Nocturnal emission
From Freepedia
A nocturnal emission is an ejaculation of semen experienced by males 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 6 subjects with no treatment to 23 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, 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, they were 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 quacks, especially herb healers, continue to diagnose and advise treatments for cases of spermatorrhoea.
Christian view
Unlike masturbation, which most orthodox Christians believe to be sinful, Saint Augustine held that nocturnal emissions did not pollute the conscience of an individual and were not voluntary carnal acts and were therefore not to be considered a sin. Augustine did, however, pray that he may be released from the "glue of lust" and thus recommended the beseechment of God's assistance in clearing one's soul of all such carnal affections.
On the other hand, some parts of the Bible refer directly to nocturnal emission in a negative light, calling it "impure" and "unclean" and describing it not unlike a highly contagious disease that can only be cured by an extravagant ceremony. For example:
- When you are encamped against your enemies, keep away from everything impure. If one of you becomes unclean because of a nocturnal emission, then he shall go outside the camp; he must not come within the camp. When evening comes, he shall wash himself with water, and when the sun has set, he may come back into the camp."
- — Deuteronomy 23.10-11
- When any man has a discharge from his member, his discharge makes him ceremonially unclean. [ . . . ] Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean; and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. Anyone who touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. All who sit on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. All who touch the body of the one with the discharge shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. If the one with the discharge spits on persons who are clean, then they shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. Any saddle on which the one with the discharge rides shall be unclean. All who touch anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening, and all who carry such a thing shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. All those whom the one with the discharge touches without his having rinsed his hands in water shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. Any earthen vessel that the one with the discharge touches shall be broken; and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
- When the one with a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, he shall count seven days for his cleansing; he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in fresh water, and he shall be clean. On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and come before the Lord to the entrance of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. The priest shall offer them, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the Lord for his discharge.
- If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water, and be unclean until the evening. Everything made of cloth or of skin on which the semen falls shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the evening.
- — Leviticus 15
Some Christians have taken this as sufficient evidence to call nocturnal emission a sin, despite it being completely involuntary. However, the Deuteronomy quote is somewhat out of context, and Leviticus goes on to make similar statements about menstruation that are largely ignored by modern Christians. A modern theory is that these clauses were added to encourage good hygiene and help prevent real disease; indeed, if the person having the discharge were carrying a contagious disease, much of the above is good advice for effectively quarantining it. It's also possible that some of the above is referring to not a discharge of semen but of blood or other substance indicating disease. Even the phrase "nocturnal emission" may be a mistranslation of a more dangerous type of emission.
