Is masturbation healthy? While no one ever masturbated while fantasizing about reducing the risks of prostate cancer, there is a common idea that masturbation is good for your health. Some have even suggested that stopping masturbating might increase certain health risks in men.
For instance, Anthony Santella and Spring Cooper, two lecturers on human sexuality at the University of Sydney, claim masturbation is good for men. It reportedly reduces the risk of prostate cancer, increases immune system functioning, and reduces depression.1
Could it be bad for you not to masturbate? When we look at the actual research, we see a different picture.
What Are The Health Benefits of Masturbation?
When sex educators claim masturbation in men is healthy, they are referring to research about ejaculation. One study from the Journal of the American Medical Association, says, when you look at the various studies on this subject, the results are quite mixed.2 Some show a positive correlation to reducing prostate cancer risks, some a negative correlation, and some no correlation at all.
Conclusions from the research about ejaculation are mixed because researchers often assume all orgasms are created equal. They aren’t. Even the makeup of semen is different when you compare masturbation to vaginal intercourse.3
Masturbation does not provide the same health benefits as sexual intercourse.
So what about the claim that it is bad for you not to masturbate? Once researchers started differentiating between masturbation and vaginal intercourse, they noticed more consistent trends regarding health benefits. Compared to sexual intercourse, Dr. Stuart Brody says masturbation is correlated with fewer health benefits—or even increased health risks—for the following conditions in men:
- Satisfaction with one’s mental health
- Relationship satisfaction
- Self-rated happiness
- Lower depression scores
- Less likely to have schizophrenia
- Improved erectile function
- Faster recovery from stress
- Fewer prostate abnormalities
- Less prostate cancer risks4
Dr. Brody says masturbation is actually associated with more symptoms of depression and more prostate abnormalities.
In short, there are a few health problems associated with masturbation, and whatever health benefits masturbation claims to have, it is only because of its distant relation to its healthier cousin: sexual intercourse.
What Happens in Your Brain When You Masturbate?
Dr. Norman Doidge, author of The Brain that Changes Itself, says there are two separate pleasure systems in our brains: one for exciting pleasure and another for satisfying pleasure. Masturbating to fantasies and especially pornography activates the exciting system, but leaves the satisfying system starved for “the real thing.”
The exciting system is fueled by the neurochemical dopamine. Dopamine focuses our attention, giving our brain a little feel-good reward, helping us become sexually aroused and gearing up for sex. The satisfying system involves actually having sex—touching, kissing, caressing, and really connecting with someone—which provides a calming, fulfilling pleasure. The problem with masturbation is that the satisfying system is never activated.
The more one masturbates to porn, the more dopamine is released in the brain. Eventually, dopamine receptors and signals fatigue, leaving the viewer wanting more but unable to reach a level of satisfaction. This desensitization in turn impacts the prefrontal cortex—the “executive control” center of the brain—causing what is called hypofrontality. This means a loss of self-control and a propensity to addictive behavior.
Is Masturbation Unhealthy?
Beyond this, some evidence suggests that masturbation can adversely affect sexual health. Masturbation, especially when porn is involved, is also causing erectile dysfunction in some men. The problem isn’t with the organ between your legs but the organ between your ears: the brain.
Sam Black writes in The Porn Circuit:
“Drs. Marnia Robinson and Gary Wilson explained in Psychology Today that overstimulation with pornography creates changes in the brain that make a man less responsive to the physical pleasure of a real woman and hyper-responsive to Internet porn… Men become sensitized to Internet porn, but desensitized to sex in general, which requires more and more stimulation to achieve arousal. When preparing for real sex, the pornified brain fails to get its dopamine surge and the signal to the penis is too weak to achieve erection. But turn on an Internet device with unlimited pages of novelty, and boom, the plumbing works.”
Related: RecoverED–10 Days on the Road to Healing From Porn-Induced Erectile Dysfunction
What Really Happens When You Masturbate
Physical health aside, when masturbation is accompanied by erotic fantasy, what do men risk by habitually escaping into that fantasy world? C.S. Lewis wrote these hard-hitting thoughts to one of his friends:
“For me the real evil of masturbation would be that it takes an appetite which, in lawful use, leads the individual out of himself to complete (and correct) his own personality in that of another (and finally in children and even grandchildren) and turns it back; sends the man back into the prison of himself, there to keep a harem of imaginary brides.”5
In other words, masturbation is a self-focused act that trains you to think and act selfishly, especially when accompanied by pornography. It makes it more difficult to engage in real intimacy because a real relationship requires give-and-take. It does not provide on-demand gratification like porn and masturbation.
The health impact of masturbation, good or bad, may not motivate anyone to start or stop masturbating, but we shouldn’t be duped into thinking quitting masturbation is bad for us. If anything, refusing to retreat into a fantasy world forces men to live in the real world where they can serve, love, and enjoy a real woman.
1Cooper, SC, Santella, AJ. Happy news! Masturbation actually has health benefits. TheConversation. 2004. Dec 4. Accessed January 12, 2023 at https://theconversation.com/happy-news-masturbation-actually-has-health-benefits-16539.
2Leitzmann MF, Platz EA, Stampfer MJ, Willett WC, Giovannucci E. Ejaculation frequency and subsequent risk of prostate cancer. JAMA. 2004 Apr 7;291(13):1578-86. doi: 10.1001/jama.291.13.1578. PMID: 15069045.
3Griffin, RM. Male Masturbation: 5 Things You Didn’t Know. WebMD. Accessed, January 12, 2023 at https://www.webmd.com/men/guide/male-masturbation-5-things-you-didnt-know#1.
4Brody, S. (2010), The Relative Health Benefits of Different Sexual Activities. The Journal of Sexual Medicine, 7: 1336-1361. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-6109.2009.01677.x
5Lewis, CS. Yours, Jack: Spiritual Direction from C.S. Lewis. HarperOne. 2008.
I’ve masturbated very regularly since age 12. I have deeply ingrained homosexuality. I discerned from an early age that homosexuality is a broken-ness, not a lifestyle to embrace nor to promote in the legal system i.e. marriage, never. I’m now 60. In my 20’s and 30’s I was sexually addicted to acting out with others. I am lucky to be alive. I do not act out any longer but for years considered that watching porn kept me off “the streets.” However, I also knew that with too much frequency it caused emotional problems. I gave my heart to Jesus when I was 33, 27 years ago. I have wanted to stop for a long time but also felt that stopping was not good because I was convinced that it was a necessary function to good physical health. But all my masturbation was accompanied by viewing porn. I’ve known that this is a problem. I am finally looking at really stopping. I have not done so in almost a week. Again, stopping is not so hard as the worry that it is not healthy to never masturbate, of which I am still not convinced. However, through confession with a very good priest who speaks the truth about it as a grave sin, I may finally be headed away from this practice. I certainly must learn to not use porn and possibly on rare occasional release if I want to. But honestly, at this point it is the porn that was keeping me interested. I’m not that interested without it and right now all weekI’m not watching it. I just want to feel in my heart that it is okay to not masturbate regarding my physical health in the urological area. Your article and all these discussions have been very helpful. Thanks!
People in this website seriously just need to grow up and accept the fact they’ve enjoyed the ferocious feeling of the act it self. I’m pretty sure we’ve seen animals somewhere do it too and it’s cute and all but hey a whole hell gets loose when there is a actual article about it saying it can be helpful especially for me being that I am a male. The problem starts when you feel you can’t be right w out porn.
i was pretty much born alone i had friends but i never really talked to girls before or had a girl that was really interested in me, i spent 5 years of my life trying to be the perfect guy, trying to be that guy in the movies, and i was pretty successful, but once a girl said she liked me, i did everything i could to impress her, im pretty young so all the relationships ive ever been through were through the internet, there are no girls at school, and i dont see myself talking to random people on the street so i decided to find people online.
i never was happy with any of the relationships, it usually was built around making the girl happy giving all the attention she wanted treating her like a princess, but i never got any love back, a one sided relationship, ive been through two relationships which lasted quite a while but they all revolved around me giving the other person love.
the only satisfaction i got was the idea that all my time im spending might lead to a beautiful relationship, in the end when you start to complain about your problems and how you feel you can clearly see there was no love in the relationship in the first place.
to get through problems in life i take the easy path and masterbate till my problems go away, but ive realised it really does become a problem when your tastes start to change and the things you want arent normal , as well as that your mind does turn into a vegtable being controlled by these emotions. losing self control becoming addicted.
there is no true advice for me, ive thought about every solution possible, it just feels like every day im fighting myself.
but, im trying to change, trying to talk to women on the internet was the worst idea in the world, it just makes you feel more lonely and depressed because they have lots of men trying to talk them as well spoilt for choice.
i cant get away from the internet and i cant get away from my loneliness, its my hope and my depression.
this post was good and i found it to help give me evidence on how i should approach my problems.
Actually….I have masturbated while fantasizing about reducing the risk of prostate caner. Don’t kinkshame…..
http://www.webmd.com/men/guide/male-masturbation-5-things-you-didnt-know i find it clearly satan, that the MAIN websites that the facebook generation uses as a “go to”, all will swear masturbation has few bad things. this is the same gfeneration that will hurl little boys into anal sex, telling them they are born gay at 9 years old giveng them costly sex change operations! they are tryin g to create Sodom, where God would destroy most. Sodom was men and boys. so thats where we are headed. the next thing will be lowering the age of consent. they will start with heterosexual things. like the girl who was a former sex hooker who had sex in the bathroom with multiple kids in school? they will start asking, why is the act in itself illegal and why is it child porn if they film themselves. such questioning will be a hidden intent to bringing in the new bathroom laws and allowing kids to engage in sexual behaviors with adults who will also be allowed in those same bathrooms (at locker rooms for example) web md says NO NO N O, masturbation is Good! notice how google operates…if you search for “is masturbation unhealthy” you will come up with either religious peoplel saying its bad, and all the rest including well known sites saying its good. BUT if you google “hemorrhoids masturbation”…UP COMES THE TRUTH. all sorts of professional studies showing that frequent (daily) masturbation WILL CAUSE IT. and of course hemorrhoids unchecked can lead to cancer. so “can masturbation lead to cancer?” the answer is yes. just like drinking soda can, due to acid reflux and esophageal cancer development. why is there a deliberate attempt at thwarting the true science from the facebook generation? (the millennials) satan.
BINGO. Wish health care “professionals” would understand all this. Viva Cristo Rey!
Thanks so much for this article! So many of the men I work with in groups have a hard time overcoming this false belief. The information here is very useful.
BTW- Has anyone else mentioned that the boxes on the side screen for Facebook, Twitter, etc, interfere with the articles? They cover up words on the edge and make your site difficult to read. Perhaps it’s just my system, but I thought I’d mention it!! Very annoying.
I have a strong belief in God and I’ve noticed that the less I masturbate the stronger is my connection with God. I belong to a religion called Sant Mat. It’s like Christianity but a lot more mystical. We believe in Jesus and the Buddha and to many living saints that are on Earth here and now which have become enlightened through practicing lots of meditation. Anyway, the point is we have a special way of dealing with sexual desire. We channel it up the spine into our organs and brain. This brings increased vitality and a more grounded existence. We can connect right to the chi of the Earth with our saved sexual energy. So my point is that there are huge benefits to saving sexual energy if you know how to channel it. Thanks.
I enjoyed reading this blog and all the comments!!! :-)
Thanks to all who shared and thanks Luke for addressing these very real issues. Currently on the radical mentoring blog, there are 7 articles written by a couple from both perspectives. I think they could be a great blessing to any and all who would read them and they could be a stepping stone in communication for any couple. Check them out at the Radical Mentoring website. One last thought, both men and women are broken. By His stripes we have been healed. Through Christ and his work on the cross and because of his resurrection there is hope and as we find healing in Him for our brokeness we can experience all that he created us for.
Thanks, Jaime!