All men experience this phenomenon of morning erection, it is normal. But have you ever wondered why and how does this happen every morning? Sciencepost gives you the scientific explanation. At the risk of disappointing you, we can already tell you that this daily morning erection is not due to sexual arousal. To what then?
A story of muscles and REM sleep
Every night we go through three to six phases of REM sleep of about 20 minutes.
During these phases of REM sleep, the body follows a kind of program of reactions even when we sleep. These can be, for example, incoherent eye movements, the triggering of dreams and above all the complete relaxation of the muscles. But, if all the muscles of the body are resting, how can a sleeping man be hard?
Only muscles relax during REM sleep. When they are active or « awakened », one of the roles of the muscles of the cavernous bodytwo spongy and extensible tissues located in the penis, is control the flow of blood to the penis. Thus, REM sleep prevents erection control.
It is therefore awake and thanks to the role of the muscles of the cavernous bodies of the penis that men escape permanent erection!
5 erections per night on average
Know that nocturnal penile tumescence or nocturnal erection, that is to say, the spontaneous occurrence of an erection of the penis during sleep or awakening, is essential to ensure the oxygenation of cellular tissues. The same phenomenon would occur, much less visible in the woman with the clitoris, but who does not have the possibility of « raise the marquee » like these gentlemen…
With Doctor Tamalou