Why do men get an erection upon waking up?

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• Most healthy men often wake up in the morning with an erection. "Morning wood" and "Morning Glory" are slang terms for this. Men have several erections a night as part of their sleep cycle. Many times they wake up and find they are still erect.
  
  
• A man's penis becomes erect in response to sexual arousal and excitement, but it can also become erect as a result of deep relaxation, such as that experienced in deep sleep called REM (rapid eye movement) -- a period of sleep during which you dream.
  
  
• An erection is caused by a rush of blood to the penis. A man's penis -- especially that of a young man -- can also become erect without any kind of arousing stimulation; this is known as "spontaneous erection."
  
  
• The male testosterone level is at its highest in the early morning during restful sleep, usually built up during the night and at its highest around 4-6 a.m. from my understanding.
  
  
• Many times it has to do with what you are dreaming about -- guys can be aroused in their sleep and have a nocturnal emission (wet dream). But most often it is because you have to urinate. Most guys wake up erect or semi-erect. It's normal.
  
  
• No, you do not get an erection because you need to pee. The erection and the need to pee are coincidental only. Think about it, do you get a hard-on everytime you need to pee? Guys get the morning erection during sleep because this is our most relaxed state, and it is easier to get an erection when fully relaxed.

Actually, Answerer, You do, and can get an erection by needing to pee. The Bladder gets full stretching and erecting the penis. Anyways, all the other answers were right ;)

Morning erections are technically nighttime erections which happen during Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep (when most dreaming occurs), although men older than sixty years may have them during even non-REM sleep. Generally, we experience four intervals of REM sleep per night. These spontaneous woodies in the wee hours are caused by specific neuroreflexes that are stimulated during REM sleep.

An erection has been proven to greatly relieve the pain of needing to urinate badly. So the next time you're in your car in a traffic jam and you REALLY need to go... just use your imagination. haha It works every time. It is partially why you have morning erections since it helps prevent you from peeing on yourself! Ever notice how difficult it is to urinate with an erection? Ever peed on yourself in bed since you hit puberty?

TRIVIA NOTE: the proper term for this phenomenon is Nocturnal Penile Tumescence!

it might be due to the dream you have been having that was perhaps about your girlfreind with no clothes on.

An alternative reason

The reason a man gets an erection in the mornings is one way to see if he is sterile, I went to the doctors with my wife to find out and that was one of the questions on the form I was given and they told me that it is a 98% chance that I am not sterile. and I thank god for that, but it is also a build up of testosterone in the male, more than likely though you will not have it if you have had a vasectomies.

First answer by ID1144344161. Last edit by Iluvsushyi14. Contributor trust: 1 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 32 [recommend question]