Random erections, a plague of acne, and discoloration of… well, down there- some facts of male
puberty are absolutely weird.
One of the strangest, and messiest, parts about male puberty occurs while the male is
fast asleep.
It is during this time that wet dreams can happen, and the reason for these unwanted
nocturnal ejaculations is pretty surprising.
In fact, wet dreams have more to do with what is being produced in the body than what the
male is actually dreaming about.
If you didn’t already know, it is completely normal for males to ejaculate in their sleep.
There doesn’t need to be any kind of physical stimulation, and wet dreams are not necessarily
caused by dreams about sex.
It isn’t completely clear why males going through puberty have wet dreams, but it’s
theorized that they occur due to the balancing of hormones and the development of different
parts of the brain and genitalia.
The crazy thing is that even after puberty males can still experience wet dreams.
It is much less common, but can still occur.
Some researchers suggest that having frequent orgasms during the waking hours will reduce
the amount of wet dreams.
This is a fancy way of saying: more masturbation reduces the number of wet dreams someone may
have.
Other research suggests that wet dreams are just a coping mechanism to help males deal
with this stressful time in their lives.
This is because during wet dreams, and any time a male orgasms, dopamine and other pleasure
chemicals are released into the brain.
Sticking with genitalia for a moment, males who are not circumcised may find a unique
ability develops during this time in life.
Uncircumcised males have a flap of skin that covers the head of the penis called a foreskin.
As a young male the foreskin does not retract on its own, but after puberty that all changes.
During puberty, the foreskin becomes wider and the penis becomes larger.
This is most likely to make procreation easier, but as a result, the foreskin is now retractable.
One reason this new ability develops may be to ensure that when the male ejaculates there
is nothing impeding the sperm from entering the female.
And this leads us to one of the most awkward things that happen to males during puberty:
the curse of the unexpected erection.
For young men, it seems that there is no rhyme or reason for when arousal occurs.
To be fair, it can be obvious why a male going through puberty gets an erection like when
they are around someone they find attractive, but other times it’s a mystery.
In fact, getting an erection during puberty does not necessarily mean the male is thinking
about sex at all.
Erections can occur unexpectedly because of a sudden surge of testosterone in the body.
That is why a male going through puberty may be in the middle of a lecture on the Pythagorean
theorem and end up with an erection.
It is not that the male finds the Pythagorean theorem sexy, just that the hormones in their
body are all out of whack due to the changes they are going through.
Before a male even begins to go through his growth spurt in height, he goes through a
growth spurt in his testes.
One of the first things that happens in a male during puberty is their testicle size
increases.
This growth occurs because the testes are where testosterone is produced, and males
need a lot of this hormone to undergo the rest of the changes associated with puberty.
With the growth of the testes, more testosterone can be produced, and the male can start his
awkward journey into becoming a man.
Soon after the testes start to grow the penis will follow.
The time between these two sex organs growing can vary, but at some point, both the testicles
and penis will become larger.
And the genitalia are not the only part of the body that grows.
Surprisingly, many males find that their breasts also increase in size.
During puberty, some males experience growth in their chest.
This swelling eventually slows down and the chest returns to its normal size as time goes
on.
The enlargement of the breasts occurs in about two-thirds of males going through puberty,
so it is more common than not.
It is unclear why the male’s chest needs to increase in size, but a side effect of
the swelling is more sensitivity in the region.
Many males find that increased sensitivity occurs in other parts of the body during puberty
as well, including the brain.
Males go through mood swings during puberty due to the flood of hormones surging through
their bodies.
There are measurable changes that occur in the brain during this time of life in both
males and females.
Obviously, there are many differences between what the two sexes go through, but there are
similarities as well.
Both male and female brain composition changes during puberty, yet they tend to change in
different ways.
In one study researchers measured the changes in the brains of 300 young adults going through
puberty.
The study consisted of 150 males and 150 females.
The researchers focused on the regions of the brain that are associated with mood fluctuations
and emotional control that may be responsible for certain illnesses such as depressions.
What they found was very interesting.
The researchers discovered that the regions of the brain connected to mental and emotional
illnesses increased in connectivity by about 6.5 % in males.
The same regions in the female’s brains decreased by around 7.2%.
This data suggests that there are some key differences in the way that female and male
brains develop during puberty.
But it also may be an indication that females are more resilient to mood disorders than
males while going through this period of life.
However, much more research needs to be done before a final conclusion can be made.
An obvious change that males go through during puberty is the lowering of their voices.
But what is crazy about this process has to do more with what is happening to the body
than the changing of the voice itself.
As a male goes through puberty testosterone is dumped into their bloodstream and carried
around the body by the cardiovascular system.
The testosterone signals the voice box to go through changes to allow the voice to become
lower and deeper.
This happens due to the cartilage in the voice box growing in size and thickness.
With larger vocal cords, and more space for them to vibrate in, the pitch of the voice
becomes lower.
During puberty, the larynx itself starts to move down and the “Adam’s apple” begins
to protrude from the neck.
At the same time, the bones of the face begin to grow larger as well.
All of this new space, and the increased size of the voice box, allow the male voice to
resonate at a lower frequency.
But there is a weird side effect that occurs because of this process.
It is the growth and shifting of structures in this area of the body that causes the embarrassing
voice cracking which some males go through during puberty.
Since the voice box, vocal cords, and the skeletal structure itself is changing, the
brain needs to adjust to produce the proper sounds.
Unfortunately, since this is all new to the male, mistakes happen.
Sometimes too much air is pushed through the larynx causing the voice to crack.
This is no fault of the male, it is just a strange side effect of them going through
puberty.
And just as a side note, human males are not the only animal that goes through a voice
shift during puberty.
Male apes and other animals also develop lower sound ranges as well.
It is not entirely clear why males need to develop a lower register, but some evolutionary
biologists believe that it has to do with attracting a mate after puberty.
A male cannot successfully reproduce until puberty begins because this is when sperm
production starts.
Therefore, in both humans and other animals, the change in voice may be a signal to females
that the male is now sexually maturing and ready for procreation.
Another weird fact doesn’t so much have to do with what is happening during puberty,
but when puberty occurs in males.
Everyone is different.
This means that every male will have slightly varied experiences during this time in life.
Some males will start puberty as young as 8 years old, while others won’t go through
it until sometime after 14.
Most males begin the process somewhere in the middle of this range, but the exact age
at which puberty starts can differ widely.
The weird thing is that puberty is beginning to occur in males at a young and younger age.
Researchers have found that as the 20th century progressed the average age a boy went through
puberty started to shift.
Interestingly, this isn’t just happening in males, but in females as well.
Some researchers have claimed that this may be a result of exposure to certain synthetic
chemicals that interfere with the way the body regulates its hormones.
If the chemicals are causing testosterone and estrogen to be produced and released at
an earlier age, this could be one explanation for why males and females are going through
puberty younger than before.
Other researchers attribute this shift to biological factors.
It has been proposed that the higher levels of stress associated with living in developing
cities or a fast-paced society may cause the endocrine system, which produces hormones,
to get out of whack.
It has also been suggested that childhood obesity may throw off the hormone regulation
in a young person’s body, which may result in puberty occurring at a younger age as well.
A final theory about why this strange shift is happening has to do with living conditions.
The consumption of less nutritious foods may result in the body undergoing puberty at an
earlier age.
This may be occurring in communities that do not have access to healthy foods or the
resources they need.
This is no fault of the communities themselves, but a result of a society that places more
importance on some populations than others.
In areas that are considered “food deserts,” families may have to travel hours to purchase
fresh fruits and vegetables, while less nutritious and more artificial foods may be all that’s
available close to home.
Other than when it happens, there are further differences that occur between males during
puberty.
All male genitalia is slightly different.
This goes for size, shape, curve, and even at the rate at which they develop.
But one really weird thing that happens to a male during puberty is that the color of
his genitalia may change slightly.
That’s right, during puberty the penis and scrotum not only change in size but in coloration
as well.
Normally when this happens the genitals become slightly darker.
It is not clear why this is, but it most likely has to do with slight changes in the pigmentation
produced by the cells during puberty.
There doesn’t seem to be any benefit or harm to the changing color of the penis and
scrotum, but it is definitely weird.
Finally, we reach one of the uglier parts of puberty: acne.
Some males are plagued by large amounts of pimples during this stage of life.
But why is this?
The main reason males and females develop acne during their puberty years is because
the body produces massive amounts of a sex hormone called androgens.
A side effect of this hormone is that the body produces more oils.
These oils in turn clog the pores of the skin, while simultaneously providing a source of
food for bacteria causing acne.
So, the weirdest part about this whole thing is that acne is a result of the body feeding
bacteria its own dead skin cells and oils.
Gross right?
Now watch “Even Weirder Facts About Male Body.”
Or check out “Weird Facts About Testicles.”