What is ejaculation?
When a man becomes sexually excited the muscles at the base of the penis contract making him ejaculate. Ejaculation is also called coming or having an orgasm. Several things happen during ejaculation:
- First the semen mixes with sperm
- A valve closes to stop urine coming out the bladder
- The scrotum is pulled up closer to the body
- Heartbeat and breathing get faster
- Blood pressure increases
- Skin becomes flushed
- Nipples can get hard and sensitive
- The penis can redden
- A few drops of semen can appear at the end of your penis
- The muscles around the base of the penis can contract hard making semen to shoot out the end of it.
Young men and even babies can get erections if they touch and play with their penis. However, most young men only experience ejaculation for the first time between the ages of 10 and 18.
After ejaculation you may feel relaxed or sleepy, and you lose your erection. Your body usually needs time to rest before you can get another erection and this can take any time from a few minutes to a few hours or even a day or more. The older you are the longer it usually takes, although everyone is different.
Semen and sperm
Testes produce sperm and male sex hormones. They lie in a sac of skin called the scrotum, which hangs down between your legs. Testes hang outside the body to keep them cooler and encourage good sperm production. In fact the looser your underwear and clothes the better for sperm production.
Sperm take 70 to 80 days to develop and a mature sperm has a head and tail, making it look a bit like a tadpole. Sperm are very small (so small you can't see them with the naked eye) and once inside your partner's body they swim using their tails to try and find and fertilise the woman's egg.
Semen or spunk is the fluid that carries sperm. Ejaculation can often cause the semen to spurt out quite a distance, other times it just dribbles out. Semen can look clear and watery or it may be thick and almost yellow a times. No matter how many times you ejaculate you don't run out of sperm, although there will be fewer sperm in later ejaculations. With a few hours rest or sleep this store will build up again.
Wet dreams
Wet dreams usually occur at night. In fact it is normal for the penis to become hard and then soft again several times whilst asleep. It is also common to wake up with an erection. A wet dream simply means you ejaculate while you are asleep. You may find a wet or sticky patch on your pyjamas or bed when you wake up. Wet dreams are beyond your control and are perfectly normal.
