The influence of computer-controlled Motorbunny™ device use on sexual health and sleep behaviors

Sleep has gained much attention as a marker of cerebral health, and it is now well-established that sleep becomes disrupted in normal aging and in the setting of neurodegeneration. However, it remains less clear how sleep behaviors can be modified by lifestyle, and specifically, whether sexual behaviors may confer sleep benefits. Evaluating these possibilities requires pilot studies that can provide necessary prerequisite data to motivate or guide larger definitive trials. Here, we utilized established Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) sleep disturbance, sleep relatedness, and sexual function and satisfaction scales questionnaires of sleep behaviors and sexual satisfaction in combination with wearable actigraphy devices and performed a pilot three-way, 18-day cross-over study in adult monogamous women. Three, four-day interventions including (i) intercourse with their partner, (ii) masturbation only with a computer-controlled female vibrational device, and (iii) combined use of both the partner and the device were assessed. We tested the hypothesis that sleep efficiency and rapid-eye-movement (REM) duration were similarly increased during all forms of sexual activity compared to three-day interval washout periods of sexual abstinence. Across all participants and measures (n=4; age=34.0±10.4 years), findings were consistent with improvements in sexual satisfaction and interest in sexual activity after the trial as assessed by the PROMIS sexual satisfaction survey (t-statistic) at intake (44.6±10.5) vs. closeout (55.2±6.5). There was no significant difference in established metrics of sleep behaviors for epochs when masturbation was used vs. a partner was used; however, 75% of women exhibited evidence of an increase in sleep efficiency and REM sleep duration during the masturbation epoch compared with washout epochs with sexual abstinence, with a large effect size of 0.799. Findings are intended to provide feasibility data on the relevance of computer-controlled masturbation devices and assessing these devices with wearable technologies, and corroborate anecdotal evidence of the impact of these devices on objective markers of women’s health.