Waking up with retracted foreskin

[DiagonalFunctor]

After going on and off of keeping my foreskin retracted for weeks at a time throughout the years I suddenly (can't remember the exact point in time when it started happening) started waking up with foreskin behind the head with a frequency of roughly every other day. I'm not really sure how it happens. I suppose it happens if I get an erection in my sleep while laying on my stomach which just slides the foreskin behind the head. And I'm also not sure why it started happening. Maybe it got looser? It never happened in my teens. I mean, I don't mind it, it doesn't bother me at all, although since the foreskin is untugged and I'm laying on it for hours it's usually quite swolen but it goes back to normal in a few minutes after pulling it forward again. Also, when I wake up with retracted foreskin, the head is usually really dry but over time, I don't notice any sensitivity changes at all. I'm currently at my baseline where I can feel touches with my fingers sliding across the head and it's overall really pleasant. Interestingly enough, while being sensitive like that, I usually don't feel the rubbing against my underwear at all when it's pulled back - seems like it adapted just to the friction with the underwear while maintaining the default sensitivity during fun time which is a win win if you ask me. As far as loosness of the foreskin, I think there is much less force needed to be applied for the foreskin to slide back.
Anyway, does it also happen to you sometimes?

[hung.part.timer]

Yes, I go to bed covered and wake up retracted often enough recently that it feels like my foreskin may prefer that position. I think you're correct that it probably retracts during a nocturnal erection, but the fact that it'll stay back with all the movement at night is what's interesting and impressive in the end. I've been spending much more time retracted the past year and a half, so I'm just putting it to that

[DiagonalFunctor]

Well, at least for me it's not surprising that it holds and doesn't retract forward as it's stuck behind the ridge and, furthermore, you would need to do quite a specific move to pull it forward handsfree. You'd have to lie on your stomach and do a kinda forward move with your pelvis. Although I find it a little surprising that it's not waking me up as the head is, judging by the pressure marks and sometimes small abrasion, getting quite a beating while I'm sleeping retracted.

[Test123]

One of the reasons I started wearing the foreskin retracted is that I kept waking up with it back. Did it have any bearing on your decision to start permanent retraction, DiagonalFunctor?

[DiagonalFunctor]

One of the reasons I started wearing the foreskin retracted is that I kept waking up with it back. Did it have any bearing on your decision to start permanent retraction, DiagonalFunctor?

I'm not sure I'd want to stay retracted permanently. I really like when the head is sensitive to touching which is something I loose after a week in or so when the dryness is saturated. I just like to go for retracted periods and back and forth. It feels good especially when the head is sensitive. Although, the more retracted periods I do, the less I feel the clothes rubbing against the head while still maintaining very pleasant sensitivity to other types of stimuli, so, maybe one day, I'll try to go for longer and see whether it is possible to really have both the permanent retraction and pleasant sensitivity I'd like to keep. I suppose the acknowledgment of one's retracted state is rather psychological, as in the brain filtering it out, rather than physiological. Moreover, I think I already started a discussion here on whether the friction between the head and underwear by itself really is enough to induce keratinization, since there shouldn't really be enoguh damage to the skin. I think that what happens after some time of keeping the foreskin retracted is that the head gets super dry and that's what makes it less sensitive rather then actual new keratin layers. But that's for another discussion.

[scotsguy27]

I have found myself also occasionally waking up with the foreskin retracted. As with your thoughts I agree it is likely that its remained back after an erection with also the possibility that my body has moved in such a way that it has pulled back the foreskin when I'm sleeping on my front. I will sleep through it and wake up discovering its retracted. Suppose its one less thing to do before I shower as I stay retracted when I bathe.

[DiagonalFunctor]

I have found myself also occasionally waking up with the foreskin retracted. As with your thoughts I agree it is likely that its remained back after an erection with also the possibility that my body has moved in such a way that it has pulled back the foreskin when I'm sleeping on my front. I will sleep through it and wake up discovering its retracted. Suppose its one less thing to do before I shower as I stay retracted when I bathe.

But is it swollen though? For me, there is almost always an enlarged foreskin ring behind the head, swollen from prolonged pressure when lying on it. If I were to intentionally tuck the foreskin before going to sleep it wouldn't be swollen because the skin would be more spread out. When it's swollen I have to roll the foreskin forward for a few minutes otherwise it won't go away.

[hung.part.timer]

Interesting - not swollen here.

[scotsguy27]

9/10 its not swollen when I wake up.

[Difficult Time]

I'm pretty sure that keratinization is not the result of damage from direct contact with clothing. It is just what happens when the glans is kept dry all the time.

[Difficult Time]

Actually, although the surface of the glans definitely stays dry when it is exposed, I think the common claim that it becomes "keratinized" is a myth. Here's a place to read about this myth:
https://medium.com/@circumscience/the-timeless-myth-of-keratinization-cb7b465a2e23

[ForeskinScot]

I think the general response would be - trust your body, it does what it does.
I retracted off and on for years, but never at night, because I was worried about what would happen when I wasn't awake and didn't know much about retraction in general. Like you, I've been partially retracting for a while. Your foreskin/frenulum has probably become a bit looser so it is easier for it to stay back, particularly if you have a night time erection, and maybe some flaring too. As you've been retracting for a while your glans will be less sensitive so you're more likely to sleep through it, but it might be less noticeable as it has happened over a longer time period than some of the guys on here who've been more focused on pulling back. You said it is drier, but I think that's just part of being uncovered more often. As you've been retracting for a while I assume that you are comfortable with a bare head when you're awake/aware of it, so it happening in your sleep is just a natural progression of that.
You also said it was tugging. That was always my worry about pulling back during the night - that it would pull and something might happen. Having now pulled back deliberately at night, by feeling is that your body would know if it was seriously tugging and wake you up, or roll you over to allow it to retract again, so the fact that it is staying back more often I don't think should be a big worry, unless you're unsure about the permanently pulled back state. For what it's worth, I'm still undecided about pulled back sometimes vs pulled back 100%, but I think we should all be allowed our personal preferences and they might change over time. It's all ok. Like I said, trust your body.