A young woman has been found out to have a rare disorder which makes her instantly fall asleep every time she has an orgasm.


Jessica Southall, a young mum ‘falls asleep’ every time she has an orgasm because of a rare neurological disorder.

According to Metro UK, the 20-year-old mum-of-one from Nottingham, suffers from narcolepsy with cataplexy.

This means that whenever she experiences a strong emotion, her muscles relax, and it looks like she’s fallen asleep.

Jessica said that she had to have a difficult conversation about it with her partner, Junior Santiago, when they first started dating.

Because of the condition, it looked like she would drop off to sleep straight after they were intimate.

‘I just had to explain to [Junior] that it’s only going to happen when he makes me feel at my very best,’ she said. ‘But it’s not ideal.’

Jessica experienced her first cataplexy episode when she was 16, and now sleeps for up to 13 hours a day.

The long-term disorder means the brain is unable to regulate sleeping and waking patterns normally – and it leaves Jessica feeling exhausted.

But when Jessica has a cataplectic attack, she said that she is still ‘fully awake’ – despite it looking like she’s nodded off.

‘I can’t respond or snap out of it until the emotion stops,’ she said. ‘To any other person it looks like I’ve fallen asleep.’

When she first started having attacks, she would collapse every time she laughed.

‘I’ve learned,’ she said. ‘I know my body now, so if I’m going to laugh I’ll grab something to hold on to so when my muscles get weak I’ll be OK.’