Dr Alverston Bailey, ContributorA nocturnal emission is an ejaculation of semen experienced by a male during sleep. It is also called a wet dream, a sex dream, an involuntary orgasm, or simply an orgasm during sleep.
In medieval Western occultism, nocturnal emissions were believed to be caused by succumbs' coupling with the individual at night, an event associated with night terrors.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, 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.
Saint Augustine held that nocturnal emissions, unlike masturbation, did not pollute the conscience of a man, because they were not voluntary carnal acts, and were therefore not to be considered a sin.
Sex dreams in men
During puberty, 13 per cent 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
However, nocturnal emissions may happen any time after puberty. They may be accompanied by erotic dreams, and the emission may happen without erection. Whereas an ejaculation normally terminates an erection, in the case of nocturnal emission, the man often still has a functional erection afterward. It is possible to wake up during, or to simply sleep through the ejaculation.
The frequency of nocturnal emissions is quite variable. Some men experience large numbers of nocturnal emissions as teenagers, while others have never experienced one. In the United States, it is estimated that 83 per cent of men will eventually experience nocturnal emissions at some time in their lives.
Surveys in non-Western countries where masturbation is culturally suppressed revealed that 98 per cent or more of the men eventually experience nocturnal emissions.
For males who have experienced nocturnal emissions the mean frequency ranges from 0.36 times per week for single 15-year-old men to 0.18 times per week for 40-year-old single men.
For married men the mean ranges from 0.23 times per week for 19-year-old married men to 0.15 times per week for 50-year-old married men.
Some have the dreams only at a certain age, while others have them throughout their lives following puberty. The frequency of nocturnal emissions has not been conclusively linked to the frequency of masturbation. World-renowned sex researcher Alfred Kinsey found that "there may be some correlation between the frequencies of masturbation and the frequencies of nocturnal dreams.
"In general the males who have the highest frequencies of nocturnal emissions may have somewhat lower rates of masturbation. Some of these males credit the frequent emissions to the fact that they do not masturbate; but it is just as likely that the reverse relationship is true, namely, that they do not masturbate because they have frequent emissions."
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 per cent of subjects with no treatment to 90 per cent of subjects at a high dose.
Sex dreams in women
In 1953, a study by Kinsey found that 40 per cent of women experienced at least one orgasm during sleep by the age of 45, and a 1986 study published in the Journal of Sex Research found that 85 per cent of women who have experienced orgasms during sleep first did so at a young age - before the age of 21, and some before 13.
According 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.
What causes sex dreams?
The causes of sex dreams is not entirely known, but it is associated with the fact that males typically get an erection often during sleep (this is called nocturnal penile tumescence).
A common theory proposed by some researchers is that they are the direct result of the stimulation caused by either erotic dreams, or memories of waking sexual activities. For this reason, the term wet dream is also used figuratively for something very pleasurable but imagined. However, there has been limited experimental evidence to support this theory, and many men claim to have had nocturnal emissions without having erotic dreams.
Another common theory is that wet dreams are the way the body disposes of "built-up" semen. However, such a theory is unclear as studies have shown that there was no significant difference observed in wet dream frequency between men who ejaculated frequently while awake and those who never did.
Furthermore, according to the Singapore Science Centre, sperm cells "degenerate and are reabsorbed (broken down and absorbed by the body) in the seminiferous tubules if they are not ejaculated."
If you are having sex dreams and are experiencing anxiety qualms please remember that:
Wet dreams are normal Girls also get wet dreams, but they are more common in boys. Masturbation can, but will not necessarily, stop frequent wet dreams. Some experts believe that wet dreams are one of the many subconscious ways that the body handles stress - they seem to happen more frequently in teens and young adults because this age group is thought to be stress prone. Wet dreams are not induced by drugs. Wet dreams do not suggest a sexual abnormality or mean you are sexually deviant.
The type of wet dreams you have does not reflect your sexual orientation. Dr Alverston Bailey is a medical doctor and is also the immediate past president of the Medical Association of Jamaica. Send comments to editor@gleanerjm.com or Fax: 922-6223.
