Every man enjoys morning wood, and every man should be worried if he has dead wood. These erections have little to do with urinating, instead, they are helping the penis stay healthy by bringing arterial blood flow into it. Morning wood is the doctor’s old-fashioned sign of sexual health. But what about the erections when we are asleep? If they could talk, what would our penises tell us in the morning?
Nocturnal erections happen when we sleep, typically during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. In addition to signaling quality sleep, doctors believe that they contribute to penile health. This is the 21st century and wearables help track heart rate, blood sugar, sleep, and many other metrics. Now it’s time to track and learn from our nighttime erections.
Bryan Johnson, the ultra-fit bio hacker wonder man, who spends millions each year on his fitness and health, has mainstreamed awareness of nocturnal erections. In his press releases, he claims he must have the penis of an 18-year-old, since he has the same number of nocturnal erections as an 18-year-old. According to Rigiscan studies by urologists, younger men average 5-7 per night; older men 3-4. FirmTech’s more recent data set from their TechRing indicates that many older men in good health have 5+ and are just as hard as they were when they were teenagers.
The number of nocturnal erections is a leading indicator of a man’s cardiovascular, diabetic, and sexual health. “Leading” means that before a man has a heart attack, a stroke, or organ damage from diabetes, it is likely that this number will go down. So, following the number of nocturnal erections is important and potentially even lifesaving.
In the past, doctors had to use a device called Rigiscan in a sleep lab to get overnight data. This device has wires that come out of box and wrapped around your penis. Now men can wear smart wearables overnight in their own bed under real circumstances to assess and track their nocturnal erections. The Adam-Sensor by Adam Health can count the number and duration of them. The TechRing by FirmTech can measure the number and duration as well as their firmness, and uploads the information onto their app. In addition, it can also be worn during penetration and solo sex, for data about your performance.
With all this data, men can assess the impact of medications (for blood pressure, anti-depressants, Finasteride), diseases, diet, alcohol, and even relationships, upon their performance. Instead of opinions and speculations, objective data can inform their decisions about dosages, injectables, pills and topicals. Doctors can use this data as diagnostic and treatment aids.
“Real time ambulatory or at home recording of erectile activity is highly innovative and has the potential to revolutionize the management of men’s sexual health and in a broader sense, general vascular health”. John Mulhall, MD Chief of Andrology, Memorial Sloan Kettering.
If you don’t have a problem, you want to know your baseline number of nocturnal erections so you can track it over your life and react to changes, just like you want to note a change in blood pressure. If you do have a problem, you can use data potentially to stop or even reverse it. If you have ED and you have ample nocturnal erections, the problem is likely psychological. If your nocturnal erections are weak and scant, you should see a doctor for an evaluation.
“Point of care recording has the potential to do for ED what Fitbit, Garmin, and the Apple watch did for health.” James Hotaling, MD, Professor of Urology, University of Utah
Isn’t it time to get a “Dick Bit?” With personal 21st century erection data, men can achieve better sexual performance and health.
When you can track it, you can hack it.
