|
| | |
Nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT)
Nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) Spontaneous erection of the penis during sleep occurring from birth to advanced old age, typically in three episodes a night for a total of 2-3 hours. It is associated with the REM (rapid eye movement) phase of sleep and with erotosexual dreams. It is measured by harnessing the penis into an expandable ring. Less is known about the corresponding phenomenon in females as there is no fully satisfactory technique for measuring vasocongestion and lubrication of the female genitals.
RELATED TERMS--------------------------------------
Penis
The male sex organ, which consists of a head called glans, and the shaft or body. At the tip of the glans is the urethral opening, through which urine and semen leave the body. The shaft or the body of the penis is made of spongy tissue and blood vessels. And it fills with blood an grows in size (becomes erect) during sexual excitement.
Erotosexual
The erotic and the sexual experienced as a unity, with more emphasis on erotic imagery and ideation than sexual behavior. It is possible to be erotic without being sexual in the sense of copulation, fertility, or reproduction. Conversely, it is possible, as in donor insemination, to be sexual without being erotic. see erotic/sexual. the erotic and the sexual experienced as a unity, with more emphasis on erotic imagery than sexual behavior.
Dreams
Thoughts, visions, and other sensations that occupy the mind in sleep. Dreams occur during that part of sleep when there are rapid eye movements (REMs). We have 3 to 5 periods of REM sleep per night. They usually come at intervals of 1-2 hours and are quite variable in length. An episode of REM sleep may be brief and last but 5 minutes. Or it may be much longer and go for over an hour. About 20% of sleep is REM sleep. If you sleep 7-8 hours a night, perhaps an hour and half of that time, 90 minutes, is REM sleep. REM sleep is characterized by a number of other features besides REM, including rapid, low-voltage brain waves on the electroencephalographic (EEG) recording, irregular breathing and irregular heart rate and -- what may be most evident to someone else -- involuntary muscle jerks. Non-REM (NREM) sleep is dreamless sleep. During NREM, the brain waves on the EEG are typically slow and of high voltage, the breathing and heart rate are both slow and regular, the blood pressure is low, and the sleeper is relatively still. NREM sleep is divided into 4 stages of increasing depth. About 80% of sleep is NREM sleep. If you sleep 7-8 hours a night, all but maybe an hour and a half is spent in dreamless NREM sleep. Dreams are penetrable; it has been found experimentally that one can communicate with a person who is dreaming.
Female
The traditional definition of female was "an individual of the sex that bears young" or "that produces ova or eggs". However, things are not so simple today. Female can be defined by physical appearance, by chromosome constitution (see Female chromosome complement), or by gender identification. Female chromosome complement: The large majority of females have a 46, XX chromosome complement (46 chromosomes including two X chromosomes). A minority of females have other chromosome constitutions such as 45,X (45 chromosomes including only one X chromosome) and 47,XXX (47 chromosomes including three X chromosomes).
Genitals
External sex organs: the penis and testicles in a male and the labia in a female.
SIMILAR TERMS--------------------------------------
Nocturia
Excessive urination at night.
Nocturnal emission
A nocturnal emission is an ejaculation of semen experienced by males during sleep. It is also called a "wet dream"; this term is also used figuratively for something very pleasurable but often imagined or hoped for.
Nocturnal Hypoglycemia
Hypoglycemia occurring while the patient is asleep (between the evening injection and getting up in the morning). Nocturnal hypoglycemia typically has symptoms such as restlessness, nightmares, profuse sweating, and frequently is noted by the bed-partner or parent rather than by the sleeping patient, or sometimes is unrecognized.
PREVIOUS AND NEXT TERMS--------------------------------------
Necrophilic
The condition of being responsive to or dependent on sexual activity with a cadaver in order to obtain erotic arousal and facilitate or achieve orgasm. In necrophilia, there is an obsession with the state of death, not as there is in sexual homicide with the process of killing.
Neocortex
The outermost layer or cortex of the brain, which in the evolutionary sense is new and is most highly developed in humans. It is contrasted with the paleocortex (the old cortex or limbic system) that it encapsulates.
Nepiophilia
A paraphilia of the stigmatic/eligibilic type like pedophilia except that the age range is restricted to infancy. The reciprocal paraphilic condition is autonepiophilia, or paraphilic infantilism, impersonating a baby. The parallel paraphilias are ephebophilia, and gerontophilia, as well as pedophilia.
Neuroanatomy
The branch of neurology and anatomy that is concerned with nerve cells and the nervous system, including the brain.
Nuropeptide
A class of biochemical substances, related to peptide hormones, that are active in the brain and nervous system, for example, as neurotransmitters.
Nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT)
Normo
A prefix meaning in conformity with a set of standards.
Normophilia
Condition of being erotosexually in conformity with the standard as-dictated by customary, religious, or legal authority.
Normophiliac
A person who manifests a normophilia.
Nosocomial
Belonging to or associated with a hospital, clinic, or other location of the practice of any branch of medicine, surgery, radiology, psychiatry, or pediatrics.
Nosology
The branch of medical science which deal with the systematic classification of diseases; 2. a scientific or theoretical system for classification of disease; 3. the characteristics of a particular disease as in a description of its syndrome.
We thank you for using the Health Dictionary to search for Nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT). If you have a better definition for Nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) than the one presented here, please let us know by making use of the suggest a term option. This definition of Nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) may be disputed by other professionals. Our attempt is to provide easy definitions on Nocturnal penile tumescence (NPT) and any other medical topic for the public at large.This dictionary contains 25007 terms. |
|
|
