Medically called nocturnal penile tumescence, is waking up to a canopy of such considerably annoying and sometimes embarrassing situations.
What is behind it, is it normal? Healthy? Worrying?
Is it common?
Yes, the majority of men do experience it, starting at puberty and into adulthood. Frequency fluctuates as you grow and there is no set time for the occurrence. There is no set schedule but one thing for sure you will get them throughout your life.
What is the cause?
During REM – rapid eye movement stage in deep sleep, your nervous system takes over and can summon multiple erections, yet in terms of how it still varies from a range of theories. Unlike what men think that it has to be a sexual dream that triggered it and waking up to an erection isn’t the same kind of being turned on.
In other words what is caused by REM is a release of testosterone and the sexual arousal that we do get through excitement of sexual desire is a secretion of dopamine.
Why does it happen?
There are different theories and one is caused by having a full bladder and getting an erection would be a way to stop you from wetting your bed. Another would state that this is a way of avoiding ED but exercising the penis into erect by rushing blood flow and then keep doing this on repeat throughout the night.
But in all cases, it is normal and healthy.
Do women have something similar?
Women do have a similar occurrence and it’s called nocturnal clitoral tumescence. It’s not something that men should be ashamed of but take it as a healthy sign.
But I don’t get morning erections. Is that bad?
A lot of factors play a role in decreasing the frequency such as, stress, work, partying, mental health, alcohol, etc. don’t worry much. If you are experiencing other sexual dysfunctions, then you might want to check with a doctor.
Our body does things that are embarrassing, weird and unusual, but it’s reassuring that things that we don’t talk much about are things most guys experience.
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