Why Men Have An Erection In The Morning

Why is there an erection at night and in the morning. Causes and disorders of morning erection. When morning erection indicates health problems. What does the absence of a morning erection indicate?

Sometimes people cannot correctly answer simple everyday questions. So that you do not get into an uncomfortable situation and do not harm yourself, we explain the nature of the phenomena that surround us every day. This time we will talk about why men have an erection in the morning.

Why does morning erection occur?

The autonomic nervous system regulates all body functions necessary for the normal functioning of its systems. It has sympathetic and parasympathetic departments, which, in fact, are complete opposites:

• The sympathetic nervous system is activated during stressful reactions and prepares us for action - fight or flight.
• The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for "peaceful" processes: digestion, emptying of the hollow organs and sexual arousal. It is activated during rest, so erections can (and should) occur in sleep.

Spontaneous erections usually do not occur during the day: the brain produces the hormone norepinephrine, which prevents this in every possible way. During sleep, its concentration is much lower, so during the night the penis can increase in volume 3-6 times. It's just that people tend to notice it in the morning, when they wake up.

Nocturnal erection occurs involuntarily, it is a completely normal phenomenon that occurs in people of all ages. Studies have shown that erections in boys occur even during the period of intrauterine development.

Spontaneous "morning" erections are very important: they provide the penis with arterial blood rich in oxygen. Without it, hypoxia can occur in the tissues of the penis.

Including because of them, but the main role belongs to the parasympathetic nervous system. The cause of an erection can be introceptive (internal) signals: a full bladder that presses and stimulates the sacral nerves, an overflowing seminal vesicles, or the rectum.

Georgy Selyukov Ivanovich

sexologist

Each man experiences 4-6 periods of penile erection during a night's sleep with a frequency of 90-120 minutes. These periods coincide with the REM phases of sleep, when a person dreams. The duration of the first erection is ~ 12 minutes, the 2nd – 18 minutes, the 3rd – 27 minutes, the 4th – 36 minutes, the 5th – 45 minutes. The 6th wave of erection is unstable and occurs in men with a night sleep of more than 8 hours. Thus, the total time of erection during a night's sleep is about 140 minutes. Such phenomena provide oxygenation (that is, the blood supply of the tissues of the penis with oxygen-rich arterial blood). It is also emphasized the erection of the penis, which is not related to the REM phases of sleep, but due to the filling of the bladder.

Lack of morning erection - a sign of impotence?

Impotence is a multifactorial problem. There are many things that can affect the strength and duration of an erection: neurological disorders, vascular problems, anatomical or structural changes, psychological factors. A morning erection will help determine what exactly is interfering with your intimate life: if the causes of erectile dysfunction are physiological, it simply will not occur.

Can a morning erection be abnormal?

Priapism is a condition in which an erection is not related to sexual arousal and lasts more than 4 hours. This can lead to blood stagnation, inflammatory processes, permanent erection of the penis and even gangrene. Common causes of priapism are injuries to the penis, blood diseases, tumors, complications of sexually transmitted infections, and damage to the spinal cord.

Morning erection usually subsides soon after waking up. If it does not last much longer, it makes sense to consult a urologist.