Find out how wet dreams affect your sexual health.
A wet dream—or in stricter medical terms, a nocturnal emission—is a spontaneous orgasm that occurs while you're sleeping and may include ejaculation for men or vaginal dampness or an orgasm (or both) for women.
During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, nocturnal emissions happen following stressful nightmares that activate the sympathetic nervous system and cause an orgasm. The most typical age to have wet dreams is adolescence, but they can occur at any point following puberty.
The causes of wet dreams include the following:
While you're asleep, a powerful sex dream can lead to unconscious physical activity, such as rubbing yourself against your hands or sheets, to simulate the sexual activity in your dream. This could lead to an orgasm in both men and women. Ejaculation is frequently accompanied by orgasm in males. In females, the urethra may occasionally leak a clear fluid.
If your bedsheets or underwear are damp from semen or vaginal fluid when you wake up, it's a sign you may have experienced a wet dream. A person may awaken from an orgasm if it is powerful enough, but most likely, they'll simply continue dreaming and only realize what's happened when they wake up.
Wet dreams are most prevalent during adolescence—the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood—when sex hormones are spiking, or during periods of sexual abstinence.
Nothing can be done to control or stop wet dreams. However, once you start releasing sperm by having sex or masturbating, you may have fewer wet dreams.
You also might have fewer of them if you avoid sleeping on your stomach and instead sleep on your back or side.
People have wet dreams at different rates, and some may never have a wet dream. Others report that they have frequent wet dreams.
There is no "normal" frequency for wet dreams.
Wet dreams are normal and should not be a cause for concern. Nocturnal emissions do not impact male or female fertility, and they are not a sign of any underlying disease or disorder.
If you're feeling especially anxious about having wet dreams, consider speaking with a licensed sex therapist.
A man or woman might be pleased, confused or perhaps disturbed by their wet dreams. Wet dreams are normal and very common. Having a wet dream does not mean you have any type of sexual dysfunction.
There isn't an abundance of research on wet dreams, and adolescents are rarely asked about them.
Masturbating is likely to slow down or stop wet dreams.
If your partner has the occasional wet dream, help them relax and feel comfortable with it.
It is typical, and most people go through comparable experiences at various times throughout their life. Your partner's stress at work could be to blame for the increased likelihood of nocturnal emissions if there is less sexual frequency while awake.
If your partner has a nocturnal emission after dreaming about having sex with someone else, it doesn't signify cheating. It was simply a dream; none of it actually occurred and nothing in their dream should be held against them. We can't control our unconscious mind any more than we can stop the unwelcome thoughts we sometimes have during the day.
You cannot stop nocturnal emissions since they happen while you are asleep. If you are concerned about having a wet dream, try sleeping with a towel nearby. If you are sleeping at someone else's house, bring a change of underwear with you.
Most men have fewer wet dreams as they get older. Wet dreams are not a sign of a health problem, and they do not cause any harm. However, some people find them to be confusing and embarrassing. Don't hesitate to ask a doctor or therapist if you have questions about wet dreams.
Around the age of 10 or 11, girls and boys begin to mature. In boys, this means the penis and testicles enlarge during puberty and the body starts producing sperm. In girls, their bodies begin changing, hormones begin to activate and unconscious libidos are set in motion. There is no set age for nocturnal emissions, but for most people, they occur during adolescence between the ages of 12 and 19.
Most males have wet dreams during puberty and sometimes as adults. However, as boys reach the end of puberty, they tend to have wet dreams less frequently. They may completely stop. A lack of sex or masturbation can result in wet dreams, so if you're masturbating or having sex regularly, they may go away. Wet dreams can be triggered by friction or a full bladder.
