Typically, wet dreams are thought of as being something specific to people with penises, but people with vulvas can also orgasm while having wet dreams, notes Yafi. Ingber notes one 2020 study where “those who watched more than 3 hours of TV per day were more likely to have experienced NE.”) Can only men have wet dreams?

(An aside: There have been some interesting studies on wet dreams. Now while wet dreams tend to become more infrequent with age, “if they suddenly start increasing in frequency in adulthood, this might be a reflection of hormonal changes or potentially significant sexual stimulation prior to sleep,” Yafi adds. “Wet dreams are more common during adolescence and around puberty when hormonal changes are common and decrease with age as hormones become more stabilized,” Yafi adds. This is due to changes in hormones level. “In general, just like the ability to maintain an erection wanes over time, the frequency of nocturnal emissions also decreases with older age,” Ingber says. The frequency of wet dreams can vary depending on a person's sexual activity, age, and hormone levels, Brahmbhatt says. Only two-thirds (66.3%) of men reported ever having a wet dream in data collected from the 2014 National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior. “However, one theory is that erotic dreams occur during a portion of REM sleep that cause ejaculation.” Still, not every person with a penis gets wet dreams. “Nocturnal emissions aren't fully understood,” Ingber says. Together, these three urologists helped to explain why we have adult wet dreams, if wet dreams are healthy, and why you may actually see an increase in wet dreams as you age. Yafi, M.D., the medical director of the Department of Urology Men’s Health Program at UC Irvine Health, and medical advisor to Promescent.

To learn all about wet dreams, and specifically why you get wet dreams as an adult, we not only spoke to Ingber and Brahmbhatt, but also Faysal A. “This happens when the sympathetic nervous system is discharged, which causes ejaculation.” “Ejaculate fluid comes mostly from the seminal vesicles which sit behind the prostate, and additional fluid comes from the prostate itself,” Ingber says. Wet dreams (or in the medical field they're called 'nocturnal emissions,') work the same as when you ejaculate and orgasm while you’re awake.

From a dream into orgasm