How Does Morning Wood Occur?

Image by TinyNibbles

Suppose that you slept well last night and just after you woke up, you found out something simultaneously erect underneath the blankets, but in that particular situation, you are not having a insular mind. Why does it occur only in both nights & daylight? Perhaps there’s a mechanism in your brain that ensure you’ll encounter this phenomenon every single day.

What is a “Morning Wood”? It is a slang that is usually used to refer a male erection upon waking up in the morning. How does erection works? Well, erections are controlled by the autonomic nervous system which means that when a guy is in total relaxation upon rising from sleeps, he is prone to have an erection. There are a couples of factors that contribute with morning wood; a) The bladder fills during the night, and this places pressure on a spinal reflex that can trigger an erection. b) Certain stages of the sleep cycle also influence the body’s involuntary behavior. And most certainly that accidental touch or exposure to particular stimuli can lead to an erection.

This phenomenon is rather normal and healthy men usually experience it. Men may have several erections a night as part of their sleep cycle especially during REM otherwise known as Rapid Eye Movement. REM excites your brain while sleeping, stimulating sexual arousal – which increases bloodflow to the penis, therefore causing an erection. At the REM phase, the body’s skeletal muscle structure relaxes and causes hypervasodilation in the capillaries of the body, resulting in said erection.

In psychological or physiological term, it would be a Nocturnal Penile Tumescence or (NPT) for short, it is the spontaneous occurrence of an erection of the penis during sleep. All men without physiological erectile dysfunction (E.D) experience this phenomenon, usually three to five times during the night. It typically happens during REM sleep.

However, this spontaneous erection doesn’t mix with dreams or sexual excitement. This occur when neurological stimulators cause blood to flow into the penis. This, in turn, ensure that the that oxygen is properly delivered to the penis and helps keep penile tissue healthy.

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