Boyfriend Keeps Waking Girlfriend Up Then Pretends to Sleep
The Original Post
I (23F) have been with my boyfriend (23M) for 11 months now and a couple of months ago we moved in together, ever since weāve been sleeping in the same bed he will wake me up when I fall asleep but then acts asleep once Iām awake, heās told me he has a history of sleep walking and sleep talking and that heās not consciously doing it, Iāve brought up the problem before and believed him initially until last night, I was asleep and he woke me up (I donāt know how, the only times Iāve ācaughtā him were when I was still drifting) I figured maybe this time was an accident for real so Iāll ignore it and go back to sleep, well I tried to go back to sleep and he had his hand on my thigh, once I started dozing he shook my thigh once somewhat softly but with enough force I felt my entire lower half shake (he does twitch in his sleep sometimes but these movements feel intentional) and it scared the shit out of me and thus I was fully awake again but I noticed that when I āwoke upā this time he immediately started snoring as if it was fake (he wasnāt snoring before he shook me), in the past couple of months he has shook me, pinched me & poked me and then once Iām up heās āknocked outā, sometimes Iāll move/reposition the way Iām laying and other times Iāll just lay there and listen for what he does, the time he was pinching me I felt it and woke up slightly then felt him do it again to where I was completely awake, I asked āwhy are you pinching me?ā And in the FAKEST sleeping voice he says āpinching you??ā But because I could tell he was faking the voice I just let it go because WTF do I say? I was so uncomfortable I just ignored it, I feel like Iām loosing my mind, I have bad past relationships that have left me with ptsd and trauma so I donāt like to sleep around people in general and he knows this but Iāve been trying with him because he makes it seem like itās the end of the world for us to sleep separately, when I moved in we were still somewhat new and hadnāt been sexual yet (we were a few months in, we both werenāt looking for anything too serious but I needed somewhere to go and he offered since we had already been hanging out) so I told him I wanted my own room and he was fine with that, now weāre further along in our relationship and sleep in my room but because he keeps āunconsciouslyā waking me up Iāve been going back to sleeping on the couch (I used to when we were newer, longer story) in the middle of the night after he wakes me up while heās sleeping in my room, he has his own room and bed but doesnāt like sleeping in there, I know sleep deprivation is a form of torture and I feel like Iām being gaslighted, he just keeps saying āwhy would I purposefully wake you up out of your sleep?ā āYou know i want us to sleep together so what would I get out of doing that? It makes no senseā please someone help me, have I absolutely lost it or is he gaslighting me? all signs point to purposeful, fake sleeping, fake sleepy voice, did it multiple times until I was awake enough, idk what to do or what to believe, heās saying iām making it seem like heās evil and that there are no signs that heās done anything in the past that should lead me to believe he would do something like this, that he wouldnāt waste all this time effort and money to loose our relationship over something so weird, also this started because I told him he wasnāt allowed to sleep in my room anymore and after I said it he was quiet so I looked up at him and he looked absolutely terrifying like the Kubrick stare, a few hours later we went back and forth for a while with me repeatedly saying āI donāt believe it was unconsciousā & him saying he was, before the conversation ended he said something like āis it really that hard to trust me and say you believe me, I donāt want you thinking I would do something like thatā am I paranoid or dating a psychopath? Everything has been mostly fine until now heās great maybe a little too great? Like a facade? Idk, maybe Iām crazy? I know this is extremely long and all over the place I apologize but Iām loosing it
What Reddit Said
Redditors were horrified by this story and unanimously agreed the boyfriend is deliberately abusing her. Many identified this as “ambient abuse” – a form of psychological torture designed to keep victims sleep-deprived and on edge. The consensus was clear: this isn’t sleepwalking, it’s calculated manipulation.
Users pointed out several red flags beyond the sleep disruption. His initial “too perfect” behavior was likely a facade to get her moved in. Moreover, his threatening stare when confronted revealed his true nature. The fake sleepy voice and immediate snoring after waking her up proved he’s fully conscious during these incidents.
The Verdict
Reddit’s verdict was unanimous: this boyfriend waking girlfriend up sleep pattern is deliberate abuse, not sleepwalking. The overwhelming advice was to leave immediately before the abuse escalates further. This represents a classic case of relationship abuse disguised as a medical condition, with clear signs of gaslighting when confronted.
Original post from r/relationship_advice (1,383 upvotes, 550 comments)