How much masturbation is right for you? Consider the facts and make your own experiment.
Have you been taught that adult masturbation is so healthy that it’s practically a tonic? That all orgasms are equally beneficial? That there’s no such thing as too much ejaculation? And that there are dire consequences from not masturbating very frequently?
If so, you’ll be stunned to learn that these widespread beliefs rest on little more than hearsay. They are not consistently supported by science. In fact, a body of research undermines them. Researcher Rui Miguel Costa summed up the research (reported below) in the Archives of Sexual Behavior: “Masturbation is Related to Psychopathology and Prostate Dysfunction.” And in 2017 a group of Swiss researchers said, “Masturbation has been associated—mainly among men—with less sexual activity with a partner, less sexual and relationship satisfaction, higher sexual dysfunction, and lower satisfaction with mental health and life in general (Costa, 2012; Gerressu, Mercer,Graham, Wellings & Johnson, 2008).
Solid information about masturbation is particularly important today. With the advent of highspeed and endless erotic novelty-at-a-click, it’s easy for users to override the body’s signals that it has had enough. Moreover, for today’s twenty-somethings masturbation and Internet porn use are pretty much synonymous. So if masturbation’s “good for you,” then using Internet porn to masturbate even more frequently will keep you extra healthy. Youthful logic at its best!
This is not to say that anyone should feel bad about engaging in solo sex. It’s just to say that you might see benefits from rechanneling your sexual desire. Meanwhile, here’s the skinny on five popular masturbation myths:
Myth # 1 – “You can’t cut back on masturbation without harming yourself”
Thousands of guys (and even some gals) are discovering that cutting out masturbation to porn, and temporarily abstaining from/drastically reducing masturbation are actually resulting in the opposite of harm or repressed sexual response—namely, surprising benefits.
You can find their reports on forums like this one, which poses a 90-day challenge. Here are 3 self-reports from other sites (more self-reports):
I’m a 20-something year old guy and … I’ve been neglecting a lot of relationships as a result of [porn use]; I’ve been easily irritated, overly critical, shy and insecure – the list goes on. I abstained from porn/masturbation last summer without knowing I actually had a problem on my hands (pun intended) but MAN did I feel a difference! I became more aware, happier, more social, optimistic and stable. My experience was reeking of what I can only describe as a powerful masculinity and inner calmness; it was what life should be. I was extremely witty, outgoing, hyperactive and creative. Today (before quitting) I am somewhat insecure, shy, approval seeking, and nowhere near emotionally independent.
I am 21 years old, and I feel like I have a lot of things to make up for all of these last few mostly unproductive years. To say I become spineless if I indulge in PMO is seriously an understatement. I just become too emotional, no confidence, no clarity, can’t think straight. And I seriously have gone YEARS living like this. Now I am controlled, stable, focused, super confident, and have a very sharp mind. And this is only 22 days. When you save your energy up, you get that unconquerable will where what would have been huge walls in your past become little knee-high fences you just have to step over.
The other day, I found different report cards and teacher evals from before I started chronically masturbating and after. There was a noticeable difference in both my performance (no pun intended) and in the way my teachers evaluated me. My academics were clearly stronger before I started whacking it several times a day. Yes, it could be a coincidence but I honestly do not think so after noticing how much more productive and focused I am when I lay off for a short while.
What happens to sperm that aren’t ejaculated? According to Cambridge University’s “NakedScientist” forum,
Sperm that have reached their sell-by-date get broken down in the same way that, let’s say, blood cells get broken down. And basically any of the nutrients and goodies in the sperm just get recycled back inside the body.
Myth # 2 – “There’s no such thing as too much masturbation”
Guys are reporting that too much masturbation is definitely possible with today’s highspeed porn. Here are some indications (taken from self-reports of heavy Internet porn users):
- Masturbation to the point of dry ejaculation or painful climaxes
- Sores, blisters, swelling, bruise marks or calluses on one’s genitals from too much friction
- Loss of ability to “feel” intercourse or oral sex
- Loss of interest in real sex with real partners, uncharacteristic sexual tastes
- Edging for hours to defer climax, often because it is becoming less pleasurable
- Other chronic addiction-related symptoms, such as uncharacteristic social anxiety, brain fog, depression, youthful sexual performance problems, and severe withdrawal symptoms when they stop, etc.
Why has our culture not investigated the possibility of too much masturbation? Probably because—until quite recently—few people slammed into the wall of excessive masturbation. They quit when they’d had enough.
The culprit today is effortless access to ever-novel sexual stimuli hot enough to override our innate sexual satiety, and even throw some brains into addiction. This is such a new phenomenon that research hasn’t caught up with reality. Many stories are heart-rending, and the role of highspeed evident:
I was a bodybuilder. I went from 220 to 180, even WITH exercising and eating lots of organic food and excess calories. I was wasting away to nothing. I started getting all these weird irrational fears around people. I felt shaky and weak. My voice is more hollow, if that makes sense. I lost myself. I was depressed constantly. I stopped leaving my house; my friends slowly faded. So I’m now a skinny socially awkward pale weirdo, lol, where I used to be the King of my campus… wtf! I didn’t change ANY OTHER VARIABLE IN MY LIFE except for getting addicted to pornography and fapping more often. That’s it. I was still thinking positively, going out to bars, eating healthy, exercising, all that jazz. The ONLY thing that increased was my love affair with the fake girls on the blaring pixelated screen. I seriously feel like I can’t concentrate or comprehend much after a binge, some days I’m literally bed-ridden because my eyestrain is so bad….
In a study entitled “Patient characteristics by type of hypersexuality,” researchers reported that among men who masturbated one or more hours per day or more than 7 hours per week, 71% reported sexual functioning problems, with 33% reporting difficulty climaxing with partners.
Consider this guy’s poor co-worker:
A few months ago the company handed out new smart phones for navigation to employees who did not already have one. It was only a matter of time before my co-worker discovered the magical world of porn. The other day he was driving down the road in a company car and masturbating on the highway WITH another coworker in the car. It’s also destroying his relationship with his wife because he would rather go home and jack-off to porn than have sex.
Also, it appears that masturbation to sensation (without porn or porn fantasy) may be less intense and draining than masturbation to porn, with its endless stream of novel partners. Scientists have learned that masturbating to a novel pornstar increases ejaculate volume and motile sperm (compared with masturbating to a familiar actress). Also, the time it takes to ejaculate decreases significantly. In short, sexual novelty translates into more fertile semen and faster ejaculation. This makes any “extra-pair couplings”(even when the targets are only two-dimensional) more efficient, and more costly. Research also shows greater reward circuit activity in the brain when exposed to a novel sexual partner.
Limitations are natural in all other physiological activities. For example, drinking water, eating, exercise, time in the sun, weight-lifting, staying awake or staying in bed. Moreover, other mammals have limits on their sexual activity. For example, if rats ejaculate before they have recovered from sexual satiety, they show marked symptoms. Humans also have limits. Compared with other species, for example, viable human sperm is somewhat easily depleted.
For now, however, the belief that self-pleasuring is unbound by the rule of moderation remains firmly entrenched. This assumption may arise in part because, as people slip into addiction (thanks to the supernormal stimulation of highspeed porn), they mistake inflamed cravings for a monster libido. A 30-year old said,
I really empathize with the younger guys who started on highspeed from the onset of puberty. It’s kind of like shooting heroin before you’ve even had your first beer.
No amount of climax or edging will satisfy an addicted brain, so those who get hooked feel like they never have enough. Also, when guys who are severely addicted quit, they often experience a temporary, but alarming, drop in libido and penile sensitivity—not to mention other agonizing withdrawal symptoms—which can drive them right back to highspeed porn in a panic, and deeper into their addiction.
Myth # 3 – “Orgasm is orgasm”
Since the time of Kinsey it has been asserted, but never supported by evidence, that all sexual behavior is equivalent. That has been more an assertion of ideology than fact. —Stuart Brody, research psychologist
Intercourse (PVI) is related to better psychological and physical health, better sexual function and better intimate relationship quality—compared with both masturbation and other partnered sexual behaviors. Said one woman:
I did not have morning depression after orgasm during the decade I was having orgasms with my husband. All the affection that filled our lovemaking smoothed out and covered up the negative effect orgasm seems to have on me as a widow. Climaxing with a loved one is very different from climaxing with empty lips and vagina.
As explained in The Lazy Way to Stay in Love, certain behaviors register with a primitive part of the brain as attachment cues. Such cues bond humans because they soothe the brain’s defensiveness by releasing oxytocin in the amygdala. They are a natural anti-anxiety mechanism. Regular warm touch, for example, has been shown to reduce blood pressure, especially in men.
Does affectionate intercourse register as an attachment cue in a way that solo sex does not? Certainly differences show up even in the hormonal signature of the two activities. For example, intercourse with climax releases four times the prolactin of masturbation, helping to put the brakes on sexual desire for a time. In other words, climaxes obtained by different means are not interchangeable in terms of effects.
It makes perfect sense that intercourse offers greater physiological and psychological rewards than other jollies. Evolution favors behaviors that can propel genes into the future. An exchange of affectionate touch probably registers as rewarding precisely because it helps bond parents. So, offspring with two devoted caregivers have better survival odds.
Moreover, as Brody and others have pointed out, evolution would select for psychobiological mechanisms that reward PVI—because incentives to masturbate instead entail fitness costs. Indeed, today’s supernormal sexual stimuli appear more than capable of enticing some users away from the benefits of PVI (and genetic immortality).
Obviously, masturbation today is not uncommon among those also having intercourse. But interestingly, even then, masturbation is not icing on the cake. In fact, greater masturbation frequency is associated with dissatisfaction about several aspects of life independently of PVI frequency, and even seems to diminish some benefits of PVI.
If you can, compare intercourse and masturbation yourself and see what you observe over the days following.
Myth # 4 – “Frequent masturbation benefits your sex life”
Did you know that greater masturbation frequency is associated with impaired sexual function in both men and women? That it is associated with greater dissatisfaction with relationships and less love for partners? Greater masturbation frequency is also associated with more depressive symptoms and several other indicators of poorer physical and mental health, including greater blood pressure reactivity to stress, anxious attachment and immature psychological defense mechanisms.
Obviously, this research doesn’t prove masturbation causes these problems, but it does make it tough to assert that masturbation is a health tonic. In short, if you are lucky enough to have a partner, follow Bill Maher’s hilarious advice and at least make masturbation your second choice.
Myth # 5 – “Frequent masturbation prevents prostate cancer”
Unclear. It may be that the health benefits of orgasm are primarily related to sexual intercourse with another human being, specifically penile-vaginal intercourse (PVI) not masturbation. However, most of the existing prostate-cancer research inadvertently veiled this reality by asking poorly chosen questions. Researchers assumed that all ejaculations would have equal effect on prostate cancer (if any), so they counted masturbation, PVI and other orgasm-producing behavior simply as “ejaculation.” Also, they had to rely on men’s recollections about sexual activity decades earlier.
Results were, not surprisingly, inconsistent. As the researchers of the study most frequently cited in support of Myth # 5 stated, “Nine studies observed a statistically significant or nonsignificant positive association; 3 studies reported no association; 7 studies found a statistically significant or nonsignificant inverse relationship; and 1 study found a U-shaped relationship.” In one study, frequent masturbation alone was a marker for increased risk of prostate cancer in the 20s, 30s and 40s when researchers finally thought to distinguish masturbation activity from PVI (in 2009). PVI proved to be protective of prostate health in older men and neutral in effect in younger men. A more recent study found 19% less prostate cancer in more frequent ejaculators. However, many questions remain unanswered, such as what else the researchers controlled for.
If ejaculation were especially protective against prostate cancer, one would think that priests would be at risk for unusually high rates. Apparently, that is not the case. A quick search pulled up two studies that looked at priests and prostate cancer. Examining the records for 6226 priests, the first found “Twelve deaths from prostatic cancer were observed while 19.8 were expected” based on rates in comparable males. The other study found no statistically significant difference in prostate cancer rates between 1432 priests and other men.
- Explore the available science covering all the known risk factors for prostate cancer check out Prostate cancer risk factors by Cancer Research UK.
- Read this article about a review of the literature on masturbation and prostate cancer.
Moreover, quite apart from prostate cancer, in men with ED, frequent masturbation was associated with other problems of the prostate, including higher prostate specific antigen levels and swollen or tender prostate. In other words, an attempt to masturbate your way to a healthy prostate may not work out.
Also of interest is a July, 2017 statement by Richard Wassersug PhD, prostate cancer expert and Faculty of Medicine Professor, Faculty of Medicine at the Department of Urologic Sciences at the University of British Columbia:
“There are no really good objective data that I know of showing a causal link (positive or negative) between ejaculation frequency and prostate cancer risk. Recently we reviewed the data for MtF, who have androgen deprivation and they, of course, have a very low incidence of prostate cancer and presumably depressed frequency of orgasm.”
Now that you’ve reconsidered the popular masturbation myths, make your own experiment, as this young man did: What nofap has done to me. Challenge yourself for a couple of months and see what you notice. Everyone’s brain and habits are different. Ultimately, it’s the results in your own laboratory that matter to you.
Addendum: Descriptive Experiences and Sexual vs. Nurturant Aspects of Cuddling between Adult Romantic Partners
From the study: “Cuddling frequency and enjoyment [correlates] positively with partnered sexual activities, but negatively with solitary sexuality.” In other words, the more someone masturbates, the less he enjoys affectionate contact. Not surprisingly, many ex-porn users report that cuddling becomes increasingly pleasurable with time.
Addendum: Social, Emotional, and Relational Distinctions in Patterns of Recent Masturbation Among Young Adults
Masturbation is on the rise. More masturbation correlates with greater unhappiness. More happiness in a relationship correlates with less masturbation. And big surprise (irony here), if people have a lot of partner sex, they tend to masturbate very little. Excerpts:
There is … reason to believe that the frequency of masturbation among young adults is increasing.
Here’s why: the NHSLS data noted that 29 percent of men aged 18-24 reported masturbating at least once a week.
The NFSS, meanwhile, finds that 35 percent of 18-24-year old men report having masturbated in the past day—either today or yesterday. When expanded to encompass the past six days, that figure rises to 68 percent.
Although the measures are not directly comparable—and social desirability concerns may have diminished some over the past 20 years—it nevertheless suggests not a mere uptick in masturbation but rather a possible surge in the practice among men.
Something similar has likely occurred among women as well.
Whereas nine percent of 18-24-year-old women reported masturbating an average of once a week in the 1992 NHSLS, past-week masturbation was reported by 36 percent of same-age women in the NFSS. To be sure, some portion of this may be due to increasing comfort in admitting masturbation, but to suggest that a 300-percent-increase is due solely to ease of admission seems unlikely, especially given the tight association of now-ubiquitous pornography use noted in the regression tables. In 1992, there simply was no online pornography. While bona fide demand for masturbation could have increased in 20 years, the technological stimulation and social encouragement of demand certainly has increased.
Conclusion
Given the inverse associations documented here and elsewhere between masturbation and emotional and relational well-being, evidence of increasingly-frequent (rather than sporadic) masturbation ought to give us pause. While masturbation boasts no apparent public health risks, it yields no widespread emotional and relational benefits, and may possibly extract costs.
… Indeed, heightened pornographic stimulation and concomitant masturbation—both obvious in the NFSS—are increasingly being realized not simply as social facts of the 21st century but as new challenges to human flourishing.
Addendum: Determinants of female sexual orgasms – More masturbation isn’t improving orgasm frequency for women during partnered sex.
Addendum: Psychological Factors Involved in Sexual Desire, Sexual Activity, and Sexual Satisfaction: A Multi-factorial Perspective. Excerpt:
(a) participants with high dyadic [partnered] sexual desire and activity were the most sexually satisfied, showed optimal psychological functioning, and were characterized by a balance between motivational tendencies to seek positive rewards and self-control abilities (high approach motivation, secure attachment, high self-control, high mindfulness); (b) participants with high dyadic and solitary sexual desire and activity were moderately satisfied and showed a type of psychological functioning predominantly characterized by impulsivity (an overly high motivation to obtain rewards in women, and low self-control in men); (c) participants with low dyadic sexual desire and activity were the least sexually satisfied and were characterized by high motivation to avoid negative consequences and low self-control (high avoidance motivation, insecure attachment, and poor mindfulness).
Finally, for those interested, Studies on the overlap between sex and drugs in the brain
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