So I had a wet dream this morning, and I’m wondering why my day is usually crappy whenever I do have one. I’ve had them before in the past and this always happens, I have a bad day. I feel like it lowers my dopamine levels or something of that sort, which makes me less happy than I usually am. That’s just my guess though, if anyone else has an answer to why this happens every time I have a wet dream I’d appreciate the response.
It's because wet dreams are similar to PMO or MO - it's a fake, fantasy-induced experience that floods your brain with too much dopamine. Personally, I've had dozens if not hundreds of wet dreams since I started rebooting. During the first few months I'd get really depressed. Now I hardly feel anything, not that I'm any happier in getting them, but eventually I realized that there's nothing to do but to look forward and concentrate on bettering myself, rather than wallowing in depression.
From what I know, yeah they’re normal to have. For stopping them, the only thing you can really do is not sleep on your stomach. Whenever I have one, like 80% of the time I wake up on my stomach.
Wet dreams are somewhat normal - in moderation. What I mean is that healthy people get them about once a month or so. When your brain is so messed up from PMO and you're rebooting, you get them much more because the brain is desperate for that old dopamine-high. Easier way, the reality of the dream is the same - a fake fantasy meant to flood the brain with dopamine.
Think about it in a different way, there's nothing you can really do to avoid wet dreams if you want to beat PMO. Next time it happens think "daymn, I'm kicking this habit so well it can only get me when I'm unconscious!" Be proud that you've got this far. Like Hros said: There's nothing to do but look forward and concentrate on bettering yourself.
Almost day 30 and I swear I’ve had almost 5-7 wet dreams and I think 2 of them didn’t result in any fluid in my undies. The most recent one I had 1 night ago was particularly the worst. I sat in my bed fantasizing, shaking and breathing heavily before I slept. The next day I went back to my old, grumpy, negative and overthinking self. I’m not sure if the headache that day was caused by the nocturnal emission(NE) but I think that it definitely contributed more to the crappy day I was having. What I noticed was that on nofap I never really made many off-hand comments about killing myself (like I often did before) and the thought doesn’t really cross my mind. But after that night it started happening again. I think we just gotta tough it out for the next 3 days after NE, thats when they say when things get back to normal. I agree a lot with what Hros said and we really just have to trust the process with this one. I’ll also be looking into some of the preventative measures you can take against NE. I wish you guys all the luck in the world and much success on nofap!!!
I find that reading a lot of success stories help me push through it. Just find ways to distract yourself when you think you’re about to relapse. It can be really tough and I’ve relapsed dozens of times over the past year ½. You have a lot more power in stopping than you think you do.
I wrote an obtusely titled, but I think still pretty good guide to wet dreams on another post (see link). These things are killers early on, so it's important you know how to deal with them and how to mostly prevent them. https://www.nofap.com/forum/index.php?threads/wet-dreams-are-killing-me.41299/page-2#post-2059007
I don't care if somebody disagrees with me, but technically, logically, and scientifically nightfall/nocturnal emission is equal to "relapse". You will lose all the benefits of NoFap if you encounter the similar situation. Just do 30 days on Hard Mode which eventually means no organism, masturbation, & pornography and see the super benefits and then do 60 days without masturbation & pornography and see it wouldn't be equal to 30 days experiment before. Yes I did too get suicide thoughts because of the Nocturnal Emission as it steals away our mental and physical energy.
I partly agree but I find it's a lot more complex than that. You don't lose all the benefits of NoFap from having a wet dream. In fact, having one and feeling like crap the following day gave me a much clearer perspective that I used to write the guide linked earlier. A relapse is something that pulls you down and removes your progress, whereas that wet dream and crappy day that followed put me over the edge from hoping I could complete my 90 day journey to knowing I will.
Your statement is based upon an opinion whereas mine is based upon experiment of over more than 400+ days. I could bring out some scientific reasons as how bed-wetting and masturbation are equal. During both processes, our body releases the fluid of semen and it's total waste of semen. There is no semen-retention over here. I am shocked as how people regard "masturbation" natural and healthy, but in reality it will mess up with your mind peace and body health. "Nightfalls" maybe natural if its 1 in a month, but it's serious if you get more than 2 times in a month. I used to have every 8 to 9 months and now it's happening regularly. Also, the frequency of nightfalls do not decrease overtime if you abstain from porn and masturbation. I waited for more than 340+ days yet it did never stop.
I read this thread title in Jerry Seinfeld's voice. Anywho... there seems to be a lot of variation from person to person. For me, I noticed that if I am good at minimizing fantasies, then they become far less of a problem, if not really a problem at all. That's the extent I'm aware of being able to "control" them per se; maintain better habits during the daytime/waking thoughts. Again, people seem to vary quite a bit on this. I guess there are more esoteric methods, or somesuch, but I haven't gone down that rabbit hole.
No. One does not lose all their benefits from a nocturnal emission, that's not true. And it's not a relapse either. Relapse (of anything) happens in the mind/will first. What happens in the subconscious does not count. Someone can wake after a nocturnal emission and still have a sober mind and determined not to give in.
It's a hard fact to accept I know because I have been there like you. Nightfall may not be relapse, but it certainly has side effects such fatigue, anxiety, depression, memory-associated problems etc..
I don't think opinion is the right word: I experienced it not being a relapse. But I think the disagreement is coming from different definitions of what a relapse is. Like I wrote weeks ago, as far as your body is concerned, it is a relapse and you'll have the side effects you mentioned. Whatever benefits might come from semen retention are gone for a while. But what I mean by relapse is something that happens in your mind, long before you actually PMO, which simply seals the deal. It's a commitment you make to the addiction that you're going to relapse. That can only happen in your conscious rational mind, which isn't even active during sleep. It's only when you're awake that youbgain the ability to control your actions rationally. It sucks to have them a lot, and after the first 30 days, I've only had one per month, which has been a real boon. That's mostly thanks to 1) always sleeping with boxershorts and pajama pants and 2) refusing to even peak at or think on anything in lust.
Well you covered most of my points as well. Portraying it "relapse" or given this situation such a word of "relapse" is wrong, but as we have both concurred that both tends to bring some side effects. In your case, you had one nightfall after 30 days and that's normal I guess. There are some individuals out there that gets more than enough nocturnal emissions in a month and that's not normal. It's the sexual energy that administers the structure of human inclination and thinking. Have you ever encountered a person who claims that masturbation is healthy? Don't you think the supporters of those claims are actually pushing the people away from truth? Such people encourage others to do same what they have been doing so that they go through the same hell throughout their life.
Hmm. This is only my experience, and I'm not a specialist in this area, but I never have negative effects from dreams that end in an orgasm that I can point to, I tried hard to remember any. My days after proceed the same way as normal.