Masturbation is a double-edged sword. It can either ruin your sex life, or it can enrich your sexual relationship with your partner. In general, pursuing self-pleasure is both healthy and normal, but when taken to extremes, it can have detrimental side effects.
There are many reasons why people engage in masturbation, although most do it for pleasure and fun. Others do it to relieve stress and sexual tension. No matter what your reasons are, playing solo may be good for you. Or bad, depending on how often you do it and the techniques you use. Read on and find out how masturbation can affect your sex life.
Adverse Effects of Masturbation
There are many myths about masturbation, but there’s no evidence that they’re actually true. For instance, masturbation will not cause you to become blind or to have hairy palms, nor will you go crazy or develop a mental illness. However, solo play does have certain side effects that may negatively affect your sex life.
There is evidence that masturbation may cause decreased sexual sensitivity. What this means is that your penis won’t be as sensitive as it used to be, which would lessen your pleasure during partnered sex.
This can happen if you grip your penis too tightly when you masturbate. Any excessive or aggressive masturbation techniques may actually cause decreased sexual sensitivity if the technique used results in reduced penile blood flow.
Over time, however, you can restore your penile sensitivity, but you would need to change your masturbation techniques. In some instances, using a vibrator may help enhance penile sensations and increase your arousal.
Excessive masturbation may also lead to penile injuries. For example, when you masturbate too roughly, it can result in minor skin irritation. In addition, forceful masturbation techniques may lead to accidents like a penile fracture.
When you use too much force while masturbating, it can cause your penis to bend, which can then result in the penile tunica albuginea to become ruptured. This is actually what causes eggplant deformities, wherein your penis becomes purple due to the fracture.
If not treated right away, priapism, erectile dysfunction, painful erections, and even necrosis of the penis may occur. The latter would require surgical removal of that part of the penis which has become necrotic.
In addition, masturbation also has several side effects, most of which are detrimental to relationships. For one, when you masturbate excessively, you may find yourself already spent and no longer in the mood to have sex with your partner.
Excessive masturbation, especially when done using idiosyncratic techniques, can also cause reduced sexual satisfaction and delayed ejaculation. When you use a unique technique when you masturbate, it’s possible that you won’t get the same level of arousal and pleasure during partnered sex. This can then result in ejaculatory problems.
Delayed ejaculation is a sexual problem that can do a lot of harm to your relationship. If you can orgasm when you’re playing on your own but you can’t do it at all when you’re with your partner, that can cause a lot of misunderstanding, resentment, frustration, and anxiety on your partner’s part. In short, it can lead to many relationship problems.
This is not to say, however, that you should already stop masturbating when you’re in a relationship. Solo play does have many benefits, as long as you’re not doing it excessively.
Benefits of Masturbation
Even though a lot of people still think that masturbation is taboo, you can actually gain a lot of benefits when you masturbate. For one, it’s a risk-free way to experience sexual pleasure. You won’t get any STDs when you play with yourself, nor will you have to worry about impregnating someone unintentionally.
In addition, playing solo can help lower your stress levels and relieve tension. Research also indicates that masturbation can help improve sleep quality, as well as increase concentration and improve one’s mood.
When you ejaculate, your brain releases a flood of endorphins, which are popularly known as your feel-good hormones. Not only do endorphins elevate your mood, but they also help you to get more quality sleep.
And when you’re sleeping well, it has great effects on your testosterone levels, since your testosterone production peaks when you’re deep in sleep. This means that solo play has indirect positive effects on your testosterone levels, as well as your libido.
Sex therapists also often use masturbation as a technique to help couples improve their intimacy and resolve differences in sexual preferences. There are also times when sex therapists employ masturbation as a means to help treat premature or delayed ejaculation. You can also try practicing ejaculatory control through masturbation.
The key is to get yourself aroused until you’re almost about to ejaculate and then stopping. This will help you control yourself so you can delay your ejaculation. And it’s also a great way to increase your sexual stamina.
A lot of women are actually suffering from sexual dissatisfaction just because their partner lacks sexual stamina. Practicing ejaculatory control through masturbation can help you go the distance during partnered sex, and that should make for a more enjoyable sexual experience for you and your partner.
As if that’s not enough reason to enjoy self-pleasure, there’s also evidence that masturbation and ejaculating frequently can help lower your risks of prostate cancer, the leading type of cancer among American men.
On top of that, masturbation can also help boost your penis health. Your phallus contains a lot of smooth muscle cells, especially in the corpora cavernosa. As with any muscle, you’ll need to work it, otherwise, it will atrophy and fall into disuse. Plus, masturbation also exercises your pelvic floor muscles, which is great for preventing erectile dysfunction.
The Bottom Line
For some people, masturbation is associated with feelings of guilt, shame, and embarrassment. The truth is that you don’t have to feel that way because masturbation is actually a healthy sexual activity that can give you a lot of benefits. Of course, that’s only true for as long as you don’t engage in the sexual behavior excessively.
