Creative Problem Solving for Sleep Disorders

2. PROBLEM
• Sexual Behaviour in Sleep (SBS), or sexsomnia, is a
condition in which a person will engage in sexual acts
while still asleep. This condition falls within the broad
classes of sleep disorders known as parasomnia.
• Sexsomnia is considered a type of non-rapid eye
movement sleep (NREM) parasomnia.
• Sexsomnia may accompany relationship difficulties and
feelings of embarrassment. Clonazepam has been used
as a first line of treatment for this condition, when
other measures are not enough to solve a case of
sexsomnia.

3. Solutions
Physical
• Have sex before going to sleep.
• Masturbate before going to sleep.
• Get your partner or friend to give you a massage before
bedtime.
• Go for a run or brisk walk before bedtime.
• Take up a salsa dance class.
• Have a bout of boxing before going to sleep.
• Change the time you eat dinner at.
• Eat oysters before bedtime.
• Eat figs in bed.
• Drink hot milk at bedtime.

4. Solutions
Psychological
• Attend psychotherapy counseling sessions to treat the relationship
difficulties.
• De-stress by writing about your problems in a diary or in a poem or
song.
• Attend a stress management course.
• Check with a health professional for anxiety disorders.
• Get hypnotized.
• Do a course in self-hypnosis.
• Get a companion to babysit you.
• Take up art therapy.
• Get acupuncture.
• Attend a mindfulness course.

5. Solutions
Emotional
• Attend a course on building self-esteem.
• Share your relationship concerns with a friend.
• Join a support group.
• Find a new love.
• Check with a doctor for personality disorders.
• Make yourself very sad before bed.
• Make yourself very happy before bed.
• Make your self very angry before bed.
• Make your self very sleepy before bed.
• Make your self very randy before bed.
•

6. Solutions
Spiritual
• Beseech to Aphrodite, goddess of love.
• Go on a retreat to reflect and resolve some of your issues.
• Take up Yoga classes.
• Do meditation.
• Go to mass.
• Join a church choir.
• Ask a priest to exercise your demons.
• Take a vow of chastity.
• Make a donation to charity.
• Volunteer in a hospice for the ill and dying.

7. Solutions
Medical
• Take diazepam or clonazepam tablets.
• Have your sexual organs removed.
• Have a lobotomy.
• Have your legs amputated.
• Inject an anesthetic at bedtime.
• Take diuretics before bed.
• Get a neurological examination.
• Do physiotherapy.
• Under go a CAT scan to assess any brain damage.
• Get treatment for depression.
• Get EEG Biofeedback or neurofeedback.
• Get Dialectical Behavioral Therapy.
• Get eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy.
• Get sleep therapy to help your body’s own circadian clock bring on deeper sleep.
• Study to become a psychiatrist.

8. Solutions
Alternative
• Sleep alone. • Sleep in the bath.
• Sleep during the day. • Drive a taxi by night.
• Don’t sleep. • Chew cocoa leaves.
• Sleep standing up. • Get your partner to tie your hands and
• Sleep in a hammock. feet.
• Roll yourself up in a carpet. • Wear a straight jacket in bed.
• Drink less. • Make up the bed as two singles
• Drink more. • Ignore it and it might go away (this is a
• Quit drugs. very Irish solution).
• Take up drugs. • Leave the relationship you are
currently in.
• Sleep in a coffin.
• Change jobs.
• Learn a new language.
• Take cookery classes.

9. Solutions
Weird
• Play relaxing music throughout the
night. • Take enough drink and drugs to
• Use video cameras to record your induced coma at bedtime
behaviour and review the pattern. • Sleep with someone you don’t like.
• Place motion sensors in your bed to set • Sleep with a scary dog.
off an alarm when you move. • Move to a different country.
• Prerecord alert messages that play • Take a vacation.
when you move to reassure you.
• Buy a car to cheer yourself up.
• Realign your bedroom using Feng Shui.
• Sell your house.
• Fit your partner with a chastity belt.
• Give up eating meat.
• Ask your partner to wake you up when
your sexsomnia kicks in. • Take up smoking.
• Watch pornography.

10. Solutions
Weird
• Review your job to check if you are • Play chess in bed.
being bullied by a co-worker. • Read to each other at bedtime.
• Change religion.
• Take up a new hobby.
• Have an affair.
• Buy a water bed.
• Loose weight.
• Bake bread in the evening.
• Burn incense.
• Drink green tea.
• Take a lavender back before bed.
• Talk to your partner about how they
think you can resolve this issue.