Penile Erection in REM

[Peels]

Why do all guys/girls have their penile/clitoral erections in REM (dreaming) sleep?

[Crash]

lol, morning glory! id like to know the awnser to this, all ive heard is that people are more esaily stimulated and enter a state of arousal during REM sleep

[Peels]

"Here are some of the answers that will keep popping up:

 

1). No particular reason - it just happens

2). For self-maintenance - so it doesn't forget how

3). Dream behavior - in response to sexual dreams

4). Grist for the dream mill - to induce sexual dreams

 

Go ahead pick one, your guess is as good as mine."

 

--- quoted from Dr. Bob Stickgold, assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School

[Newtonian]

Nocturnal penile tumescence if you must,remember this is a science forum.

In answer to your question as far as im aware,the actual reason for this is still unknown.There are insufficient studies to allow for a definitive answer.

It certainly doesnt have anything to do with a full bladder.Think about every time you need the toilet during the day??

[Peels]

Nocturnal penile tumescence if you must' date='remember this is a science forum.

In answer to your question as far as im aware,the actual reason for this is still unknown.There are insufficient studies to allow for a definitive answer.

It certainly doesnt have anything to do with a full bladder.Think about every time you need the toilet during the day??[/quote']

Newtonian, thanks for your comments. However,

 

1). If you do a little bit search from Yahoo or Google, you will notice that the wording of "penile erection" has been used in titles of many scientific articles.

 

2). As my understanding, answers to 95%, if not all, of the questions posted on the "science forums and debate" are still unknown. I don't think any one expecting to get "definitive answer" from this forum. That's the art of this forum. People come here for viewpoint and debate.

 

3). I don't understand how you could conclude that "it certainly doesn't have anything to do with a full bladder." your example that men do not get erections during the day before urination does not support your conclusion, since waking and sleeping are different states. I would accept this as a strong support if you tell me that a man can have an erection in REM with empty bladder.

[Edward]

From my understanding some males get penile erections at almost exactly 90 min intervals during sleep. I have alays wondered about this. I have tested this and have verified that the organ becomes erect at intervals no less than 87 min and no more than 92 min on the subject of my tests. I have a peer who preformed the same test on a different male and got similar results.

 

Ok now that hurt my brain, typeing like that but in my oppinion it was nessecary. I mind this really strange that a bodily function can be preformed to such precison in refrence to time. Does anyone know anything about this? Does anyone know of any other examples of similar happenings?

[Newtonian]

As my understanding' date=' answers to 95%, if not all, of the questions posted on the "science forums and debate" are still unknown. I don't think any one expecting to get "definitive answer" from this forum. That's the art of this forum. People come here for viewpoint and debate.[/quote']

Im stating scientifically unknown,regarding the research so far carried out on this subject.Not my point of view.

I don't understand how you could conclude that "it certainly doesn't have anything to do with a full bladder." your example that men do not get erections during the day before urination does not support your conclusion, since waking and sleeping are different states. I would accept this as a strong support if you tell me that a man can have an erection in REM with empty bladder.

You can have an erection in REM with an empty/full bladder.I added that statement because its a popular myth that correlation waking erection/full bladder is interpreted as causal.Which is false!

I think you brought up an interesting subject.Do you have any ideas attributing a cause yourself.

[Newtonian]

From my understanding some males get penile erections at almost exactly 90 min intervals during sleep. I have alays wondered about this. I have tested this and have verified that the organ becomes erect at intervals no less than 87 min and no more than 92 min on the subject of my tests. I have a peer who preformed the same test on a different male and got similar results.

I presume by your username your male,and your admitting you have spent the night/day willy watching.

To see how many erections your partner/friend gets....interesting

[The Rebel]

Maybe the full bladder isn't so far off. I was thinking that perhaps the erection is a means of the body stopping you from urinating whilst you're asleep. This could also explain why infants tend to be more prone to "wetting the bed".

[ecoli]

Maybe the full bladder isn't so far off. I was thinking that perhaps the erection is a means of the body stopping you from urinating whilst you're asleep. This could also explain why infants tend to be more prone to "wetting the bed".

 

this would seem to make sense...but infants get penile erections too.

[ed84c]

I agree also you do tend to need the toilet less whilst erect.

[jdurg]

Perhaps it could also have to do with testosterone production? Even infants produce testosterone, it's just a matter of how much.

[Peels]

You can have an erection in REM with an empty/full bladder.I added that statement because its a popular myth that correlation waking erection/full bladder is interpreted as causal.Which is false!

I think you brought up an interesting subject.Do you have any ideas attributing a cause yourself.

Thanks Newtonian. Would you please show me the source/article that support your statement?

 

Like "The Rebel", "ecoli" and "ed84c", I do think that penile erection in REM sleep might have something to do with urination. Someone told me that they called this early morning erection as "pee hard on". I am wondering how our body can prevent urination during REM sleep when our main muscle system paralyzed. It seems logical to me to say that our body cleverly makes this erection to help blocking the urinary tract when we lost our muscle tones in REM.

[Newtonian]

I think the most likely of causes if i had to bet on it would be testosterone levels during REM.But ive already stated that the definitive answer is unknown.So it is only a guess.

My knowledge of subjects is limited to what ive picked up from books,magazines over the years,so you will have to forgive me if i cannot provide sources.However your politeness is hard to dismiss,so i will try and find you something.

[Peels]

I have done some readings last several days about testosterone (thanks "jdurg" and "Newtonian" for referring this to me). My understanding is that testosterone is unlikely the root cause of this nocturnal penile tumescence. I made this conclusion based on thinking given below:

 

1). Testosterone is responsible for normal growth and development of MALE sex organs and maintenance of secondary sex characteristics. If these nighttime (nocturnal) erections caused by hormones, it should be a "neutral" hormone not a male sex hormone. Otherwise, it can not explain the erection in female.

 

2). Some men with below-normal testosterone levels can still have nocturnal erections although they have difficulty for sexual erections.

 

3 Although testosterone production increases rapidly at the onset of puberty and decreases rapidly after age 50 (to 20–50% of peak level by age 80), there is no indication that the nocturnal erections follow this trend.

 

Any comments?

[Newtonian]

I did ponder the thought, maybe its an auto response.To maintain blood flow in the erectile tissue(because we have erections during the daytime).Which had me typing just about every word i could link to penis ,and finally got something on nervous system.So as promised here it is

http://www.bumc.bu.edu/Dept/Content.aspx?PageID=7018&departmentid=371

[Peels]

Thanks Newtonian for your link.

 

To solve this puzzle, two questions need to be answered. First, what is the cause of the penile erection in REM sleep? Second, what is the function of the nocturnal erection? The article from this link gives a theory about the first question only. I'll quote some parts from this article

 

"The male sexual response reflects a dynamic balance between exciting and inhibiting forces of the autonomic nervous system within the penis and throughout the CNS. The sympathetic component tends to inhibit erections, whereas the parasympathetic system is one of several excitatory pathways… Switching off the activity of the sympathetic nervous system enhances erections. Nocturnal erections are a good example of this. Nocturnal erections occur primarily during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the stage in which dreaming occurs. During REM sleep, sympathetic neurons are turned off in the locus coeruleus, a specific area of the brain stem. According to one theory, when the sympathetic nervous system is at rest, proerectile pathways predominate and allow nocturnal erections to occur."

 

However, the theory did not explain why our brain has to shut off the sympathetic nervous system in REM sleep. The odd part that I noticed is that many other articles give an opposite result. They claim that sympathetic-nerve activity increased significantly during REM sleep (NOT "switching off"), which is in agreement with the observation of increased heart rate and blood pressure.

 

Switching off the activity of the sympathetic nervous system will also cause a big problem to the urinary system. As we know, under normal conditions, the bladder and the internal urethral sphincter primarily are under sympathetic nervous system control. When the sympathetic nervous system is active, it causes the bladder to increase its capacity without increasing detrusor resting pressure (accommodation) and stimulates the internal urinary sphincter to remain tightly closed. The sympathetic activity also inhibits parasympathetic stimulation. When the sympathetic nervous system is active, urinary accommodation occurs and the micturition reflex is inhibited. This means that without inhibiting from sympathetic nervous system, the bladder will hold less pee and the internal urethral sphincter will be out of control.

 

Any comments?

[Ophiolite]

As I have nothing useful to contribute to this thread I was going to say how pleased I was to see you guys taking a stand on this important issue. I decided not to, in case you thought that was below the belt.

[coquina]

is that I was married for 31 years.

 

Regarding urinating and erection - I have read that it is impossible for a man to urinate while having an erection, the reason given was that if it happened in during intercourse it could cause the partner to acquire an infection.

[Newtonian]

ERm no thats not true Sandi,men have no problem urinsting with an erection.Personally im unfortunate to last 4-6 hours during encounters.So inevitably i need to urinate.

[coquina]

ERm no thats not true Sandi,men have no problem urinsting with an erection.Personally im unfortunate to last 4-6 hours during encounters.So inevitably i need to urinate.

 

I can think of a half dozen replies, but I'll just say "thanks for the enlightenment".

[Sayonara]

That's what you get for posting in a thread about erections.

[Peels]

Men do need more effort to initiate urinating, and usually lost erection quickly during urine discharging.

[Newtonian]

Speak for yourself,

http://www.magent.com/impotencemales.htm

[Peels]

This has nothing to do with impotence! It caused by attention to urinating, and reflects a change of neurotransmitters after wake up from REM sleep.