Wet dreams: top five facts

What is a wet dream? 

Wet dreams (also known as nocturnal emissions or ‘night fall’) are spontaneous ejaculations in your sleep. With or without an erection, semen comes out of your dick. It will leave a wet patch in your bed. You haven’t peed in bed, but you had cum!

For some boys, a wet dream can be the first time they ejaculate. You can even have wet dreams without dreaming about sex.

Read more about ejaculation and how your body changes on the inside during puberty.

Are wet dreams normal?

There is nothing wrong with having wet dreams. They are a normal part of growing up. Even if you have a lot of wet dreams it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. And they don’t have any bad effects on your health.

Some people have wet dreams a few times a week. Others may only have a couple of wet dreams during their entire lifetime. The older you get, the fewer wet dreams you will have.

There is a ‘cure’

Because in some cultures and religions wet dreams are seen as something bad and unhealthy, people often try to get rid of wet dreams with home remedies. For example herbal supplements or giving up watching television or eating meat. None of these will help!

But actually, there is one thing that will reduce the chances of having wet dreams: masturbation! The more you masturbate, the fewer wet dreams you will have, research shows. And for the record – masturbating won’t do you any harm at all either.

Women and wet dreams

Most people think wet dreams are something only men will experience, but oh no, it’s not true! Up to 40 per cent of all women will have ‘wet dreams’ at some point in their lives. The vagina then becomes wet and lubricated.

Women can even have intense orgasms at night, which may or may not be triggered by sexual dreams. And just like the men’s wet dreams, they are normal and nothing to worry about!

Read more about how women have wet dreams too.

Censored dreams

Your brain can censor your sexual dreams! So you may think your dreams aren’t sexual, but instead, your brain may just be masking sexual symbols. Men, for example, may not dream about vaginas, but instead of tunnels and subways. And women dreaming of cigars, chimneys, and rockets may, in fact, be dreaming about penises!

Next time you have a wet dream and you can just remember dreaming of nice, rolling hillsides and mountains, think again – your brain may have censored a dream about breasts!

This seems to happen more to people who think talking, and dreaming explicitly about sex is frowned upon.

Guys: how did you react when you had your first wet dream? Girls: have you had an orgasm in your sleep? Leave a comment here or join in the Facebook discussion!