Morning wood, or the coveted morning erection, might be a prevalent thing for men. While some might feel uncomfortable waking up with a morning woody, others might feel sexually active and feel the urge to relieve themselves as soon as their eyes open. Either way, most of the times, men might relate to this habit since this is the body's natural course.

What causes a morning woody?

Men are quite used to the whole idea of waking up with morning wood. In fact, infants can also have erections at times. Men who have hit puberty will often find themselves getting a morning erection, as they hit a certain age.

Erections mostly happen during the sleep stage, often known as Rapid Eye Movement or REM. During the REM stage, the body's nervous system is put to the test. Parasympathetic nerves within the body are responsible for triggering the blood flow to the penis, causing it to become engorged with the blood rush. Since the last stage of the REM cycle is close to the body's awakening time, men might often wake up with a rock-hard erection.

The question now is, "is it normal to not have an erection in the morning, considering your sleep cycles have an important role to play in this mechanism?" Let's find out.

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Where did my morning erection go?

There are a few reasons, which might cause this normality to become an abnormality. Here are some things which might be the cause for worry (or maybe not, we let you decide either way).

1. Firstly, rest assured, if you wake up without a hard penis in the morning, there might be nothing to worry about. You might or might not be hard throughout the night, and the stage at which your sleep ended will decide if you have an erection in the morning or not.
2. Secondly, if this is continuing to become an everyday situation, then there might be chances for a worrying underlying concern. These might be symptoms of atherosclerosis, wherein plaque builds in the arteries, causing blood flow to dwindle and flow irregularly into the penis' tissues.
3. On the contrary, if you are suffering from erectile dysfunction, but are waking up with a full stiff boner, it might mean that your ED is more psychological in nature. To have successful erections, you need to maintain a delicate balance between your mental and physical conditions.
4. Additionally, there are also possibilities of testosterone deficiency within the body, which can be a side effect of heavy medications. If you are taking anti-depressants for battling depression or any other strong medication, there might be side effects. These should be addressed by a doctor as soon as possible.
5. Finally, as you cross over a certain age threshold (people in their 40s, mainly) might face this issue. As you age increases, your hormone levels decrease, which will take night boners with them. While this is nothing to worry about, you will still have normal erections during the day.

Losing your morning boner may or may not be such a bad thing after all. In the end, it all depends on how you want to perceive certain things in life.

Medically reviewed by Rishabh Verma, RP