10 Healthy Benefits of Masturbation

How do you like your ‘me-time’? Do you like to fly solo? Yes, we’re talking about good old masturbation.

And however you do it (or don’t do it), there is nothing wrong with taking some time to pleasure yourself, getting to know your body, and exploring what turns you on. And just as taking a shower should be a regular occurrence, so too should be cleaning your pipes, as the health benefits of masturbation are galore. Here are the 10 reasons why you should take matters into your own hands right now:

1. Manages Premature Ejaculation

Sex therapists across the globe have found that men who experience premature ejaculation during sexual intercourse can benefit from masturbation about 2 hours before sex. This enables them to have a longer duration of intercourse before another ejaculation comes on.

2. Prevents Prostate Cancer

A 2003 Australian study found that men who ejaculated more than five times a week were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer. Disease-causing toxins build up in your urogenital tract and when you rub one out, you flush the bad guys out of your system.

3. Makes You Harder

With age, you naturally lose muscle tone…even down there. Regular sex or masturbation works out your pelvic floor muscles to prevent erectile dysfunction and incontinence. It keeps the angle of your dangle perky. You must aim to (well!) arrive three to five times a week for rock-solid results.

4. Improves Sperm Motility

Some studies found that masturbation improves some quality and motility. “Theoretically, a man masturbating before intercourse releases the residual sperms in the semen transporting tubules. This paves way for new ‘better’ sperms which are released during the sexual act and increase the chances of conception, which can add to your health benefits,” says Dr Mahesh Nawal, an Indore-based sexologist and President of ASECT.

5. Helps You Last Longer

Taking yourself to palm prom may help you stretch your sack sessions. Train yourself by timing how long it takes you to orgasm, suggests Dr Nawal. If it usually takes two minutes solo, try for three next time. Or count how many strokes you need to get to your happy place. If you’re spurting after 50, shoot for 60. Practice makes perfect, right?

6. Reduces Nasal Congestion

Another small study demonstrated reduction of swelling of vessels in the nose during sex and masturbation. This theoretically may improve on symptoms of the common cold, hay fever, allergic rhinitis and other such health-related ailments.

7. Manages Stress And Depression

Masturbation has been used in the management of stress, as it results in release of feel-good hormones, called oxytocin, in the body. It has also been found useful in dealing with depression.

8. Ups Your Immunity

Ejaculation increases levels of the hormone cortisol, says Dr Ashish Sabberwal, senior consultant of urology, Fortis Escorts Institute, New Delhi. Cortisol, which usually gets a bad rap as a havoc-wrecking stress hormone, actually helps regulate and maintain your immunity in the small doses. “Masturbation can product the right environment for a strengthened immune system,” Dr Sabberwal says.

9. Boosts Your Mood

Masturbating releases a slew of feel-good neurochemicals like dopamine and oxytocin that lift your spirits, boost your satisfaction, and activate the reward circuits in your brain. An orgasm is the biggest non-drug blast of dopamine available, and benefits your health in more than one way.

10. Prevents Pregnancy And STDs

Last but not the least, this one is for both you and your girl! For couples not intending to get the girl pregnant, masturbation is a safe way of attaining sexual satisfaction without vaginal penetration which would otherwise lead to an unintended pregnancy. If the man’s penis is rubbed around the vulva and spills sperms there, there could be a chance of getting pregnant. Masturbation poses no risk of contracting an STD. However, mutual masturbation may however result in exchange of sexual fluids when partners touch each other’s genitals, says Dr Nawal.

As a last note, masturbation will not put hair on your palms, make you go blind, kill a kitten, cause infertility, or make you turn gay! What it rather does is allow you to understand your body better, help you to release tension and pursue sexual pleasure on your own, provide an option for a safer sex activity with partners, and let you explore your own fantasies. As the saying goes, who can really love you more than yourself?

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