NORTH AMERICA — Waking up in the middle of the night and finding oneself being ravished by the love one one’s life may be a hot fantasy — and sometimes even a hot reality — but when the ravisher is stone cold asleep and doesn’t remember doing what they did, it’s more than a little creepy. Sexsomnia is a little known and poorly understood condition that affects only a tiny percentage of Americans, but leaves those afflicted feeling frightened, confused, guilty — and often too embarrassed to admit there’s a problem.

While having an insatiable partner whose desires can not be cooled by slumber may sound like a great way to spice up a relationship, the sad fact is that most sexsomniacs find that the condition harms their love lives.

Most people who admit to sexsomnia are in established relationships, according to Mark Pressman, a sleep specialist at Lankenan Hospital in Wynnewood, PA, but given the stigma surrounding the condition, researchers believe that it my be more common than realized.

According to Toronto Western Hospital researcher Nik Trajanovic, in a recent article on the subject in New Scientist magazine, although related to insomnia — which afflicts between two to four-percent of adults, sexsomniacs are more likely to stay in bed, although stuck in the same twilight space between slumber and alertness. Instead of standing up and walking about, sexsomniacs demand or engage in sex.

Stress or lack of sleep may be triggers for the behavior, says psychologist Michael Mangan, who has launched SleepSex.org in order to provide sexsomniacs with information and assistance.

Although some sexsomniacs find themselves in court, which has inspired Trajanovic to work on a diagnostic procedure for the condition, Pressman reports that although, “Sometimes they hate it,” and sometimes “they tolerate it,” the partners of some sleep fuckers confess that they actually find themselves “liking it better than waking sex.”

Hmmm… now there’s something to sleep on.