Why does my penis erect when I sleep?

People cannot control their own physiological impulses. For example, some male friends may find that their penis becomes erect when they are stimulated or tempted, which is indeed very embarrassing if they do it outside. But why do I get an erection even when I'm sleeping? In fact, this is also a normal physiological impulse, because when you sleep, your cervix will repeatedly erect and soften depending on your sleep state.

During every night of sleep, every man's penis undergoes the physiological process of erection - flaccidity - erection - flaccidity as the REM sleep and slow eye movement sleep alternate. This is medically known as nocturnal penile erection, which is a normal physiological process in healthy men. Generally speaking, a young man's penis will have about 4-6 erections per night, each lasting about 20-30 minutes, and the total erection can reach up to two and a half hours. As you age, the frequency and duration of penile erections decrease. This nocturnal penile erection is a spontaneous physiological phenomenon during sleep and is not subject to people's subjective will. So don't be nervous, and don't blindly use medicine to control it.

Generally speaking, men will have three to five erections every night, and each erection lasts an average of 15 minutes, but can last as long as an hour. As long as the structure and function of nerves, blood vessels and corpus cavernosum are normal, erection will occur.

Our internal organs are controlled by the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, and our sexual organs are no exception. Penile erection is controlled by the parasympathetic nerves of the sacral spinal cord. When the parasympathetic nerves are excited, the penis will become erect.

Both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems have a certain tone (i.e. a weak but persistent excitement) and they work against each other like a seesaw. When the sympathetic nerves are excited, the parasympathetic nerves are relatively inhibited; conversely, when the parasympathetic nerves are excited, the sympathetic nerves are relatively inhibited. During the day, the sympathetic nervous system is relatively dominant due to various stimuli from the environment; at night, when people are quiet and sleeping, especially during parasympathetic sleep, the parasympathetic nervous system is dominant, which will cause male penis erection and female vulva congestion. There are two popular sayings in the folk saying: "Men get up with bamboo poles at midnight, and women's lotus flowers bloom at midnight." This shows that our ancestors had already observed this physiological phenomenon. Therefore, penile erection after falling asleep at night is not pathological and does not require treatment.