causes it or how to treat it."

My reply:

"There could be many reasons that you moan in your sleep, the most probable one is that you are dreaming. Even if you don't remember dreaming, that doesn't mean you weren't dreaming. Everyone dreams. Not everyone remembers."

I went on to suggest other causes - stress or sleep apnea. My answer might have been slightly different had I received this press release from Stanford University Medical Center:

"In a new study, Stanford researchers describe a treatable medical condition which causes people to commit violent sexual acts in their sleep. Referred to as "sleep sex," the nocturnal activities cited in the study range from disruptive moaning to rape-like behavior toward bed partners."

Although this may sound like a psychological problem, researchers believe it's actually a medical disorder caused by glitches in brain waves during sleep. As such, it is treatable.

The disorder runs the gamut from loud and disturbing moaning to violent, bruising masturbation to rape-like attacks and other violent acts upon the bed partner. One man actually tried to strangle his wife while on the throes of one of these disturbances. Another victim tried to stop the behavior by using restraints. He broke two fingers while attempting, in his sleep, to escape.