Last updated on August 13, 2020
Question:
Thanks so much for your confidence and advice. I have just a few physical questions left. I know you spoke about occurrences depending upon each individual man, but I wonder how many times in a week is unusual. Last night was the third in a row and I fear tonight will make the fourth. This is just such a nuisance and I would love to be able to do something about it.
My other question deals with the penis itself. Yesterday morning, I had what looked like sore, raw skin, on the edge of my penis. I’m sure it came about because of what I had done the night before. Is there anything I can do about this? Lubrication? Or something protective? I’m just unsure how to proceed from here.
Thanks so much, again for all your help.
Answer
The frequency of nocturnal emissions is greatly dependent on the rate at which you produce semen. Thus, if you watching, hearing, reading, or thinking about sexy things your production rate will go up and you will have them more frequently. But at the moment, you are at a point in life when sexual feelings intrude even in non-sexual events. Your hormone production hasn’t leveled off yet, so it will spike once in a while. Add to this a brain still trying to figure out exactly what is sexy, and the late teenage years are a time a male produces more semen than needed.
I found one survey that says 83% of men over 14 have nocturnal emissions and that the average young man has about 17 nocturnal emissions per year (a little less than twice a month). The problem is that most young men masturbate, either for the pleasure of it or to keep the sexual urges under control. The result is that masturbation decreases the number of nocturnal emissions. Since you feel that masturbation is wrong, you are going to have a higher number of nocturnal emissions — the semen is going to come out one way or another. Even with masturbation decreasing the number of nocturnal emissions, young men still end up having one or two each month. Another survey found that the average male had 13 ejaculations per month over a lifetime. But the range went to over 21 ejaculations per month. 13 ejaculations per month mean three releases of semen per week. Since nocturnal emissions are your only form of release, you can see why you are having so many of them.
If it is any consolation, that same survey found that men with a high rate of ejaculations per month also have the lowest risk for prostate cancer when they are old. Men who ejaculated 5 to 7 times per week were 36% less likely to develop prostate cancer than men who ejaculated less than 2 times per week. (See: Frequent Ejaculation may be Good for the Prostate for more details.)
The raw skin is because you are rubbing your penis on the sheets in your sleep. You should use anti-bacterial ointment on the raw areas until they heal. Apply it twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. I would suggest getting some silk boxers to wear at night, since they are less irritating to the skin, but since you have the tendency to strip in your sleep, it isn’t going to help in your case.