Why do men often wake up with an erection?

Do you really know?

A lot of people think that morning erections are triggered by erotic dreams, or a need to pee, but in fact they're a physiological reflex linked to sleep. That’s right - they’re not dependent on sexual arousal at all.

And in a somewhat similar way, women actually also experience increased blood flow to the clitoris during the night. Now, the scientific term for a nighttime erection is nocturnal penile tumescence, or NPT for short, and men get a few each night on average. They occur during REM sleep phases, which make up around 20% of total sleep time.

What exactly is REM sleep? Are you saying it’s an involuntary reflex then? What if I stop experiencing morning erections? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

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