Nocturnal emission
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A nocturnal emission is an ejaculation of semen experienced during
sleep. It is also called a "wet dream", an involuntary orgasm, or
simply an orgasm during sleep.
Nocturnal emissions are most common during teenage and early adult
years. However, nocturnal emissions may happen any time after
puberty, not just adolescence and early adulthood. They may or may
not be accompanied by erotic dreams. Some males will wake during
the ejaculation, while others will sleep through the event.
The source of nocturnal emissions is not known. A common theory,
tacitly assumed by many researchers, is that they are the direct
result of the stimulation caused by either erotic dreams or
memories of waking sexual activities.[1] For this reason the term
wet dream (but not the others) is also used figuratively for
something very pleasurable but often imagined or hoped for.
However, there has been little experimental evidence to support
this theory, and many men claim to have had nocturnal emissions
without accompanying erotic dreams. Another common theory is that
wet dreams are the way the body disposes of "built-up" semen, to
make room for more. However, the body does not in fact need to do
this, as is evident from the many men who ejaculate only on rare
occasions.
The frequency of nocturnal emissions is highly variable. Some men
have experienced large numbers of nocturnal emissions as teenagers,
while some men have never experienced one in their lives. Men who
experience wet dreams more (or less) frequently than others usually
do not have any sort of disease or problem. Some have them only at
a certain age, while others have them throughout their lives
following puberty. Contrary to popular belief, the frequency that
one has nocturnal emissions has not been conclusively linked to
one's frequency of masturbation, although widely-known sex
researcher Alfred Kinsey controversially claimed that a correlation
exists. At least for women, Kinsey's own results seem to contradict
this: "[A]ccording to Kinsey's findings, women who suddenly lost
the opportunity for several coital orgasms per week had only a few
more orgasms in their sleep per year." [2]
One factor that can affect the number of nocturnal emissions a
person has is whether they take testosterone-based drugs. In a 1998
study, 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.[3]
Whereas an ejaculation normally terminates an erection, in the case
of nocturnal emission, the subject often still has a functional
erection afterward.
Although purported treatments to help prevent or diminish nocturnal
emissions are available in abundance, none are known to have
undergone any kind of rigorous experimentation or approval process
such as that required by the Food and Drug Administration. Like the
hiccups, there are a huge variety of "home remedies" with no
scientific basis. Moreover, because no physical harm is caused by
the act and it is not symptomatic of any underlying problem, it is
generally considered unadvisable to undergo any sort of treatment
except in cases of severe psychological trauma.
Involuntary orgasms can, more rarely, occur during waking hours and
in women as well as men. The German word Pollution (= SamenerguĂ),
which does not have the same meaning as the English word
"pollution", describes all these involuntary orgasms
collectively.1
Spermatorrhoea
In the 18th and 19th century, if a patient had involuntary orgasms
frequently or released more semen than is typical, then he was
diagnosed with a disease called spermatorrhoea or seminal weakness.
A variety of drugs and other treatments, including circumcision and
castration, were advised to treat this "disease", which was in
reality completely harmless biologically.2,3 Some modern doctors,
especially herb healers, continue to diagnose and advise treatments
for cases of spermatorrhoea, but as noted above these treatments
are neither validated by thorough experimentation nor even
generally necessary.
[edit]
In other cultures
A recent study by Moazzam Ali et al showed that many adolescents
living in relatively isolated communities in Pakistan had developed
strong convictions that nocturnal emission is a dangerous
disease:
"[They] considered night emissions a major sex related disease in
the adolescent years. A few shared experiences where they had
borrowed or even stolen money from home to get prolonged and
expensive treatment from traditional healers for night emissions
and masturbationâ.4
