Dear Reader,

Just because you pitch a tent doesn't mean you're ready to go camping. In other words, yes — men can have erections without feeling sexually excited or horny. These erections, a.k.a. spontaneous erections, are perfectly normal and common, popping up when guys are eating dinner, being called on in class to write on the board or to stand up and recite, riding a bike, watching a movie, reading, sleeping, talking with grandma, or doing just about anything else. After a few seconds or minutes, they usually go away on their own.

Sometimes the feel of a new pair of underwear or a deep sense of relaxation can cause an erection, but more often than not, hormones are at the root of unexpected hard-ons. When boys go through puberty, hormones surge in their bodies and cause erections that are not under their control; these spontaneous erections decrease in frequency as guys age.

It's also perfectly normal and common for teenage and adult men to wake up in the morning with erections (sometimes called "morning wood" or "piss hard-ons"), regardless of whether they've been dreaming about hot, steamy sex or boring homework or household chores. Men usually have several erections each night as part of a normal sleep cycle, during REM sleep. The penis often remains hard when the alarm buzzes, making it difficult to urinate until the erection goes away.

Alice