12 Surprising Facts About Erections You May Not Be Aware of! (No. 9 is wild!)

the human body is extremely powerful and the penis is a very interesting organ in fact today I'm going to share 12 shocking facts about erections that I bet you didn't know I'm Dr Rina Malek urologist and pelvic surgeon and if you're new here I make new content every week about Urologic and Sexual Health if you like what you see make sure to subscribe and share this Channel with your friends number one babies can be born with an erection in fact in one study of 50 male fetuses that were about 36 to 39 weeks of gestation

they took multiple penile measurements on ultrasound and in 12 fetuses they found that 22 percent of the time penises were erect with erections lasting anywhere from 5 to 17 minutes while the exact cause of fetal erections is not fully understood it is believed to be related to the developing nervous system in fact Studies have also shown that female fetuses can also experience clitoral erections in utero and in some cases they have captured male fetuses on all ultrasound doing activities that resemble masturbation number two the penis isn't a muscle contrary to popular belief the penis is

actually made up of three cylindrical structures of spongy tissue called the corpora cavernosa and the Corpus spongiosum during an erection the spongy tissue fills with blood causing the penis to become firm and erect so sorry guys you can't train the penis like you could train another muscle number three erections happen even when you're asleep men of all ages experience nocturnal penile tumescence also called morning wood in fact if you want to learn more about morning wood check out my video that talks all about it but essentially morning wood is completely normal it's essentially an involuntary

erection that happens during stages of REM sleep the average person has about three to five erections per night in fact it may even play a role in maintaining penile Health by continuing blood flow to the penis even at night time number four interestingly early human ancestors and chimpanzees and other animals have spines on their penises these are not spines like you would typically think of like a porcupine they're actually small pointed projections on the outer surface of the organ that creates a bumpy texture there's a few reasons that people think these might exist one theory

is that they're used to displace any semen from another partner because typically in these animals they're having lots of intercourse with multiple partners and others believe that the spine may actually allow the penis to be more sensitive in which case they can ejaculate and have sex faster obviously humans don't have these and the reason for this is that they found a specific Gene that's codes for spines as well as whiskers that they found on mammals and chimpanzees that is missing from our genetic code and it's thought that losing these pieces of genetic code allow us

to develop a bigger brain so we gave up spines on our penis to get bigger brains it also may have allowed for us to be more intimate have longer sexual encounters and more complex interactions with our partners number five shoe size or height is not a reliable prediction of erection size sorry to break it to you doesn't matter how big your shoe size is or how tall you are science has proven that this actually doesn't relate to penile length while there's some evidence that penile size may be influenced by genetic factors it hasn't been shown

that height or shoe size actually predict any of that in fact Studies have shown that there is a wide variation in penile length within populations and factors like obesity and smoking can impact that penile health and one Japanese study did find a surprising body part that was correlated with penile length you'll have to watch my video where I talk all about that to figure out what organ exactly that is number six you can orgasm without an erection so orgasm is a separate physiological response from erection although very often we include both of those together and

many people have erections and then orgasm it is possible to experience an orgasm without having an erection so if you're suffering from erectile dysfunction you can still have orgasms number seven you can break it penile fracture is a rare but serious injury that can occur during vigorous sexual activity in fact one in 175 000 emergency room visits are due to penile fracture it's most commonly caused by having an erect penis that gets forcefully bent the wrong way commonly with certain types of positions like reverse cowgirl or falling when you have an erection it's usually followed

by a loud popping sound severe pain swelling and sometimes even difficulty urinating in fact Dennis Rodman has had several penile fractures check out my video on penile injuries and fractures to learn more number eight some people are showers and others are Growers what this means is that some people increase significantly when erect compared to their flaccid length While others tend to remain pretty similar to their flaccid length meaning those people are showers and Growers are those who to increase in size and this is an actual phenomenon it can be due to a variety of different

things including the elasticity of the tissue but if you want to learn more specifically about the difference and the studies that have been done about this check out my video where I discuss it in more detail this one is wild number nine Kellogg made Corn Flakes to prevent masturbation so John Harvey Kellogg was a physician and a health reformer he advocated only for having sex for the means of procreation he really thought that sexual desire was dangerous and a destructive force and thought that a number of things caused it and one of those things was

spicy or flavorful Foods so he decided to create a bland breakfast food to try and combat that and this is because the average Breakfast in America in the 1880s was really meat for the most part it was cold meat jellied meat smoked salted and usually fried in some sort of fat and so he created Corn Flakes thinking that this very Bland cereal at the time didn't have sugar in it would reduce libido and prevent things like masturbation or desire for sex outside of marriage he also had some really interesting views on enemas and encouraged people

to do enemas multiple times a day because he had this really weird obsession with hygiene anyways I'm not sure I'll be eating corn flakes anytime soon number 10 smoking can make your penis shrink so if you're smoking hear me again smoking can make your penis shrink we know that smoking is bad right it causes cardiovascular disease cancer lung disease and I've talked about this on my channel before but it can cause erectile dysfunction because it can cause erectile dysfunction you're not getting good blood flow to the penis you're damaging those blood vessels and nerves which

then causes less elasticity in those tissues and fibrosis or scar tissue that can cause the penis to shrink the good news is if you stop and particularly if you're young and don't really have bad erectile dysfunction you can probably maintain your normal healthy erections so if I haven't yet convinced you to quit smoking please seriously consider it if not for me for keeping your penile length number 11 you can get an erection before you die these are called Death erections or Angel lust and basically it's a rare phenomenon that occurs when men die usually of

hanging and is thought to be due to an accumulation of blood in the pelvic area after you lose all muscle tone it is not a sign of sexual arousal at the time of death and last but not least number 12 half of your erection is inside your body so the erectile tissue extends from the tip of your penis deep inside and turns down into the perineum so sometimes if you notice when you have an erection and you feel in the perineum or the area between your scrotum and your anus you might notice that it feels

a bit full or erect it may even be pleasurable and this internal portion is actually attached to the pelvic bone which is that bone you feel right on top of your penis by ligaments and it's also surrounded by muscle and other tissues and while you might say who really cares about this it's inside my body some of you might say well you know I've gained weight and it looks like my penis shrunk it's not because your penis shrunk it's because that area above the penis called the mons has accumulated some fat which has then covered

more of the erectile tissue that used to be there and has now made it look shorter thanks so much for watching I hope you guys really enjoyed this video I enjoyed researching it and I love making videos for you guys so make sure to comment below let me know what you guys want to see next as always remember take care of yourself because you are worth it foreign [Music]