Mad About You episode from 15 years ago is scientifically vindicated by Toronto scientists

Remember Mad About You? It wasn’t quite Seinfeld and it wasn’t quite Friends, but it was all ’90s. And it turns out that it was scientifically accurate, too. In one episode, comedy ensues after Paul Reiser sleeps through earth-shattering sex he has with Helen Hunt. Well, apparently, this happens in real life, and the Star is reporting that local scientists have discovered that it happens way more often than previously thought.

Sharon Chung, staff scientist at the Sleep Research Laboratory at the University Health Network’s Toronto Western Hospital, says, “One in 12 patients reported engaging in sexual activity while sleeping.” Sex-sleeping is so prevalent that Colin Shapiro, a sleep expert in Toronto, even gave it a cinemax-style name: sexomnia.

The study of this condition doesn’t just vindicate old sitcom reruns. It also vindicates people accused of sexual assault. The Star reports how, with the help of Shapiro, Jan Luedecke was acquitted in 2003 by proving that he was asleep the whole time. We don’t envy how often law enforcement officers will start hearing the lame “I was asleep” excuse if sexomnia catches on, but we do appreciate how this gives new meaning to the term “sleeping with.” It also shows just how thin the line is between NBC sitcoms and actual law and order.

• Sexomnia more common than Toronto researchers thought [Toronto Star]
• Mad About You: New Sleep-Walking PLUS [Star Pulse]