This article is about the biological function. For the sound art group, seeNocturnal Emissions. For the condition of excessive, accidental ejaculation, seespermatorrhea. For spontaneous ejaculation which does not occur during sleep, seeSpontaneous orgasm.
Nocturnal emissions can start as early as age ten,[2] and are most common duringadolescence and earlyyoung adult years, but they may happen any time afterpuberty. Men can wake up during a wet dream, or sleep through it, but for women, some researchers have added the requirement that they should awaken during the orgasm, and perceive that the orgasm happened before it counts as awet dream.Vaginal lubrication alone does not mean that the woman has had an orgasm.[3]
Owing to the difficulty in collectingejaculate produced during nocturnal emissions, relatively few studies have examined its composition.[4][5]
In the largest study, which included nocturnal emission samples from 10 men withidiopathicanejaculation, thesemen concentration was equivalent to samples obtained from the same men bypenile vibratory stimulation, although the proportions of sperm that weremotile, and that were of normal morphology, were higher in the nocturnal emission specimens.[4]
In a detailed study, men and women reported that roughly 8% of their everyday dreams contain some form of sexual-related activity. Four percent of sex dreams among both men and women resulted inorgasms.[6]
The frequency of nocturnal emissions is highly variable. Some reported that it is due to being sexually inactive for 5–26 weeks, with no engagement in either intercourse ormasturbation. Some males have experienced large numbers of nocturnal emissions as teenagers, while others have never experienced any. In the U.S., 83% of men experience nocturnal emissions at some time.[7]
For males who have experienced nocturnal emissions, the mean frequency ranges from 0.36 times per week (about once every three weeks) for single 15-year-old males to 0.18 times per week (about once every six weeks) for 40-year-old single males. For married males, the mean ranges from 0.23 times per week (about once per month) for 19-year-old married males to 0.15 times per week (about once every two months) for 50-year-old married males.[8]
InIndonesia, surveys have shown that 93% of men experience nocturnal emissions by the age of 24.[9]
Some males have the emissions only at a specific age, while others have them throughout their lives following puberty. The frequency with which one has nocturnal emissions has not been conclusively linked to the frequency of masturbation.Alfred Kinsey found:
"...some correlation between the frequencies of masturbation and the frequencies of nocturnal emissions. In general, the males who have the highest frequencies of nocturnal emissions may have somewhat lower rates of masturbation. [...] On the other hand, there is little evidence that high frequencies of masturbation reduce the frequencies of nocturnal emissions."[10]
One factor that can affect the number of nocturnal emissions males have is whether they taketestosterone-based drugs. In a 1998 study by Finkelsteinet al, 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.[11]
Thirteen percent of males experience their first ejaculation as a result of a nocturnal emission.[12] Kinsey found that males experiencing their first ejaculation through a nocturnal emission were older than those experiencing their first ejaculation by means ofmasturbation. The study indicates that such a first ejaculation resulting from a nocturnal emission was delayed a year or more from what would have been developmentally possible for such males through physical stimulation.[13]
In 1953, sex researcherAlfred Kinsey found that nearly 40% of the women he interviewed had had one or more nocturnal orgasms or wet dreams. Those who reported experiencing these said that they usually had them several times a year and that they first occurred as early as thirteen, and usually by the age of 21. Kinsey defined female nocturnal orgasm assexual arousal during sleep that awakens one to perceive the experience of orgasm.[3]
Research published by Barbara L. Wells in the 1986Journal of Sex Research indicates that as many as 85% of women have experienced nocturnal orgasm by the age of 21. This research was based on women waking up with or during orgasm.[citation needed]
Studies have found that males typically have more frequent spontaneous nocturnal sexual experiences than females. However, female wet dreams may also be more difficult to identify with certainty than male wet dreams because ejaculation is usually associated with male orgasm while vaginal lubrication may not indicate orgasm.[3][14]
Some examples of passages under theMosaic law of theHebrew Bible teach that under the law of Moses, a man who had a nocturnal emission incurredritual defilement (as with any other instance of ejaculation):
"If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean [Hebrewtameh] until the evening. And every garment and every skin on which the semen comes shall be washed with water and be unclean until the evening."
"When you are encamped against your enemies, then you shall keep yourself from every evil thing. If any man among you becomes unclean [Hebrewlo yihyeh tahor, literally 'will not be clean'] because of a nocturnal emission [literally: 'by reason of what happens to him by night'], then he shall go outside the camp. He shall not come inside the camp, but when evening comes, he shall bathe himself in water, and as the sun sets, he may come inside the camp."
The first of these is part of a passage[17] stating similar regulations about sexual intercourse andmenstruation. Leviticus 12 makes similar regulations about childbirth.[citation needed]
A third passage relates more specifically topriests, requiring any "of the offspring ofAaron who has ... a discharge", among other causes of ritual defilement, to abstain from eating holy offerings until after a ritual immersion in amikveh and until the subsequent nocturnal emission.[18]
In Judaism, theTikkun HaKlali, also known as "The General Remedy", is a set of ten Psalms designed in 1805 byRebbe Nachman, whose recital is intended to serve asrepentance for nocturnal emissions.[citation needed]
Saint Augustine held that male nocturnal emissions, unlikemasturbation, did not pollute the conscience of a man, because they were not voluntary carnal acts, and were therefore not to be considered asin.[19]
"For there is no one who while sleeping does not regard some of the images formed by his imagination as though they were real, as stated above... ...Wherefore what a man does while he sleeps and is deprived of reason's judgment, is not imputed to him as a sin, as neither are the actions of a maniac or an imbecile."
The Hindu text suggests those who had nocturnal emissions to bathe and chant mantras praying to return their virility.For Buddhist monks, masturbation is against the vinaya, but a nocturnal emission is not. During the third Buddhist council, it was suggested that having wet dreams as anArhat does not count as an offence.[20]
Traditional East Asian medicine considered it problematic because it was considered to be an act of evil spirits that tried to rob the life of a person. The literature suggests a "cure" for nocturnal emissions, which prescribes fried leek seeds three times a day.[21]
^"Knowledge about Human Reproduction and Experience of Puberty"(PDF).Indonesia Young Adult Reproductive Health Survey 2002–2003. Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS-Statistics Indonesia), Jakarta, Indonesia; National Family Planning Coordinating Board, Jakarta, Indonesia; Ministry of Health, Jakarta, Indonesia, ORC Macro, Calverton, Maryland, U.S. p. 27.Archived(PDF) from the original on 2012-12-09. Retrieved2011-04-07.
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