Masturbation is something many societies forbid people to talk about and look down on. Men tell jokes about it and women whisper about it among themselves, while serious medical discussion is ever rarer. Yet understanding masturbation is one of the key steps in understanding human sexuality.
Masturbation is the act, by a man or a woman, of stimulating one's own genitals by hand until reaching orgasm. A man usually wraps his hand around the erect penis and moves it up and down; a woman uses a relatively flat hand to stroke the labia and clitoris, or her fingers. It is usually done in private.
Masturbation is a distinctive human trait. Many animals have been seen pleasuring themselves sexually, but never to the extent seen in humans.
It has several benefits for fertility. For a man, masturbation means "fresh", active sperm that are more fertile and better able to reach and fertilise a woman's egg, as Scientific American has reported. Evolutionary biologists Robin Baker and Mark Bellis studied the fluid women expel 5 to 120 minutes after intercourse, which contains sperm. They found that the longer a man had gone without masturbating, the more sperm the woman expelled. In other words, masturbation is a natural way of replacing sperm with fitter ones.
In women, masturbation increases how much sperm the body retains, and it is thought to increase sexual appetite, raising fertility and the chance of pregnancy.
From an evolutionary point of view there are other benefits besides fertility. Orgasm releases chemicals in the brain called endorphins, which relieve tension, reduce sexual frustration, help with insomnia and improve metabolism, according to Everyday Health.
Orgasm by oneself has also been found to ease migraine, and sometimes to stop an attack altogether. Research reported by LiveScience found that a third of people with migraine improved after sexual activity, and neuroscientist Stefan Evers of the University of Münster in Germany said that orgasm in any form eases migraine pain.
There are many folk tales about the harms of masturbation: that it makes hair grow on your palms, makes you blind or ruins your future sex life. But most experts agree that masturbating in moderation leads to greater satisfaction in a relationship. Older women say masturbation causes acne, and there is a grain of truth in that: erection raises male hormones, which play a role in acne, so in theory long-term masturbation could upset androgen hormones and worsen acne. Most dermatologists, however, consider this theory unrealistic and very unlikely.
Excessive masturbation means doing it several times a day for years. This has been found to have negative effects through its action on the parasympathetic nervous system (acetylcholine), because of increased release of sex hormones and neurotransmitters. Expected physical effects include tiredness, hair loss, poor memory, blurred vision and some pain in the groin and genitals, due to sexual exhaustion that can show as erection problems and impotence. AskMen reports that sperm counts fall in this case.
Like any addiction, such as alcohol or gambling, overdoing it affects a person's private and working life. The UK's National Health Service suggests taking a break from it, and confidential services are available for people addicted to sex.
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