At first you may have worried that you wet the bed. But this late night surprise is totally normal. Wet dreams can be embarrassing and confusing, but ejaculating during sleep is fairly common during and right after puberty and happens less often or not at all as men grow up.

What are wet dreams?

A wet dream is when a person ejaculates while they’re asleep. Usually, a wet dream happens while a person is having a dream about sex. While a person is sleeping, they don’t have control over what they dream about or what their body is doing. In fact, during wet dreams, it’s possible to ejaculate without masturbating or touching the penis!

Why do wet dreams happen?

Essentially, wet dreams happen when people experience sexual arousal during sleep. This is especially common for men, as its natural for men to experience erections during the deepest phase of sleep called “REM”. Combine that with a sexy dream, and there’s a good chance a wet dream will be the result.
Wet dreams are most frequent in young men going through puberty because that’s when the body starts producing the male hormone testosterone. Once the body makes testosterone, it can release sperm. Biologically, this is a sign that a man will be able to fertilize an egg if he decides to have a baby in the future. It also means a man can potentially get a girl pregnant if they have sex unprotected sex.
During puberty, it’s common for young males to start having erections at all different times of the day — in school, while watching TV, in the shower, without having much control over it. A person can even have an erection while they sleep. Semen can build up inside the body and going without orgasms for a while can increase the likelihood of wet dreams. It’s the body’s way of getting rid of old sperm, to make sure the sperm inside is fresh.

And guess what, women can have them too!

Yes, it’s true! Women may experience less wet dreams than men do, but some research suggests that as many as 85% of women will experience a wet dream by the time they are 21. For women, these dreams tend to be less “wet”, but are equally intense. They can happen during adolescence and throughout adulthood, but are also more common at a younger age.

Wet dreams are a normal part of growing up. There’s nothing a person can do to control or stop wet dreams. It’s embarrassing and likely annoying in the moment, but it’s a completely normal thing to experience. Once a person starts ejaculating through masturbation or having sex with a partner, they’ll likely experience fewer wet dreams. But even it occurs in adulthood, it’s not something to worry about.

Also read: Is Porn Improving Your Sex Life or, Is It Not? (porn is not a sex education article link)

Click here to learn more about puberty
Click here to learn more about male anatomy.

Ref: https://teens.webmd.com/boys/wet-dream-faq#1
http://www.issm.info/sexual-health-qa/do-women-have-wet-dreams/
https://melmagazine.com/the-messy-science-of-wet-dreams-a2476c724556