Have you ever woken up with an erect penis, even when you haven’t had an erotic dream? Do you know why that happens? Before anything else, you should know that experiencing involuntary nocturnal erections is a good sign for anyone concerned about erectile dysfunction.
Nocturnal erections are involuntary — they happen without sexual or erotic stimuli. Considering you are usually asleep, you may not notice all of the instances in which they occur.
These involuntary erections keep the penile tissues healthy, by allowing the oxygenation of cells through the blood flowing into the penile structure.
That would be a really good reason not to feel embarrassed about such erections, the next time you are sleeping next to someone and feel the need to cover yourself up in your sheets.
What does involuntary erection mean?
Moments before you wake up and during REM sleep, the testosterone in your body reaches its peak levels. That is why, considering you have a healthy penis, you will notice your male organ erect during the morning. Nonetheless, men can occasionally not experience this when waking up.
There is another reason for an erection happening during sleep: the need to urinate. After a long period without urinating, the bladder pressures the so-called nervi erigentes, responsible for the nervous signals that control the erections.
How many erections can a man experience during sleep time?
Did you know that while your body and mind are asleep, your penis ‘wakes up’, on average, about 3 to 4 times during the night?
If you wake up with a full bladder but no erection, that can be a warning sign. Moreover, if you haven’t noticed an erection in the morning for a while — or they do occur, but appear weak — your erectile function could be compromised.
How to avoid involuntary erections?
It is not a good sign when a patient stops experiencing nocturnal erections. If you notice these involuntary erections are not happening to you anymore, it could be a symptom that there is something wrong with your penis’s health.
Nocturnal erections are essential for the proper oxygenation of the penile tissues when the penis is not being used. It is a natural way for the body to avoid the appearance of fibrosis in the corpus cavernosum, which occurs due to a lower blood flow than necessary.
The greater the amount of blood flowing into the penile structure, the greater will be the oxygen flowing into the cells — increasing the chances of maintaining good erections in the future, and decreasing the possibility of trauma and microtrauma that lead to Peyronie’s disease and erectile dysfunction.
It is also worth mentioning that involuntary erections occur naturally, but if you are experiencing any difficulty in keeping your penis erect during sexual intercourse, this would be another reason for seeking specialized medical attention.
What to do when you are not experiencing nocturnal erections?
The first thing you should do is to seek an urologist (or even an endocrinologist) to check the causes of this condition, which could be organic, considering spontaneous erections are not consequences for erotic stimuli.
An endocrinologist would evaluate a possible hormonal imbalance in the patient. An urologist would then be able to check if the condition is linked to Peyronie’s disease, arterial dysfunctions or even veno-occlusive dysfunctions (also known as venous leak).
Some comorbidities — which apparently have nothing to do with erectile dysfunction — might also increase the difficulty of having an erection, especially the involuntary ones. These would be:
- Diabetes;
- Hypertension (a.k.a. high blood pressure);
- Elevated cholesterol;
- Obesity;
- Sedentary lifestyle;
- Hormonal dysfunctions.
Prostate cancer and its treatments can also potentially cause erectile dysfunction. If you are facing this condition, you should pay attention to the quality of your erections
Furthermore, we cannot forget to mention penile fibrosis, which can occur in men throughout their lives, especially when they are older. Fibrosis can cause deformities in the penis, such as thinning, curvatures and/or size reduction, and are a frequent cause for erectile dysfunction.
Ultimately, bad habits such as smoking, alcoholism, and illicit drug use may also affect nocturnal erections, and consequently contribute as a cause for erectile dysfunction.
Treatment options for erectile dysfunction
The treatment for erectile dysfunction is individualized, and depends on what caused the condition on the patient. It could be as simple as a lifestyle change, but could also evolve to the prescription of topic, oral and injectable medication — or even to a surgical procedure for a penile prosthesis implant. The best treatment option will depend on the urologist’s evaluation.
If the patient does not adequately respond to the lesser invasive treatments, in my experience, this most likely means that he presents penile fibrosis and will require a prosthesis implant. This prosthesis can either be malleable, or inflatable.
Nevertheless, if there are any deformities on the penis, it is possible to perform a penile reconstruction in the same procedure, restoring the lost size up to the limit of length of the nerves and urethra. The prosthesis implant will provide the necessary rigidity for penetration.
If you show symptoms for any of these conditions, or if you maintain habits that could be harmful to your health, pay double attention to your nocturnal erections.
Involuntary erections are a sign that your penis is healthy and doing just fine. If they haven’t happened to you in a while, watch this informative video.
Learn more:
- Male Self-Care: Why Is It Important for Health?
- Learn All About Enlarged Prostate: Causes, Diagnosis, and Recommended Treatments
- Does Stress Decrease Libido? Learn How to Identify and Treat It
- What Is Ejaculation? Answers to Your Main Questions
- Consequences of Male Sexual Abstinence and the Problems It Can Cause
- 10 Tips for Penis Care to Maintain Health and Prevent Infections and Diseases
- See What Causes Erectile Dysfunction and Available Treatments
- Prostate Surgery: What to Expect, Risks, and Recovery
- Gut Health and Sexual Function: The Connection
