Amorous Propensities : sex is funny, sex is sad

I read your article on Overmasturbation. I was encouraged to masturbate alot by various friends since I was first barely even able to ejaculate. I considered it “abstinence” and so I was abstinent alot! I guess my body got use to doing it often and now that I’m 18 I find it difficult to cut back. I feared it would hurt my body to do it as often as I craved so I was happy to read your article. It is such a relief to allow my body to go back and satisfy its needs.

Thank you, Trev

The only problems with heavy masturbation can be:

Your grip is so tight that the real thing won’t satisfy you. But that can be cured by ceasing to masturbate. In time you’ll be able to enjoy being with a woman (or man) more.

Getting so caught up in your fantasies that your expectations become unrealistic. But I think most guys get past that.

Wank away!

I have masturbated from very early age, since I was about 5. 2-3 years ago I started getting tired the day after I had masturbated. Under a year ago I started having the feeling of fatigue, loss of concentration etc. all the time. I can’t even drink alcohol if I have masturbated the day earlier, beer tastes like crap etc. I’m 17 now and I’m too embarrased to tell about this to my parents. I’m 100% sure this is because of over-masturbation.

If you think you have a health problem tell your doctor.

Just don’t waste your money on worthless pills.

Agreed that the pills are bogus.

However I believe overmasturbation is a serious (although not common) problem that places unnecessary strain on your equipment and could lead to enlarged prostate and urinary problems.

I am paraplegic and for some time now I’ve been using a big vibrator to help me reach orgasm when I masturbate, which I now do only once or twice a month. Without it I can maintain an erection and masturbate until my arm aches without reaching orgasm.

When I begin to reach the point of orgasm, I get really strong spasm in my abdomen then I feel my buttocks and rectal area go extremly tense as my ejaculatory ducts go into waves of strong contractions and my solid and engorged penis pulses rhythmically as if trying to pump ejaculate out from the depths of my abdomen. Despite the strong pumping, spasm and contractions, there’s rarely any real ejaculate present although sometimes I will shoot strong jets of urine which contain a sticky ejaculate.

When my orgasm subsides, I’m often left with an acheing abdomen for many days and the slightest touch of my testicles can cause a sudden abdominal cramp.

Would masturbating more frequently possibly get my abdomen more use to this excersise or should I be abstaining and succumbing to a life of celibacy - something I would find impossible to do !?

i have been masturbating for 3 years since i was twelve and have indeed noticed problems such as memory loss, lack of concentration, insomnia, and the lot. these are the same symptoms noted on these herbal medicine sites. recently i had stomach problems that were passed out by my doctor as acidity. i was a bright student but my grades are falling. i’m sure its because of this

I am now 36 and have been masturbating since I was 14. In the early years, I masturbated once or twice a week but by my early twenties it went up to at least once a day. In the past two years I considerably brought down the frequency of masturbation to once or twice a week, but I still urinate on average every 45 mins. Could this be the consequence of prostate enlargment due to over masturbation and is enlarged prostate a serious medical problem?

Although I’d never take any of the pills recommended by these sites, I indeed notice a significant change in my mental function after masturbating, especially if I go two or three days without it… then do it a couple times in a short period… my mind becomes clouded…. very absent minded, and I also have eye floaters and have had them for as long as I have been masturabating… (used to do it as many as 5 times a day as a teen) … I believe there is merit to this.

I’m making these comment primarily for the young men who have posted here and who are convinced they are headed for illness and doom because of a perfectly natural physical activity, but I hope it helps anyone concerned with the idea of “overmasturbation”.

Let me start off by saying I actually hold a degree in the subject of human sexuality and have spent many years studiously researching the phenomenon and learning everything conceivable about it, so if anyone would know whether or not “overmasturbation” is a real medical problem, I would, and I’m here to tell you it’s not true.

First off, think about it. Do you really think your body would be so incredibly fragile that you could do something like masturbate to death?

Do you lose some nutrients when you masturbate? Sure. Do you lose some hormones? Yes. Do you lose enough of either to present any danger to you? Certainly not.

Frankly, if you’re that concerned about nutrient loss, stop and eat a banana or something after you’re done. Chances are you’ll feel a bit peckish anyway. Whatever nutrients you lost will be more than replaced by a light snack since you have, essentially, lost enough nutrients to make up about a teaspoon or two of yogurt.

As for the hormones, don’t trouble yourself with them. In the first place, healthy males produce a really good stock of the hormones you lose in the act (especially teenage males, who have a surplus of it), so ejaculating puts you at no risk of losing something you need. Second, your body simply won’t LET you masturbate more often than it can handle the activity.

The hormones you lose during ejaculation (there’s a bit of testosterone ejaculated in semen) are the same hormones responsible for provoking the urge to masturbate in the first place. If you were running low on them, you’d most likely lose the urge to engage in sexual activity. Even if you pushed past your disinterest (which isn’t likely since you just wouldn’t be interested in doing so), you would quickly discover that your body simply didn’t respond to what you were doing, and you’d still be disinterested in the act… so you’d quit and go find something else to do.

Don’t believe me? Masturbate until you ejaculate and feel like you’re done, and then try to keep going. If your mind doesn’t simply say “this is stupid, I wanna watch TV” or “okay, nap time” or something of the sort, or in this case if you ignore it, your penis will announce in no uncertain terms that it wants you to stop touching it right this very instant and leave it alone for a while.

This is completely normal for males (it’s called a refractory period), and happens to be your body’s way of ceasing sexual activity until it is ready to engage in it again… so guess what? If you can get it up and get it off, it means your body is rested, recovered, and ready for sexual activity again.

As for the notion that somehow the acetylcholine/seratonin balance is disrupted by masturbation, that’s nonsense. None of the activity involved in normal masturbation (that being simply doing it yourself rather than, say, doing it while someone is beating you severely or you’ve just been shoved off a cliff) has anything to do with the production or usage of those two neurotransmitters. Besides, you wouldn’t WANT to start heaping acetylcholine into your brain. It would make you really irritable and edgy… not to mention that it would probably make you twitch a lot.

As for overstimulating the parasympathetic nervous system, that’s also nonsense. You can’t overstimulate either parts of your autonomic nervous system (at least not under even remotely normal circumstances, and masturbation just isn’t that exreme, I’m afraid) since it’s designed for constant use, and is designed for use in emergencies.

In any case, since the parasympathetic nervous system primarily serves to slow heart rate, calm the body and mind, and inspire the urge to digest a good meal and take a nap while you let your body break down food, it’s not going to be overstimulated by masturbating because the physical reactions you need to perform the act (increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, more energy channeled to the voluntary muscles, greater active energy consumption, etc…) are all controlled by another part of the nervous system.

Likewise, Human Growth Hormone 1 is not affected by masturbation because HGH1 really has nothing to do with any of the physical processes you go through when you masturbate, and you don’t ejaculate it away.

As for the notion of having poor memory, trouble concentrating, irritability, developing physical problems like acne, poor eyesight, mysterious aches and pains, etc… you’ve just listed all the side effects of going through puberty. Remember, your body has to completely rebuild itself from a much smaller and simpler state into a much larger and more complex end product, and it does it very rapidly compared to the physical processes you go through in the other parts of your life.

The metabolism of teenagers changes, encouraging them to sleep in later (I kid you not, when you adjust the schedule of teenagers to account for this and allow them to get up between 8:30 and 9:00, this problem largely goes away). The body’s growth is on overdrive, dedicating much more energy than usual to rapid growth and development… which happens to have side effects like fatigue, acne, mysterious aches and pains (ever heard of “growing pains”? That’s where the phrase came from).

The brain, likewise, is undergoing a massive reorganization and growth spurt… so it’s no surprise that when you look at the medical data, you find that teenagers in general have more trouble concentrating (especially with the waves of hormones suddenly impacting their bodies and brains), more trouble performing tasks, more trouble empathizing with others or determining their emotional states, are frequently moody and irritable, and yes, are still tired.

None of that has anything to do with masturbation. It has to do with the process of growing up, and everyone goes through it, whether or not they masturbate. The good news is, it’s entirely natural and your body will correct the problem by the time you’re sixteen or so, just in time for you to settle in to all the angst and social problems about to be shoved at you in every conceivable direction.

As for the actual side effects of masturbating often, less semen and lower sperm count, they’re the result of the fact that your reproductive system just hasn’t had enough time to stockpile what it could if it had a couple of days to work on the matter, but that’s not detrimental since both semen and sperm are items your body produces on a constant basis (in other words, you can’t “run out”).

While you’re at a point in your life where masturbation is probably your primary (and in many cases only) sexual outlet, this isn’t a problem in the least. When you reach a point in your life where you’re attempting to conceive a child, then your doctor will probably tell you to ease up long enough to let your body stockpile a bit of sperm… but until then you need not worry about it.

Oh, and as for the idea that masturbation can interfere with a healthy love of alcohol, there are few things less harmful than masturbation and few things more harmful than binge drinking… so if anything’s causing you physical harm, it’s what you’re drinking, not what you’re jerking.

One more thing. Despite my posting this on the internet, the internet is generally a very bad place to get good information. There are far too many people trying to make a fast buck and scam people, or just mislead everyone out of spite, and there is virtually no way to control the quality or validity of information posted. Essentially, anyone can say whatever they feel like, so you can’t take it as gospel truth just because it’s on the web.

If you want some good, solid medical information about masturbation, don’t turn to an online “doctor” who just happens to have the miracle cure he’s willing to sell you for a problem only he thinks you have. Honestly, I have never met a person yet who has diagnosed a problem and just happened to have the exact thing you need to cure it who wasn’t preying on the insecurities and fears of others, especially in an area where knowledge is generally lacking, so he could make a quick buck off the misery that he himself caused.

Tell your parents (if you’re still a minor) you need to see a physician, or schedule yourself an appointment if you’re an adult, and then ask him what the medical research has to say.

Contrary to the statements of the “overmasturbation experts”, medical studies of masturbation aren’t recent, and the results certainly aren’t unexpected or shocking. The phenomenon has been thoroughly studied for well over a century, and the medical data is very consistent about the activity and its pretty much complete lack of adverse side-effects.

Chances are while you may be very embarassed to admit why you’re there, your doctor will probably be very happy to hear your concern over masturbating too much, because it will reassure him (as he will reassure you) it’s a great indicator that you’re a very healthy young male on the right path to physical maturity.

Anyway, I hope that helps for some people out there. If someone has other questions, I’m pretty sure I can be reached through my webpage (which is neither sexually oriented nor dedicated to attempting to sell you anything).

I am, i guess what you would call a ‘Chronic’ masturbater, Since early teens i had started masterbating when we got the computer with access to the internet, im 18 now and have large ammounts of floaters that pop up everytime i used the computer to wach porn or shower etc etc. At first i thought it was eye strain from the computer so i cut down and still masturbated, i still get clumps of floaters of all sizes in my eyes and Now after stumling on this site have realised my constant headaches and eye floaters as well as pain in my stomach and around my liver and kidneys could be from over-masturbation. I am now going to stop masturbating for many weeks and start eating extremely healthy foods, fruit vege’s and see what arises.

Tom

Here’s another example of choosing to do two unrelated things and coming to the belief that one influences the other. It’s probably a great idea to eat healthier, especially if you’re not eating healthy at the moment, but the health benefits you see from eating healthy shouldn’t be subscribed to cutting back on your masturbation regimen because one really has nothing to do with the other. If you’re suffering a vitamin deficiency, it’s because you either aren’t eating right or have a legitimate medical condition which needs attention, not because you masturbate.

I’m not sure how else to explain just why the idea of “overmasturbation” is preposterous except to note that as far as Mother Nature is concerned, the most important thing a male could possibly do is spread as much sperm around as possible. The more you can get out there, the greater your chances of impregnating females and assuring the continuance of your genetic line. The more offspring you have, the better you’ve done. No kidding, that’s the way life works, and yes, that applies to masturbation, too because there’s no physical difference between the processes your body goes through to ejaculate when you masturbate and the processes your body goes through to ejaculate when you are copulating… as far as your reproductive system is concerned, it is exactly the same physical process either way.

What’s more, in our species in particular, a lot of effort over a great deal of time has to be dedicated to the raising of young, and contrary to seeming popular belief, females were neither designed nor intended to handle the task of raising young alone. Like all other higher primates, human males have a role to play in the raising of offspring… which may not seem to have much to do with this discussion until you realize it means that males not only have to be built to produce as much potential offspring as possible, but they have to be built in such a way that doing so doesn’t deplete them and lead to their getting sick and/or dying, especially considering the natural environment humans come from.

Therefore, just from an evolutionary point of view (if you believe in such things, and if you don’t, God’s mandate in whatever religious text you care to throw at the subject is essentially the same as Mother Nature’s), there is absolutely no way human males would end up being susceptible to a condition like “overmasturbation”.

How successful a species do you think human beings would be if they couldn’t get up from procreation and defend themselves from natural predators, walk to the next food source and water source, hunt and forage, etc? It’s not like we can just lay eggs and die. We’ve got to be healthy after we’re done reproducing, or our young will very likely keel over and die, and then it’s so long Homo sapiens.

For cripes sake, masturbation doesn’t even put a significant dent in your daily consumption of calories.

I know we’re supposed to have respect for “alternative theories” of medicine, but some of this stuff is just snake oil and tonics being peddled off the back of the proverbial wagon by quacks, folks.

Masturbation CANNOT impact on the kidneys because despite your reproductive system sharing a common outlet with your urinary system, the two really aren’t linked, and your body has a valve in the way which prevents both from functioning at once. The only possible way you could do damage to your urinary system through masturbation is to either a) violently destroy your urethra, or b) retrograde ejaculate into your bladder, and the only thing retrograde ejaculation will really do is slightly raise your chances for developing a bladder infection (easily cured), or much more likely simply make your pee cloudy the next time you go to the bathroom… and let’s face it, retrograde ejaculation isn’t something most males will ever run into.

It can’t harm your liver, either. No way, Jose. The two systems aren’t even remotely connected. The liver is blissfully unaware the reproductive system exists. It doesn’t even use any of the hormones which influence the reproductive system. Testosterone, estrogen, etc… all completely unimportant to its functioning. There is NO WAY you can affect it by masturbating.

As for your stomach. Again, no relation. It doesn’t use the same hormones, it doesn’t care about any of the chemical levels in the blood, it doesn’t use the same part of the autonomic nervous system. It’s not even located in an area where the muscle contractions in your abdomen would bother it.

There is a reason beyond modesty your doctor doesn’t look at you and say “and how often do you masturbate” when he’s examining problems for any of these organs. It’s because it’s simply not an issue, no matter how much someone tries to scare you into thinking it is.

Oh, and for the record, EVERYONE has “floaters” in their eyes. They’re caused by the natural passage of time and accumulate as the gel in your eyes thickens and, in some small cases, begins to clump during the aging process. They are completely harmless, completely natural, completely irreversible, and completely unrelated to your reproductive activity.

As for the constant headaches, that’s something you should see a legitimate physician about (don’t turn to one online… this is an “in person” kind of problem), especially if eating correctly doesn’t alleviate the problem, because there are a few things which cause headaches, ranging from the mostly harmless to the fatal (and yet, absolutely none of the causes of frequent headaches is masturbation).

It’s much better to find out if you’re simply tense and that’s causing your headache, if a food or environmental allergy is causing the problem, if you have migraines (which are a vascular headache), or if your headache is a symptom of something more severe such as a cardiovascular problem or a tumor (I’m not saying it’s a tumor! I’m not even saying it’s LIKELY it’s a tumor! I’m just saying it’s a good idea to get a doctor to take a look at you if you have very frequent headaches… those shouldn’t be occurring in healthy individuals).

In any case, this is another set of problems being ascribed to a phenomenon which couldn’t possibly be causing the symptoms in order to prey on your insecurities and fears as a male so someone can scam you, and if you’re curious as to why someone would pick just this topic, it’s because it’s taboo. There’s a big social stigma against talking about it, against learning about it, against admitting anything about it, and against doing it. It’s a part of us that, at least socially speaking, we don’t seem to like to accept, don’t know about, and don’t know who to turn to to learn what’s right, so it’s a part of us that’s very easy prey for those who would like to hurt us for their gain, and historically this is a very old game.

You can go back to texts as early as the seventeenth century, where everything from homosexuality and pedophilia to epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease (dementia), schizophrenia, hairy palms (which no one ever seems to develop), and yes, the proverbial addage “you’ll go blind” and more is ascribed to it.

You want a good place to start? Start with the works of John Marten, and more famously Tissot’s “Onanisma”. They claim everything from birth defects to tuberculosis and syphilis are caused by masturbation.

Of course, every single last bit of it has been debunked by medical science as prejudice and chicaneries played by physicians who thought their hate should be accepted as scientific fact.

Despite that, however, this argument, with a slightly altered and updated list of symptoms, resurfaces every few years, as masturbation is once again decried as the root of all illnesses and evils, and every time it surfaces, medical science re-tests and comes to the same conclusion once again.

Masturbation doesn’t do any of this stuff. You’d think by now the people against it would come up with a realistic list that wasn’t patently disproven a hundred years ago… but they don’t, and for some reason people do keep believing them and putting themselves through unnecessary stress, frustration, and in quite a few cases harm in order to protect themselves from something entirely innocent and embrace the very thing hurting them.

Masturbation won’t hurt you. The people who are willing to go to extreme measures to make you stop very well might.

I wish I knew those magical words to make everyone see the light of truth on this one, but I don’t. All I can do is encourage those concerned to seek out as much education as they can from proper resources (SIECUS would be a very good place to start in your search for privately available, accurate information… and believe it or not, Planned Parenthood has some good resources on the subject as well), and from legitimate physicians and health care professionals.

If you don’t know, or you’re scared this might be a real condition (ESPECIALLY if you’re scared this might be a real condition), having all the facts can only help you, not harm you.

When I was a teenager I masturbated as often as possible.

Later I had partners so I stopped.

When I didn’t have anybody to take to bed I often did it.

For many years I’ve masturbated as often as I wanted to. Often about silly, weird and nutty fantasies (if nothing else it is good for experiencing after a fashion things you can’t do in real life).

No guilt, no pain, no medical problems.

If you are feeling emotional conflict or unwell in some way it isn’t from stroking your penis, however often you may do it.

Have a good time.

If you need some sort of help get it from a skilled professional in flesh life. Don’t look for it on the web.

I Am 14 Years old i have been masturbating since 11 everyday now i just lost my virginity and i stopped but i realised that erection is not as strong as it was and it takes me longer to get 1

I totally believe that overmasturbation do have it’s effect!!! I am masturbating once or even more a day since I am 11. I am now 19 and the last years I suffered from exactly the same as described by over-masturbation. So… I stopped for a few week and GUESS what! Everything is normal again!!! So I say, Andiboi you better do your research a little bit better because if sooo many symptoms match plus the fact they go away means after stopping means it definitely have something to do with over-masturbation. I think the pills are absolutely nonsense, BUT, it does make sense that over-masturbation is NOT GOOD for your body! So, Watch out for yourselfs!

No matter what anyone say, we all know, too much of a good thing can be bad for you. That includes masturbation.

My research is based on the study of literally thousands upon thousands of males over the course of more than a century. Your findings are based on very short-term anecdotal evidence which would, at its best, be considered a single case history. Indeed, it wouldn’t even be considered a valid case-history by the medical establishment or scientific community because there was no base line established for comparison, no control of outside variables to isolate other factors which could have come into play, no realistic data collected to see if there was an actual physical effect or if the effect could be accounted for psychologically (a placebo effect), and you have not been involved in your own situation long enough to gauge if there is a long-term effect, a short-term effect, or indeed if there is any real effect at all. After all, feelings of health and well-being vary over the course of time for virtually everyone, which could account for your experience in its entirety.

It’s very easy to take what we experience in our own lives in the short term and say that because this has happened the way we thought it would, then it must be true. However, it’s very bad science and generally just very bad thinking to do so.

Did you know, for instance, that for many years… decades, in fact… it was believed that ice cream consumption provoked murderous impulses?

It’s true.

Why?

Because if you look at the data, the murder rate increases at the same time ice-cream sales do. It does it very consistently. Simple logic, should you stop right there and not examine the problem further and take time to isolate all the variables to see if something else might be influencing the outcome, says that it HAS to be significant.

Is it true, though? Certainly not. It’s a spurrious correlation. The reason murder rate increases at the same time as ice-cream sales is because we sell more ice-cream as the weather grows hotter… and heat HAS been shown to influence levels of aggression and degrade normal social control in human beings. Ice-cream has nothing to do with it. Heat does.

If you would like an example that is less obvious, I will point you to sodium intake. It’s still commonly believed that consumption of too much salt can lead to a heart attack.

That particular belief is over a hundred years old. Was it a researched conclusion in the medical community, though?

Actually, no. If you look very thoroughly back through medical history, you’ll discover that long ago a supposition was made between two things which seemed related. In this case, the supposition was made between the fact that consuming salt increases blood pressure, and the fact that those who suffer heart attacks generally have increased blood pressure.

Therefore, things which increase your blood pressure must be bad for your heart, correct? It seems like very logical thinking, so there was really no reason to question it and do any research on the subject to find out just what the particulars of the phenomenon were, right?

Well, as it turns out that’s the way the situation sat until the early 1990s. Doctors everywhere said it. Social policy and government guidelines were written for it, and much was said about the evils of excess salt intake by many learned people who, as it turns out, had never actually stopped to check and see if what they were saying proved to be true. When someone finally did decide to directly evaluate sodium intake against likelihood of dying from a heart attack, and they discovered something very surprising. In fact, it surprised them so much, they were sure they must have gotten the conclusion wrong, and yet it has been consistently replicated since then.

The conclusion was this: Those who consumed only the recommended daily allowance of sodium were more than four times as likely to die from a heart attack as those who greatly exceeded it.

Since then, quite a lot of medical data has been collected on just what effects sodium has once it enters the body, and it’s now known that sodium intake has virtually no deleterious effect on the body in healthy individuals, and does quite a few beneficial things (not the least of which is provide half of the mechanism we need to transmit nerve impulses), which means something that for a long time was thought to be a medical danger turns out to have only been a red herring. Sound familiar?

The list of things humanity has discovered it was wrong about once it studied the underlying science of the phenomenon is absolutely legion.

For thousands of years, people believed the Sun revolved around the Earth. Why? Because it LOOKS like it does. Of course, it’s not true. Scientific study reveals that it appears that way because the Earth rotates as it revolves around the Sun.

For hundreds of years, people believed the Earth was flat. Why? Because if you look out over the land, it LOOKS flat on the surface. Scientific study of the phenomenon revealed the Earth was round long before we were actually able to launch into space and observe the Earth from a distance (Magellan, for instance, said the Earth was round because it casts a round shadow on the moon during an eclipse, no matter where on the Earth you are… which is a piece of evidence no one else seemed to have noticed).

Galileo was locked up for many years of his life for stating things fall at the same rate. Why? Aristotle said that lighter things fall slower than heavier things. Aristotle, unfortunately, never actually conducted any scientific investigations to establish that. Everyone just believed him when he said it, because it seemed like it would be true. Galileo studied the phenomenon scientifically and discovered that was incorrect, and that other unrelated things influenced the rate at which things fell. He was nearly executed for proving it scientifically, too.

The list goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on, so there’s a very consistently proven reason why we do NOT simply take the snap judgments, the surface evaluation of isolated things, and accept them as proof without doing studious research to take all the variables into account individually to see what influence they have on the overall phenomenon, and then replicate those findings many times to make sure it wasn’t simply a fluke.

The ideas surrounding overmasturbation are the same. That you were having physical problems, ceased masturbating, and they suddenly vanished neither surprises me, nor does it confirm anything about the idea that overmasturbation is a real medical problem.

There could be any number of things which led to your physical complaints in the first place, which you have not explored. I would be willing to bet that there were other changes made to your lifestyle during the time you decided to cease your masturbatory activities, too. Have all of those been taken into account?

For instance, when during the day did you engage in masturbation? Was it at night before you slept? That’s a very common time, especially among young people who are afforded precious little true privacy during other hours of the day. If so, and you continued going to bed at the same time but skipping that activity once you were in bed, you probably got more sleep since you were now using the entire time period for sleep, rather than mitigating your sleep period to engage in other activities.

The increase in sleep accounted for by fewer “late nights” where you were physically active could easily account for an increase in overall feelings of health and well-being, and would be entirely unrelated to masturbation in and of itself. It would be related to your sleep patterns.

What about your diet? Did you begin to eat healthier at the same time?

Were there outside stressful influences which you began to shy away from, moving toward a more healthy lifestyle, and a calmer one?

Quite often making a behavioral change is larger than simply cutting out one and only one activity. In fact, it generally is.

In your case, there are probably several things you began doing differently because you began to pay specific attention to the physical complaints you had. Being more mindful of your physical condition, in and of itself, would lead you to subtly alter your behavior on all levels in order to alleviate the problems, and any one of the things involved could have been causing them.

There are any of a multitude of things which could lead to the physical complaints listed because in the end, where the complaints aren’t something like “your chi is out of focus”, all of those complaints are the complaints of stress… which can be caused by sleeplessness, the pressures of a bad relationship, by pressures of school, social pressures, work pressures, etc… etc… etc… and you haven’t accounted for any of those in your analysis.

For that matter, you have been feeling the general complaints of puberty and rapid growth for many years, which just happen to coincide with the time in your life where you were probably most active in a masturbatory sense, and have begun to come out of it recently. It’s just as likely that you’ve begun to feel better because your body is not pushing itself so hard to grow rapidly any more, and you have finally established a more consistent adult metabolism.

Did it occur to you that you could have had a smoldering urinary tract infection (that means your body wasn’t able to fight it off all the way, but it wasn’t able to establish itself into a full-blown infection, either), and that by ceasing masturbation you stopped alkalizing your urethra on a regular basis, thereby increasing the amount of time the infection was exposed to a more acidic (not to mention more saline) environment which could have finally made it weak enough for your immune system to finally eliminate, or at least fight back to the point of being asymptomatic?

That could cause the complaint but have nothing to do with masturbation itself. It would have to do with the fact you might have a very specific illness.

Heck, if like about half the males out there you use some sort of lubricant during the act, did it ever occur to you that you could be having an allergic reaction to whatever lubricant you were using, and the effects of “overmasturbation” you were experiencing were alleviated when you ceased masturbating because you naturally reduced your exposure to a potential allergen which could have aggravated your body (which would not be the fault of the act itself, but rather the things you use to accomplish the act)?

No. You’ve simply said “well it seems to have worked for me just this once for this short period of time”, and without actually doing YOUR OWN research a little bit better, you’re ready to declare that I’m wrong.

Unfortunately, I can tell you I have a very healthy libido myself and have been at the masturbation game since before you were even born, and for much of that time with the very frequency suggested as being so unhealthy, without suffering any ill effects whatsoever. So, on those grounds alone, I’ve just done as much research as you have… and in fact have done quite a bit more since I’ve done it for a much longer period of time than you have… and can provide you with exactly the same type of proof that it’s false you’re providing to say it’s true.

However, in addition to that, I have studied literally hundreds of males in the same position in the course of my research on human sexuality, with none of them suffering such effects, either.

I have also met with physicians and doctors who themselves have studied hundreds (and in some cases thousands) of males, all of whom found the same results I had.

I can go back through the medical and social research history starting from today to long before Alfred Kinsey began his work, and he began that work about the time your father was probably a gleam in someone’s eye, and discover the histories of thousands more males, all of whom suffered no ill effects.

So, I’m not sure at what point you think you have things worked out better on your own than I (and for that matter the entire medical community which has been looking at this phenomenon from every possible angle since before your grandfather was probably born) do, but I’m sorry to say your personal experience does not invalidate over a hundred years of medical history because it seems to have worked out that way for you under circumstances where absolutely no control was exercised to make sure the thing being blamed was the thing responsible.

If you want to tell me my facts are actually wrong, then go find me the competing scientific research which shows conclusively that this phenomenon exists and leads medically to the symptoms ascribed to it. If it’s a legitimate medical condition, the research should be easy to locate. I have already pointed out two different resources which have scientific data proving my statements, so the research does exist… and yet I am willing to bet you will find it conspicuously absent in your search.

Yes, excessive masturbation can indeed cause serious health problems—if, for example, you get your dick tangled in the steering wheel of your car.

All of these dire warnings are claptrap, inspired by right-wing religious ayatollahs and snake-oil salesmen. I speak as one who has had a constitutional wank at least once a day since I was eleven—thirty-eight years ago. I have even on occasion gone for wank-a-thons where I masturbated till I was cumming dry. Any ill effects? Not one. Good effects—plenty, not least that I have pretty much total control over ejaculation, something several partners have waxed lyrical over (between orgasms.) Fer goodness sake, what’s the physiological difference between tossing your eyes crossed and shagging your partner silly? You think your body knows you’re going for the moonshot?

Please. It’s just more quasi-religious pseudo-scientific psycho-babble designed to give normal healthy people guilt complexes about doing normal healthy things. Pull the head off it. You know it’s good for you. R.

Interesting article on the discovery of Viagra and an even more “interesting” picture of an elephant…quite bizarre that the author used this photo for illustration, reckon he’s trying to tell us something?

I agree with those stating that this is all just smoke and mirrors to stop you from doing what comes naturally.

What you do in the privacy of your space is your business. I myself enjoy my body anytime I can…why because it is mine and having someone tell me that experinceing pleasure is wrong is like someone saying you cannot breathe.

A line from Mel Brooks History of the world part I “You do it, I do it, we all do it…”

The King knew the lowdown…chuckle So why fight it and why be afriad of it. Your body will tell you when it has had enough…and tell you when it wants more.

Being afraid of your sexuality will just make you an irritable, angry, regretful, and jealous individual.

While others out there are doing what they like you will be experincing your own sado-masochistic world of denial.

So go enjoy what your body and do and let the quacks fool someone else.

Re: the elephant, humourous, don’t read if you can’t laugh

What’s grey and comes in buckets?

R

Hi,

I heard on other sites that overmasturbation can be part of the cause of premature ejaculation. Currently I’m suffering from this and have thought that maybe I should stop masturbating for a few weeks to let my body ‘recover’ as one site put it. Is this a load of rubbish that won’t help?

Thanks

Well put AndiBoi. I do not believe that masturbation causes any serious health risks. However, I don’t immediately close the door on the idea that the intense neurotransmitter brain-bath of orgasm might leave its mark on the brain in some way or another (even if just temporarily). Considering that the data isn’t all in on nearly anything psychological, I am still inclined to listen to my own experiences (however misinformed they might be).

I feel tired after masturbating. I KNOW something is going on. What that is exactly, I don’t know. I do know however that I feel less inclined to be social after having orgasmed (especially if the build-up period was long and intense). I feel slightly more irritable and my skin flares up for a short while after orgasm (which I suppose you could say about any activity that gets the blood pumping).

Nothing life threatening. I could go on with my life, no problem. But I just feel like I’m dragging, to an extent. If I masturbate in the morning, I find it harder to want to socialize as the day goes on.

Like I said, the data isn’t all in. And even though I certainly don’t have it, I guess we all are sort of here playing a guessing game. It is possible that I am the one out of a hundred that actually does feel washed-out and unmotivated for a day as a direct result of neurotransmitter metabolism during orgasm.

hello my name is Chris and I do get tired after Masturabation but thats not a problem is it i mean im still going through puberty and i hate it. ok i admmit im nearly 13 acctually 37 days from it and i masturabate twice or once a day and before i did that i did it once a week or month and i wasnt tired then. and i didnt do it before i had a girlfriend but now i do and is that what caused it??? i really need my questions answered and fix them thank you.

Let’s see if I can tackle these in order. First, I think we need to clarify the “event” we’re discussing, because it isn’t just idle stimulation of the penis that everyone is saying is so bad. It’s the end result, that being ejaculation.

I’m bringing this up because many people, if not most of them, tend to confuse one with the other and say that males are experiencing an orgasm when they ejaculate… and while that’s partially true because orgasmic response is required for an ejaculatory response, ejaculation is a separate and distinct physiological process from orgasm itself.

Believe it or not, both males and females are equipped and generally capable of experiencing both orgasm on its own and having an ejaculatory response.

It isn’t really the orgasm part of the equation the “overmasturbation” proponents seem to be objecting to. In fact, some of them will out and out say it’s not, since they will say it’s just fine to masturbate more often than 2-3 times a week if you have learned how to orgasm without ejaculating. The big baddie the “overmasturbation” people seem to be insisting causes so much harm is ejaculation, not orgasm. Anyway, on with the show.

Okay, first on the notion that “overmasturbation” can lead to premature ejaculation….

Even though there’s more than a grain of truth to the idea of masturbation and premature ejaculation in males being linked, it’s not a side effect of masturbation itself. It’s a side effect of HOW you masturbate.

To be blunt, most males begin masturbating during puberty when they have to do it on the sly because everyone seems mortified they might have a dick that works, so if they want to get their cookies, they’ve got to learn to do it quick and quiet or risk the embarassment and condemnation that comes with being discovered.

Unfortunately, this means teenage males spend less than a minute, on average, masturbating before they ejaculate. Getting used to being quick on the draw is an advantage if you’re shooting straight for the big “O” with no scenic stops along the way, but also leaves you with a hair trigger that keeps your partner going “oh my God, oh my God, you’re… you’re… DONE?!”

Ceasing masturbatory behavior won’t fix this particular problem because it’s something you’ve trained your own body to do. In fact, it will probably make it worse since your body will be very hungry for stimulation when you finally do give it, and you’ll shoot much sooner than you were intending otherwise.

What you have to do is retrain your body so you can take more stimulation before you ejaculate, and masturbation is probably one of the best tools at your disposal to go about that.

This is one of those happy places where the difference between orgasm and ejaculation can come into play, because when males learn to orgasm without ejaculating, they become just about as multi-orgasmic as women… so you can still have an orgasm fairly quickly and continue on with your sexual play as long as you know how to hold off ejaculating until you’re ready to be done.

There is an excellent book on the subject called “Any Man Can: The Multiple Orgasmic Technique for Every Loving Man”, by William Hartman. Not only can it help you learn to separate one response from the other so you can enjoy more orgasms during sex, but it will also teach you very important techniques to help you control your body and its response to stimulation so you can enjoy longer periods of sexual activity between orgasmic and ejaculatory responses.

Also, it’s helpful to learn that sexual intercourse is not the “end all, be all” of sexuality, and that sex need not end just because you’ve ejaculated. If you are having a lot of problems controlling your ejaculatory response when you begin having intercourse, simply learn to expand your repertoire to include other things before sexual intercourse, focusing on little things to keep you up and happy but not overstimulated, and help end the evening by making sure your partner has had just as much fun. That way, even if you’re not able to learn any more control than you previously had, the two of you can have a very fun filled, erotic evening and decide to have that final intimate moment of intercourse to top a very satisfying evening off, which makes the idea of ejaculating after a minute or two of doing it much less important since it’s the cherry on top, and not the whole sundae.

And if you do ejaculate in the middle of the evening, it need not be a disaster. Just because you’ve ejaculated doesn’t mean you have to stop having any sort of sexual contact with your partner. There are still many things you can do to take care of the needs of the person you’re with, and it’s a great opportunity to bolster their ego by pointing out they were SO good, you just couldn’t hold back (unless you came without them really doing anything to you, at which point the compliment becomes “just the thought of you was so exciting” or “just the sight of you was so erotic”).

If you want to be REALLY novel, slow down the action and take a little bit to cuddle with your lover (that goes over GANGBUSTERS with women, guys), and then slowly work back into action focusing on making them just as satisfied with the evening as you are. Who knows, by the time you’ve actually gotten them to the point they’re ready to cum, you might be ready again yourself and this time you can do it together.

So yeah, not the end of the world. There are plenty of resources out there to help premature ejaculation and make sexual encounters more satisfying… and changing the way you masturbate, seeing how long you can extend it by setting goals for yourself (“okay, today I’m going to try not to come for five minutes”… “today, I’m going for ten”) and gradually building up your stamina, experimenting on your own to see how different types of stimulation effect how long it takes you to ejaculate, etc… can be invaluable tools to building a better sexual relationship with your partner since you will have a much more thorough understanding of how to alter the stimulation to your body in order to lengthen the encounter (which would translate from masturbation to sex by doing things like having intercourse slowly rather than quickly, directing your lover to use a lighter touch during oral sex and mutual masturbation, etc), and make it more pleasing.

In fact, masturbation can come in darned handy, no pun intended, once you get over the awkwardness of doing it in front of someone else, because taking the time to masturbate and communicate what’s going on with your body while your lover is there is a very good way for them to learn a lot about what types of stimulation you like, what makes you ejaculate too quickly, what helps draw the encounter out… and it’s a very good way for you to learn about their body and their preferences as well.

Now then, onto the other notion of the neurotransmitters. It honestly doesn’t sound like a “neurotransmitter” problem you’re having when you masturbate.

First off the penis and all tactile stimulation of it is under the control of your upper spinal cord, and not your brain, contrary to popular opinion. Biology did not see fit to leave you in control of that particular function, I’m afraid. It’s a reflex reaction.

I know, there’s this big myth that every time men get an erection, it means they must WANT to have sex, and that men have total control over it. Frankly, I’m dumbfounded that myth perseveres given the fact that just about every male on Earth has desperately prayed for the ground to open up or swallow them, or for lightning to strike, or for it to just GO DOWN, because they suddenly got an erection in an awkward situation (like having to stand up and read an essay for the class) and it just isn’t listening to your pleas that now isn’t the time.

Sorry guys, as good as they feel, most of the time your body pops a boner because the blood flow through your penis isn’t the best when it’s flaccid, and it needs to completely change the blood volume out to guard against oxygen deprivation.

What’s the upshot of this? Well, the upshot is that orgasms don’t have nearly as much to do with neurotransmitters as you might think, and certainly not in the brain… and much less so in males than in females, believe it or not.

Granted, the data on orgasm’s impact on the brain is a bit more limited in males than it is in females due to the fact ejaculatory responses are generally shorter than orgasmic responses in females are, but all the data we have suggests that during orgasm, none of the brain is really in overdrive. In fact, it seems to largely slow down its activity during that particular physical response. The only part of the brain which seems to kick into high gear in males is the “reward center” of the brain, and that doesn’t use either acetylcholine or seratonin to get its message across.

Whatever else it may be, orgasmic response isn’t the free for all fiesta of neurotransmitters washing willy-nilly across your brain the “overmasturbation” proponents would have you believe… and this might be a good time to set something straight. Acetylcholine and seratonin are NOT the two major neurotransmitters of your brain. I’m afraid that honor goes to glutamic acid and GABA. In fact, the brain has very few receptors for acetylcholine since its primary use is in the peripheral nervous system (it and noradrenaline are the only neurotransmitters used by your peripheral nervous system)… so you’re not going to screw up some all important acetylcholine balance in your brain by masturbating since your brain doesn’t use acetylcholine that much anyway.

As for seratonin, the side effect of having too much of it seems to be drowsiness since it gets converted to melatonin, and too little of it seems to be severe behavioral problems like major depression and violent suicidal tendencies (which would explain why people suffering from either problem generally experience insomnia since decreased seratonin would lead to decreased melatonin production).

On top of that, while seratonin is present in most of your body tissues, you cannot “drain it away” by ejaculating since seratonin can’t cross the blood/brain barrier, meaning that brain seratonin and body seratonin have to be produced separately. What’s more, sexual activity doesn’t do nearly as much to influence seratonin levels in your brain as what you eat does… so believe it or not, your PB&J will have a much bigger impact on your seratonin than your orgasm (or ejaculation) will. If you’re really worried ejaculating is running you short on seratonin, eat a slice of bread after you cum. If you want to take out extra insurance, eat a turkey sandwich. Virtually every bit of tryptophan you consume gets converted to seratonin.

In any case, what’s being described doesn’t sound like a neurological disorder. You have to remember the sexual response cycle is pretty intense physically. Your heart rate skyrockets during it. By the time you reach plateau and orgasm, it can be beating up to two hundred beats per minute or more, with your blood pressure through the roof as well.

Whatever else sex is, it is for at least some of the time quite a cardiovascular event. Honestly the effects being described sound like fatigue more than anything else. You say right off you’re tired after you masturbate. That’s a common effect considering how much your body was just exerting itself. The urge to roll over and take a nap is pretty common after orgasm. In fact, if you look through what the French have to say on the subject, they say the ultimate result a man can achieve with a woman is causing “The Little Death”, literally causing an orgasm so intense the woman passes out from it.

Also, you point to this being a problem if you masturbate in the morning. Are there lingering effects the next day if you masturbate at night before going to sleep? If not, you have a good clue as to what the culprit is. You’ve tired your body out, but can’t stop to recover. Continuing to push yourself after you’ve reached a state where you need rest will cause the complaints you describe.

However, if this is a marked concern of yours, you should watch your behavior. If you exert yourself strenuously in other ways, do the aftereffects of the activity linger on? Say you were to exercise vigorously in the morning, to the point of being as tired after your workout as you would be after masturbating. Do the same effects seem to plague you through the course of the day? If so, then you have a VERY strong indicator as to what is going on, and it probably isn’t a neurotransmitter deficiency. It’s probably just simple fatigue.

Since the effects are lingering, though, you might stop and look at your physical well-being. Are you in shape? Do you get enough exercise and eat properly? If not, this could be a good cue from your body to start living a healthier lifestyle.

If you honestly feel like you’re in relatively good health… i.e. you aren’t overweight, you do get good exercise, you eat properly and get plenty of sleep, you aren’t overly stressed in your life, etc… it could be a sign of another physical problem which is preventing your cardiovascular system from recovering like it should.

After you complete a strenuous activity (say lifting weights, running a mile, etc) or sexual activity, try to make a conscious effort to stop and stay still in a resting position, either sitting or lying down, and monitor your vital signs. How many minutes does it take your breathing to return to a normal, resting pace? What about your pulse? A minute? Two? Is it longer than five minutes? How long does your pulse stay over 150 beats a minute? 100?

For that matter, what is your resting pulse rate? Is it below fifty or above a hundred beats a minute? Both are prime indicators of cardiovascular distress, and are one of the first things a doctor will test to get an answer for.

Are there other symptoms that accompany it? Do you see lights in your vision or does your vision fade during these periods? Do you develop an almost immediate headache?

These are things that a physician is going to want to know if you have a potential health problem which needs to be addressed.

Of course, that’s not to say you have a problem… and yes, in your specific case there may be something wonky which happens to the neurotransmitter levels in your brain, though that’s probably very far down on the list of possibilities… it’s only to note that there are a wide range of possible causes of your physical complaints, most of which are very common, mostly benign, and almost completely avoidable.

By no means should you take what I have to say as medical advice. That should come only from a physician you see IN PERSON and who has the time and training to properly evaluate what is going on with your body. You can’t phone your health in, and any doctors willing to let you try are neglecting their duties to you, I’m sorry to say, especially if you have a concern about your health which needs to be addressed.

All that said, though, have you heard the one about the man who went to the doctor because his arm was hurting?

“Doctor, doctor… it hurts when I bend my arm like this!”

“Then stop bending your arm like that.”

If you know cumming in the morning is going to make you cranky during the day, then don’t do it. Make that particular activity something to look forward to, a bit of a reward for a job well done that day, or a time to blow off a bit of physical steam and check out from the stresses of the day, and then get a good night’s sleep so you’re ready to tackle the next day in good spirits. =)

In answer to your question, Chris, the short answer is “no, it’s probably not because you got a girlfriend”. I mean sure, girlfriends can tire you out, but that’s different. That comes from the demands of having to think of her, figure out what she’s going to want to do, do things she’s going to like to do, go out on dates with her, try not to look like a complete fool when you’re with her, try not to look like you’re trying not to look like a complete fool when you’re with her, etc… but the whole “got a girlfriend” thing isn’t really all that related to the “need some private time where they think I’m just going to the bathroom before I explode” thing.

First off, puberty is a trying experience in and of itself and being tired is a common complaint of those going through it.

Secondly, though, before you began to go through puberty, masturbation was probably a much more relaxed experience where you simply did something that made you feel good for a while. I would be willing to bet it’s become a much more “focused” activity now that you’re going through puberty, and you’ve added (or you are adding) a new dimension to the activity: ejaculation.

That’s something which requires more resources for the body to accomplish, and it’s also something you’re pretty new at being able to pull off, so your body is still working out the kinks in the system (you’re not quite used to producing semen yet, your muscles aren’t used to the effort of contracting the way they do when you ejaculate, etc…). Have no fear, those go away as your body settles down into a more adult state.

In any case, it’s perfectly natural to be tired once you ejaculate. It’s just part of the game.

As much as this advice seems like it sucks because you’re probably seriously driven by the need to get off these days, use your better judgment. If you know masturbating is going to make you tired and you have stuff to do, then put off getting off until after you’ve got your other stuff done and can rest up after. If nothing else, it’ll certainly motivate you to get your other stuff done.

The best fix for the problems you’re having is for you to be mindful of all your body is trying to do and give it what it needs to accomplish it. Unfortunately, that means doing every lame-ass thing adults have been telling you forever and a day. Eat right, get plenty of exercise, go to bed on time and get a good night’s sleep, take your vitamins, try not to stress out so much, etc… etc… etc….

It really is what’s going to get you through the matter smoothly.

I am 50 years of age and been married half of that. I estimate I have masturbated over 12000 times.I am in great health and don’t plan on stopping any time soon.

AndiBoi, it appears you and I agree. I was just putting forward an argument for why someone might practice masturbatory restraint. But you aren’t against moderation- you’re just trying to refute BS alarmist propoganda.

You know what you’re talking about. Keep up the good work.

Hi, I just have one question, is it possible to develop urethritis from Overmasterbation? and if this is true, will stopping(masturbation) make it go away? thanks.

Gosh, this is all so terribly silly. I - like many if not most men - have masturbated heavily for decades.

People take the most commonplace inconveniences of life and try to find simple and unnecessary causes.

Others - see above - use words and concepts they don’t understand to craft theories that aren’t worth a penny.

Masturbate all you want: there is no physiological damage.

If you grip too tightly you may interfere with your penis’ sensitivity during sex with a partner.

If you get too caught up in your fantasies you may become unable to enjoy sex with a real person.

Biologically: there’s not a bit of harm.

Period.

Ok, thank you, and I understand how it may seem silly, but I, like many men, can over react when it comes to problems in this topic. Any way thanks again.

If human physiology weren’t tough and adaptable we’d have all died out long ago.

As much as our penis may weigh on our mind there’s lots more going on in our bodies. And even more in our minds where we can create problems that aren’t really there.

Try scanning through PubMed and looking for valid scientific research that shows any problem with heavy masturbation.

Nope.

Bodies were programmed to orgasm frequently. Evolution was shaped by the creation of offspring. The more the better. Of course the penis doesn’t always know if it is making babies or just feeling good.

Don’t let half-baked web theorists confuse you with their homebrew biology.

I think excessive masturbation is like greed. its not a dangerous or harmful thing but its slightly pathetic, like self control not being able to overcome self indulgence. But then its a good thing wanking doesnt belie itself in a similar way to greed ‘cos then I’d weigh like a million stone! But there was a proper point, andiboi, I want to say thanks for explaining away the myths so thoroughly and I’d to ask about the validity of another common claim which goes something like “the more you do it the more you want to do it”. Is there a link between the frequency of masturbation and the strength of the desire to do so, or does high frequency actually lower libido by ‘not letting it build up’? &I’m surprised no-ones mentioned the phenomenon I’ve come to call ‘wanker’s guilt’ an intense but shortlived feeling of depression after masturbation which cirtainly hit me when I started out, but I’ll say to any beginners there that (I found)it doesnt last too many years!

I don’t want to say “yes” or “no” because to my knowledge there hasn’t been any significant research done asking whether or not frequency of masturbatory behavior influences the desire to do it. However, I can tell you several things about the subject which indicate the answer is probably “no”.

First off, the notion “the more you do it the more you want to do it” is a simple summation of a model of addiction. It’s a consuming cycle. So, the question becomes “can you become addicted to masturbation”?

Well, there’s quite a bit of debate over the idea of “sex addiction” in general. There is much to be said, usually very loudly and with much passion, on both sides of the aisle. Those who support the notion will point you to hundreds and thousands of case histories demonstrating all the people who have been identified as being addicted to sex, and who have been treated for it, as justification that it’s a real phenomenon.

However, when you start cutting through the emotion, the smoke, mirrors, and drama on both sides of the argument, you turn up precious little evidence that has been properly documented clinically.

For my part, though, I will tell you I personally don’t believe in the concept of “sex addiction” for a very important reason. Addiction (properly speaking) requires an external chemical stimulus to generate an unnatural physiological response in our body. It has consistent phsysiological patterns which can be pinpointed to demonstrate how the addiction was established, and withdrawing the stimulus provokes specific physiological withdrawal reactions. All of this is missing from the concept of “sex addiction”.

While it is true that during sex and orgasm, a certain amount of dopamine is released in the brain, it isn’t the result of an external chemical stimulus which causes the reaction, and barring a physical neurological problem, it isn’t an excessive amount, either. It’s the result of a natural physiological process our bodies are designed to go through, and which is provoked (provided you don’t do poppers or something during sex) through an entirely natural physiological process we were designed to seek out and complete.

For me, that drags it out of the realm of things which can be addictive, because we happen to have another classification for engaging in repetitive behaviors or thoughts to the point where we no longer have adequate control over them. It’s called obsession, which is exactly what the models of “sex addiction” look like to me. They look like obsessive behavioral problems which just happen to be expressed through sexual means.

What’s the difference? Well, it’s a matter of what’s causing the behavior. Addiction is caused externally. It doesn’t matter who you pick off the street or how unwilling they are to become addicted, if you expose them to an addictive substance (such as heroin, cocaine, nicotine, caffeine, etc) on a regular basis, they’re going to become addicted. They’re going to end up with a physiologically based need for a substance which provokes an effect their bodies weren’t ever meant to go through.

Obsession, on the other hand, begins from the inside out. Not everyone can become obsessed with something, because there isn’t an exterior stimulus to provoke the response. You need a mind which is disposed to falling into that cycle of thought, of need, and desire… which is a different animal to deal with because it’s not a matter of simple chemistry causing psychological dependence. It’s a matter of psychological dysfunction in the mind itself.

All that said, can masturbation be addictive? I don’t think so. Like I said, it lacks the necessary component to make it so. Can you become obsessed with it? Sure. Absolutely you can. Will you? No, probably not, because obsessive disorders really aren’t all that common among human beings.

I think about the biggest problem in addressing “healthy sexual behaviors” we have is that even educated professionals generally have very little notion of what truly healthy sexual behaviors are. We tend to acknowledge, grudgingly, that sex is a part of life. We try to hide it away at the same time we glamorize it, we laud it while we jeer at it, and we mystify it at the same time we demonize it… we do just about everything but address it head on and look at it as just another activity on the same par as sleeping, eating, and eliminating waste from our systems as part of the business of biological life we happen to be engaged in.

We’re so uncomfortable with our bodies, we literally throw people in jail if we catch them naked. Why? Well, no one really knows. Lots of people say it’s harmful, but they never have been able to point out just HOW people are harmed except that they seem to WANT to be hurt by it. Are there any other animals we’re bothered by seeing naked? Are there any other animals out there which are at all bothered by being naked? Oh heck, are there even any other animals which seem to care whether or not they see other animals engaged in sexual behavior or happen to be seen themselves? You’d think it would be much more difficult to fill up Saturday afternoon programming on PBS with shows about animals mating if that were the case.

Come on, folks… do you really think we’re THAT different than every single last other lifeform on the planet? I’m afraid we walk around with a much more dysfunctional point of view about ourselves, our bodies, and our behaviors than most of us ever come close to realizing, and it makes it very hard to properly consider things like masturbation and put them in their correct perspective.

For instance, let’s consider masturbation in the context of just another of the tasks of your biological life, the business your body goes through to keep things running on that smooth cycle it likes. Do you spend more time masturbating than sleeping? You’re probably in trouble if you say yes, but chances are you don’t even come close.

Do you spend more time masturbating than you do preparing and eating food? Count time for food you didn’t prepare yourself since you were probably spending much of that time waiting for food to be given to you.

What about grooming? Do you spend more time masturbating than you do bathing and grooming yourself, touching yourself up during the course of the day, washing your hands, checking to make sure your clothes are okay, you didn’t spill anything on your shirt, your tie is straight, your hair isn’t messed up, etc… Do you spend more time masturbating than you do on your bathing and grooming?

How about going to the bathroom. Be brutally honest about how much time you actually spend masturbating… just how many minutes tick by on the clock, and not how much time you’d like to think it takes you, or how long it FEELS like it was, but how long it really was. Do you spend more time a day masturbating than you actually do going to the bathroom?

Believe it or not, the answer to all these questions is probably “no”. When you get right down to it, males spend precious few minutes a day engaged in masturbatory behavior, even those who masturbate two or three times a day.

This isn’t a behavior which takes up a significant portion of the lives of males, and it isn’t something which generally interferes with their lives, it’s simply another part of the business they go through with their bodies.

And, honestly, the data seems to bear that out. Males tend to not only be very consistent about masturbatory behavior overall, but they tend to be very consistent from male to male. While there are peaks and valleys in frequency, as there are with any other activity, a male who masturbates once a week generally follows that pattern consistently. One who masturbates two or three times a week generally does so consistently, as do males who do so on a daily basis.

If this were a behavior which was prone to the notion “the more you do it, the more you want to”, logic suggests we would see all males, or at least a good majority, following a pattern of increasing frequency, and we don’t.

Besides all that, your body goes through a refractory period after ejaculation to give it time to recover and recharge itself to prepare for the next time you need to ejaculate. During that time, not only is there generally an inability to perform the act, but there’s also generally no desire to. Males, believe it or not, simply lose interest in the idea until such time as they are ready and able to ejaculate again, at which point they usually begin to seek out an opportunity to do so, whatever form it happens to take.

So no, there really isn’t anything to suggest masturbating more frequently causes a greater desire to do it. Some males simply do it more often than others.

As for the post-ejaculation depression you suffered, let me start out by saying I’m sorry you had to deal with that grief, but honestly it isn’t something most males ever have to deal with. Most often, males describe feelings of relaxation, happiness, and satisfaction after ejaculating.

I’ll grant that in a subject this prone to embarassment and social stigma, males may not be mentioning it because they don’t want anyone else to think they’re more of a freak than they feel like they’re admitting to being by admitting they masturbate in the first place, but honestly I think there’s a good chance no one brought it up before because it simply isn’t an issue most males have to deal with.

Thanks for giving so much consideration to my question, andiboi. I also doubt this claim because as you’ve shown, basically all claims about the side effects of masturbation seem to be illogical. Your other points about the dysfunctional attitudes to sex in society are very hard for me to rebut, although I still believe that civilisation is built upon the fact that in public people will keep their clothes on and their hands to themselves!

I wasn’t suggesting a Bacchanalian free for all. I was merely noting we bring a lot more assumptions, beliefs, and prejudices to the table than we ever think we do, and that it probably taints our viewpoint of what constitutes “natural, healthy behavior” much more than we think it does, especially since human beings are so far removed from their natural origins at this point and so inured to the social constructs around them it’s probably impossible to determine just what the natural course of our behavior was to begin with.

I dont believe you are telling people to not trust their gut instincts, and then turning around and telling them TO trust their gut.

WTF???

If people think their problems are from overmasturbation, and thats what their instincts are telling them, then you shouldnt be encouraging them to continue to do it!

There is such a thing as too much sex and masturbation. Too much of anything is not good for you.

YOU know when enough is enough, though, and it is not up to ANYONE else to determine what frequency of sex or masturbation is normal for you.

Testosterone also replenishes itself, so dont listen to some dingaling who is trying to convince you “Well what do you think? Wouldnt you just STOP having testosterone???” Well, of course not.

Sheesh I dot even know how I got to this site..

G/L to all.

OK, here’s the situation. I’m a healthy 24 year old male. I had a second date with a cute girl this evening. One thing led to another, and we ended up in bed at my place. So far, so good. When it came time to enter her, I had a few issues getting the parts to match. After a few attempts, I lost my erection. So here’s what I’m wondering.

First of all, I’m healthy, but I do take 10mg of Desipramine nightly. Despiramine is an anti-depressant, but I’m not taking it for depression. Anyhow, could this have caused my problem? I don’t think so, since I’ve been taking it for a while, and haven’t had this issue before.

Was it nerves? I wasn’t feeling nervous, but maybe the pressure to actually get inside her got to me? No idea.

Finally, I masturbate often. I’m leaning towards this as my problem. I’m going to lay off for a while. I have, in the past, had trouble reaching orgasm during intercourse…If I wait say, 2 weeks before a date, am I much less likely to have this kind of problem?

Anyway, I know this is a sensitive subject, and I’m lucky this girl was cool about it…but I know I’ll never see her again. Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated. Thanks!

To be completely honest, from what you’re describing it’s probably not a physical problem. You seem to respond normally during masturbation, so you can rule out the notion that you’re physically impotent (you wouldn’t be able to masturbate if you were).

Anti-depressants have been known to cause problems with sexual functioning, but you should see the same effect during masturbation as you would see during intercourse, making it unlikely that’s the problem.

As for how much you masturbate, no… it really doesn’t have anything to do with it, unless you ejaculated an hour or two before “one thing led to another”, in which case it’s possible you were still experiencing your refractory period. Those can last as long as twenty-four hours even in healthy males. That’s not likely either, though, because you were able to get an erection and you didn’t mention that stimulation of your penis was uncomfortable, both of which tend to indicate you were capable of sexual activity at the time. However, if you want to make sure that’s not the problem, just don’t jerk off on the day of your date.

Of course, there is the question of how you masturbate. As was noted above, if you use an extremely tight grip during masturbation, regular intercourse might seem a bit more “boring” physically, but if that’s not an issue for you then you can move right away from masturbation being your problem.

And while not masturbating for weeks on end should indeed make you more likely to respond physically with a female, it’s probably not a good idea because a) forcing yourself to abstain will probably make you feel very pent up and frustrated (if you haven’t noticed, males tend to become more aggressive when they’re feeling that way… and snapping at everyone isn’t sexy when you’re on a date), and b) you’ll probably set yourself up for a different and altogether just as embarassing problem… that being the instant she touches you, you’ll probably do a “Premature Petey” and ejaculate all over her. Also something that doesn’t leave a good impression.

What’s that leave us with? Well, it’s possible your female partner was so nervous the muscles in her vaginal wall were constricted to the point where entry would have been either extremely difficult or impossible (yes, it is possible). That would make it her fault that you were unable to accomplish the act, and not yours. The solution to that is to spend time doing things which make her relax and put her in the mood and sexually excite her, since doing so tends to cause the muscles of the vaginal vault to relax and the vagina to dilate so it’s easier to accomplish intercourse.

Also, if you have problems “getting the parts to match up”, perhaps you should let the female do that since she can do so by feel much easier than you can.

If this was just a one time thing, then you had an off night or just weren’t really in the mood. Contrary to popular myth, men are just as likely to not be in the mood as women are, and if women expect men to be understanding about it when things aren’t working for them and they just want to stop, then they need to be understanding when it happens for men, too. Plus, did you really expect your dick to stay hard forever while it wasn’t getting stimulated and you were getting more and more frustrated? Talk about mood killers.

However, this apparently isn’t the first time this happened with a female, so it’s possible you have a psychological block about having sex with a female you may not be aware of… and while males are very loathe to even explore the notion they MIGHT be having that sort of problem, simply taking the macho road out and saying that’s just not possible for a stud like you generally does nothing to solve the problem.

What’s my advice? For yourself, if you think this could be a medical problem, then see a doctor. Even a family practicioner should know enough to be able to figure out whether or not the problem is probably physical or mental in nature and direct you to the proper specialist, plus they’ll be likely to know which doctors specialize in treating any problem you might be having.

Again, I know, males have a difficult time admitting they have any sort of problem in this arena, but it’s not that uncommon, so your doctor will know how to help you.

As for the female, if you want to see her again and aren’t because you’re embarassed, get over it, pick something ridiculously cute and romantic you know she would really be into, and do it for her so she knows she knows you’re into her and that you think she’s special.

If she won’t see you again because of that night, then hey… at least you found out she was shallow and got out before your minor performance problems cost you half your stuff.

honestly, i don’t even know what u call “over”. sometimes… i’m like so horny, that when i’m single, i’ll even do it like 3 times a day! i’ve never had any health problem. but a thing is when i do it too much, and look in the mirror, i feel like my muscles shrunk or somethin and i got skinnier? and if i do it after a workout, i feel the workout went to waste (now i know this is not true) but i still feel that way lol. there was one funny thing that happened around 6 or 7 yrs ago. i was like what? 14 then i think? when i used to orgasm… i used to get such a painful headache!!! right then and there instantly… it was horrible!!!! everytime i used to orgasm… but it NEVER HAPPENED EVER AGAIN, and i’m so thankful to God.. well can someone pls tell me actually how much is over? coz u people say to keep it 2 -3 times a week. are u crazy??? u guys like drink and shit too much and have no energy i think!! i gotta have sex EVERYDAY when i’m with a gf or whatever or else i go CRAZY. and also.. can someone tell me wat the headache thing was all about?

How much is too much depends on the circumstances. If you’re trying to have a child, then your doctor will probably recommend cutting back on frequency of ejaculation to increase the amount of sperm you ejaculate when you do have sex.

Other than that, unless you’re suffering from a compulsive mental illness or something, your body generally knows when you’ve had enough because you just stop doing it until the next time your body can pull the act off again (generally from a few hours to up to a day later).

As for the whole “skinny” thing, you do lose some testosterone when you ejaculate, which goes to the most use after a workout (testosterone encourages lean muscle mass development). However, it should be noted that it isn’t testosterone which makes your muscles look and feel larger after a heavy workout, but increased bloodflow causing your muscle tissues to swell (which is how creatine works… it just pumps more liquid into your muscles, also a temporary effect).

The true cause of your past headaches is probably going to remain a bit of a medical mystery, but not an important one since it doesn’t seem to have affected you in any great way. However, it was probably a vascular effect. Remember your heart rate soars past 150 and your blood pressure spikes during sex, especially as you reach the point of ejaculation and orgasm. Since the body becomes less responsive to pain stimulation, especially during orgasmic response, you probably wouldn’t notice any pain during masturbation, but once the orgasm was over and your ability to feel pain suddenly returned, the increased blood pressure and heart rate could very well give you a temporary vascular headache while your body’s heartrate and blood pressure returned to normal.

If it’s a problem you are worried about, or if you have a history of heart disease in your family, it would be prudent to have a physical and regular check-ups to make sure you aren’t suffering any sort of cardiovascular problems (or keep them properly in check in case you do have one you aren’t aware of).

Hey, you gave my discovery of Viagra article a mention on your page! Interesting…

Why the photo of an elephant “displaying”? Well, it was one my new wife took on our honeymoon many moons ago and I just thought it would be rather amusing to illustrate an article about erections with one of the biggest (on land at least)

For more science news featuring my occasionally twisted sense of humor check out my science blog.

Sounds theoretical. Quite sure that if it was true. It would be pushed in Sex Ed and Health Stations.

Over masturbation isn’t real. And do you know why some of you feel better after you stop masturbating and eat healthy and stuff? Because you BELIEVE that you are feeling better. The mind is such a powerful thing, and I know first hand since I suffered from an anxiety disorder and a little bit of hypochondria. You feel how you feel because of your mind…trust me

True enough.

And if you adopt a healthy lifestyle that will make you feel better with or without modifying your masturbatory habits.

Men who masturbate too often need to consider a wife-led marriage or a relationship with an online mistress who will act as a key holder for their chastity belt.

Women shou