In an extraordinary revelation, a 56-year-old businesswoman and mental health first aid teacher from Grimsby has disclosed how the onset of perimenopause triggered a bizarre and costly phenomenon: shopping in her sleep. Nicola Edwards, who lives with her scaffolder husband David, has accumulated over £1,000 worth of random purchases while completely unconscious, with parcels containing everything from dog wigs resembling a politician's hair to miniature railway figures arriving unexpectedly at her doorstep.
The Baffling Beginnings of Nocturnal Spending
Nicola's unusual journey began when she reached her fifties and entered perimenopause, experiencing a host of disruptive symptoms including severely disturbed sleep patterns. "The idea that someone goes on a shopping spree while fast asleep sounds absolutely ridiculous," admits Nicola, a mother of two adult children. Initially attributing her memory lapses and confusion to potential dementia, the truth emerged only when mysterious parcels started appearing.
From Diamond Drill Bits to Dog Wigs
The first puzzling delivery contained a diamond-tipped drill bit and a blonde dog wig that bore an uncanny resemblance to Conservative politician Michael Fabricant's distinctive hairstyle. "I was utterly baffled," Nicola recalls. "I immediately thought it was my sister pulling a prank, as we both have a pretty silly sense of humour." However, when her sister denied involvement, Nicola investigated further and discovered the items in her Temu purchase history, bought during the early hours of the morning a week earlier.
Panicking about potential fraud, she cancelled the credit card linked to her account, but the deliveries continued unabated. Within weeks, she received dresses and shoes in incorrect sizes from various eBay sellers, all purchased between 2am and 3am. The mystery deepened until her husband David made a crucial observation: he had witnessed Nicola using her phone in the middle of the night, seemingly unresponsive when told to put it away.
Unconscious Consumerism: The Psychology Behind Random Purchases
Once Nicola realised she was sleep shopping, she became determined to find logic in her bizarre purchases. As someone fascinated by psychology, she analysed each item for potential subconscious meaning. The alarming paper face mask of Nicola Sturgeon and a badge of The Krankies saying 'fandabidozi' might have connected to private jokes with her husband. Similarly, a signed script from the Wolfblood TV series and an original pastel drawing of Pat Butcher from Ghosts related to shows loved by her daughter and father.
The More Puzzling Acquisitions
Other items defied explanation entirely. A signed picture of Stormzy, whose music she actively dislikes, arrived alongside an inner tube for a wheelbarrow they don't possess. Fake hair extensions and a signed picture of Bernard Breslaw from the Carry On films joined the growing collection of inexplicable purchases. Perhaps most remarkably, Nicola managed to perform complex online transactions while asleep, including uploading personal photos to create custom men's socks and setting up a monthly subscription for chocolate meringue bars.
Curbing the Nocturnal Spending Spree
Over time, Nicola has developed techniques to manage her unconscious shopping habits. "Last year I began sternly telling myself, 'put it in the basket, put it in the basket' before I went to sleep each night," she explains. This mental strategy apparently prevented her from confirming an £800 vending machine purchase that appeared in her eBay basket one morning. For four consecutive months in 2025, she successfully avoided nighttime purchases, until a recent relapse brought dog snow boots, coat hangers, rainbow striped leggings and an Elizabethan-style ruff to her door.
The Practical and Financial Implications
Despite the unusual nature of her purchases, Nicola has managed to mitigate the financial impact through returns, refunds, and donations to charity shops or friends and family. Many items weren't expensive initially, and some even proved useful for her business, Reggie's Pawfect Treats, which sells natural treats for dogs. This practical approach, combined with her and David's ability to see the humorous side, has meant she hasn't sought formal medical diagnosis or treatment.
The Science Behind Sleep Shopping
Dr Allie Hare, consultant in sleep medicine, confirms that Nicola's experience isn't unique. "The menopause can be a time of significant sleep disruption, often due to hot flashes," she explains. "Fragmented sleep can make people more susceptible to parasomnias, which is another term for abnormal behaviours in sleep." These sleep disorders are surprisingly common and can have significant impacts when unrecognised and untreated. Genetic predisposition may play a role, particularly if individuals experienced sleepwalking in childhood or have family histories of abnormal sleep behaviours.
As Nicola looks toward the future, she remains hopeful that her sleep shopping will cease once menopause becomes a distant memory. "Until then, I'm just along for the ride!" she laughs, maintaining perspective about her unusual nocturnal consumerism while continuing to develop strategies to manage this unexpected consequence of hormonal change.
