nocturnal emission

A wet dream, sex dream, or sleep orgasm, is a spontaneous occurrence of sexual arousal during sleep that includes ejaculation (nocturnal emission) and orgasm for a male, and vaginal lubrication and/or orgasm for a female.

Context

Nocturnal emissions can happen after stressful dreams in REM sleep which activate the sympathetic nervous system, hence leading to ejaculation. They can also happen after sex dreams.

Nocturnal emissions can start as early as age ten, and are most common during adolescence and early young adult years, but they may happen any time after puberty. Men can wake up during a wet dream, or sleep through it, but for women, some researchers have added the requirement that they should awaken during the orgasm, and perceive that the orgasm happened before it counts as a ''wet dream''. Vaginal lubrication alone does not mean that the woman has had an orgasm.

Composition

Due to the difficulty in collecting ejaculate produced during nocturnal emissions, relatively few studies have examined its composition.

In the largest study, which included nocturnal emission samples from 10 men with idiopathic anejaculation, the semen concentration was equivalent to samples obtained from the same men by penile vibratory stimulation, although the proportions of sperm which were motile, and which were of normal morphology, were higher in the nocturnal emission specimens.

Frequency

In a detailed study, men and women reported that roughly 8% of their everyday dreams contain some form of sexual-related activity. 4% of sex dreams among both men and women resulted in orgasms.

In males

The frequency of nocturnal emissions is highly variable. Some reported that it is due to being sexually inactive for 5–26 weeks, with no engagement in either intercourse or masturbation. Some males have experienced large numbers of nocturnal emissions as teenagers, while others have never experienced any. In the U.S., 83% of men experience nocturnal emissions at some time.

For males who have experienced nocturnal emissions, the mean frequency ranges from 0.36 times per week (about once every three weeks) for single 15-year-old males to 0.18 times per week for 40-year-old single males. For married males, the mean ranges from 0.23 times per week (about once per month) for 19-year-old married males to 0.15 times per week (about once every two months) for 50-year-old married males.

In Indonesia surveys have shown that 93% of men experience nocturnal emissions by the age of 24.

Some males have the emissions only at a specific age, while others have them throughout their lives following puberty. The frequency with which one has nocturnal emissions has not been conclusively linked to the frequency of masturbation. Alfred Kinsey found:

One factor that can affect the number of nocturnal emissions males have is whether they take testosterone-based drugs. In a 1998 study by Finkelstein ''et al'', the number of boys reporting nocturnal emissions drastically increased as their testosterone doses were increased, from 17% of subjects with no treatment to 90% of subjects at a high dose.

Thirteen percent of males experience their first ejaculation as a result of a nocturnal emission. Kinsey found that males experiencing their first ejaculation through a nocturnal emission were older than those experiencing their first ejaculation by means of masturbation. The study indicates that such a first ejaculation resulting from a nocturnal emission was delayed a year or more from what would have been developmentally possible for such males through physical stimulation.

In females

In 1953, sex researcher Alfred Kinsey found that nearly 40% of the women he interviewed had had one or more nocturnal orgasms or wet dreams. Those who reported experiencing these said that they usually had them several times a year and that they first occurred as early as thirteen, and usually by the age of 21. Kinsey defined female nocturnal orgasm as sexual arousal during sleep that awakens one to perceive the experience of orgasm.

Research published by Barbara L. Wells in the 1986 '' Journal of Sex Research'' indicates that as many as 85% of women have experienced nocturnal orgasm by the age of 21. This research was based on women waking up with or during orgasm.

Studies have found that males typically have more frequent spontaneous nocturnal sexual experiences than females. However, female wet dreams may also be more difficult to identify with certainty than male wet dreams because ejaculation is usually associated with male orgasm while vaginal lubrication may not indicate orgasm.

Cultural views

Numerous cultural and religious views have been advanced related to nocturnal emissions. Below is a limited summary of some perspectives.

Jewish and Samaritan

Some examples of passages under the Mosaic law of the Hebrew Bible

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