For as long as I can remember, whenever I’ve been especially tired-- as in, barely-holding-my-eyes-open tired–I find that I start to get an erection. There is nothing particularly arousing going on around me when it happens (it’s happened in classrooms, my office, and when I’m just lying on the couch). I’m also not (consciously) thinking about anything sexy.
I sense that I’m not alone in this, so I ask: What’s going on?
Don’t use guys and us in relation to this topic. This phenomena does not happen to me.
Hmm, I don’t think this has happened to me either…
Because you are actually falling asleep for a while.
And men in good health get spontaneous erections while sleeping.
At first I thought it had something to do with the “morning wood” phenomenon, but I thought it couldn’t be because I never actually went to sleep; I just felt really, really tired. But I suppose I could have been “micro-sleeping.”
Well, until your post, I didn’t realize it wasn’t common. I don’t make a habit out of asking other guys IRL about their erections.
But I think it’s still appropriate to use the word “guys” (unless something analogous happens to women that I also haven’t heard of) and “us”, since I’m sure that I’m not unique. If I am, then maybe some of the doctors on the board would like to write up my case for a paper.
But thanks for speaking for the rest of the guys on this board. I’m sure they appreciate it!
Well, it happens to me quite a lot. I actually find that being tired can sometimes also make me very horny.
I’ve gotten erections under a number of unusual circumstances, but that’s not one of them.
Are you sure it’s sleeping leading to an erection, and not an erection leading to sleeping?
“It’s not my fault there’s only enough blood for one of us to be awake!”
Ah, the sleepy boners. I do get them on occasion. If it’s in the afternoon, and I’m feeling warm, and I’m tired enough to fall asleep if I let myself, I’ll get one.
Why? Because it isn’t enough to get caught dozing off when you’re not supposed to; you need a throbbing erection to go along with it to maximize your embarrassment.
that’s odd, but so you don’t feel weird in the “strange time to get a boner” department, i get boners sometimes when i have pee really badly. TMI for all.
HAppens to me too, though I’m usually only that tired when working an overnight at work, so that’s clearly a bit odd. lol
Happens to me too… I don’t know
Never happened to me but I will often fall asleep for 10 minutes and wake up pitching a tent with the blanket. My boner votes for the “micro-sleeping” theory.
Maybe if I were in John Holmes territory, but sadly, no.
Me too. On days whene I’ve only had a few hours of sleep the night before, I get rock hard wood for no reason that I can think of. All day long.
[tap tap]
Hi guys, excuse my barging into your locker room like this and I’ll keep my eyes shut, but in case anybody was hoping to find any, like, actual research on this topic?
Oddly, the sleep deprivation/erection thing seems to be most studied in conjunction with cocaine use:
Thanks, Kimstu! I was hoping there was some research on the phenomenon. I tried to Google it, and found several similar questions and theories on other boards, but no one seemed to really know definitively.
I’m an illegal-drug-free night owl, so I guess it’s all about the lowering of inhibitions.
Oh, and thank you for quoting an article that brought The Rigiscan to my attention. Another win for science 
Not much to add really, just that I’ve experienced this a lot too.
Combined hijack and nitpick! In some parts of the country, “guys” isn’t specific to men. In the Midwest (at least where I grew up) it’s just a slightly less formal substitute for “people”. That might have been Wilbo523’s objection…