Last updated on October 9, 2020
Question:
To put this bluntly, sir, I have a few concerns regarding my genitalia as of late.
I’ve noticed that I’ve been getting more and more erections, to the point where it’s quite noticeable how often I have them, and these erections can happen with even the slightest of stimulation, such as it lightly rubbing against my underwear when I switch sides in the bed I sleep on. I’ve even been getting erections while exercising, which makes it somewhat of a pain, having to exercise and keep an erection under control at the same time. It was to my understanding that erections were nearly impossible while doing any form of physical labor. What adds concern to this issue is that I just masturbated last night, and yet had a strong erection while trying to exercise, so the fact that my erections are coming back so easily and strongly worries me a bit.
One last thing I want to mention is that I’ve noticed my penis is a little bit longer when flaccid. I’m a grower, so it is usually very small when not erect; yet, it has become slightly more thick and elongated even when not erect.
I just don’t understand why my penis seems to act as a loaded gun all of the time. Is there something wrong here or am I just overreacting? I know you must be used to these kinds of questions, but I want to apologize anyway that all of my questions have been regarding my privates.
Thanks.
Answer:
As you develop, you gain the ability to have noticeable erections, but the body doesn’t know when those erections are needed. For a period of time, those erections come frequently in inconvenient situations, and are called “spontaneous erections.” As you’ve noticed, anything and everything seems to trigger them. It will eventually calm down, but it will be a while.
Men normally get erections while they sleep — typically 4 to 5 erections each night. They occur as you go into the dream stages of sleep, so having erections in bed is normal. If they are uncomfortable, then switch to sleeping in something looser, such as boxers or loose pajama bottoms without underwear.
Erections are a combination of a muscle clamping down on the vein that lets blood flow from your penis back to your heart and an increase in blood pressure. The two causes the penis to inflate with blood. When you exercise, it is typical for guys to get tense, and early on your body tenses more muscles than it needs to — including the muscle that triggers erections. At the same time, your workout is causing you to breathe harder and raise your blood pressure. Therefore, erections are easier to get during a workout.
Right after you ejaculate, your body has to go through a recovery period. This allows the blood that was being held in the penis to return to the lungs to get oxygen. When you are young the recovery period is generally short — about an hour or even less. As you get older the recovery period will get longer. You will get erections, even when you don’t need to ejaculate, but when you do need to ejaculate the erections will come more easily and more frequently.
I don’t know where you are at in your development, but during stage 3 you not only gain height, your penis grows in length. During stage 4 your penis grows bigger in girth. This growth shows up not only during erections, but also when your penis is flaccid. In addition, your penis tends to stay bigger for a while after an erection because it gets stretched out a bit.