About 40% of women report masturbating more than once a week but less than daily, making that the most common frequency. Another 23% do so at least monthly but less than weekly. Beyond those two groups, the range stretches from multiple times a day to never, and all of it falls within what’s considered healthy.
What the Numbers Actually Look Like
A large survey of over 1,000 women found that the single biggest group, roughly 4 in 10, masturbated a few times per week. About 1 in 4 did so a few times per month. The remaining third split between daily and rarely or never. Interestingly, age didn’t shift these patterns as much as you might expect. The proportion of women in each frequency bracket stayed roughly the same whether they were 18 or 55.
What does change with age is whether women masturbate at all. Data from a national probability sample published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine paints a clear picture of lifetime participation:
- Ages 18 to 19: 66% have masturbated at some point
- Ages 25 to 29: 85%, the peak
- Ages 40 to 49: 78%
- Ages 60 to 69: 72%
- Ages 70 and older: 58%
So while most adult women have masturbated by their late twenties, the percentage who did so in the past year drops more noticeably after 50, falling from about 65% in the 40s to 47% in the 60s and 33% after 70.
Why Frequency Varies So Much
Hormones play a significant role. During perimenopause and menopause, declining estrogen can reduce blood flow to the genitals, lower arousal, and make orgasm harder to reach. A 2025 Kinsey Institute study found that postmenopausal women were significantly less likely to have masturbated than premenopausal or perimenopausal women, and they rated masturbation’s importance in their lives lower (3.5 versus 4.2 on a 7-point scale).
Medications matter too. SSRIs, the most commonly prescribed antidepressants, can reduce interest in sex, make it harder to become aroused, and delay or completely prevent orgasm. Estimates suggest these sexual side effects affect a large portion of people taking them. Complicating things further, depression itself causes sexual dysfunction in 35% to 50% of people before they ever start treatment, so the medication isn’t always the sole factor.
Stress, relationship status, body image, cultural or religious upbringing, and simple personal preference all contribute. Some women masturbate more during stressful periods because it helps them unwind. Others find stress kills their desire entirely. Neither pattern is unusual.
What Happens in the Body
Masturbation triggers a cascade of chemical signals in the brain’s reward center. Dopamine rises, creating feelings of motivation and pleasure. Oxytocin floods in, promoting a sense of calm and bonding. Serotonin increases, lifting mood and satisfaction. Endorphins act as natural painkillers, and prolactin, released after orgasm, has a neuroprotective effect that helps buffer the brain against stress-related damage.
These aren’t trivial responses. The endorphin release during arousal and orgasm can genuinely reduce pain, which is one reason some women find masturbation helpful during their period. Dopamine and serotonin released during orgasm act as natural pain relievers for cramps, back pain, and headaches. There’s also a hypothesis that the uterine contractions during orgasm help push out the uterine lining faster, potentially shortening period length slightly.
The relaxation that follows orgasm can also make it easier to fall asleep, though the research here has a caveat. A diary study from the European Sleep Research Society found that masturbation with orgasm alone didn’t significantly improve sleep quality or how quickly women fell asleep. Partnered sexual activity with orgasm did. So while the hormonal release is real, the sleep benefit may depend partly on the physical exertion or emotional context of partnered sex.
Sex Toys and Frequency
Among women 60 and older in a nationally representative U.S. sample, 56% reported using sex toys during masturbation at least occasionally. Nearly half of those used them almost every time. Women who regularly used toys were significantly more likely to orgasm (84% reached orgasm almost always, compared to 74% of women who never used toys). They were also more likely to report wanting more sex overall, suggesting that regular orgasms tend to reinforce desire rather than diminish it.
In this same group of older women, the majority (56%) masturbated somewhere between once a month and once a year. That’s a lower frequency than what younger women report, but it reflects an active solo sex life well into the decades when cultural assumptions often write women off as uninterested.
When Frequency Becomes a Concern
There is no clinical threshold for “too much” masturbation. Doctors and sex therapists consistently define the line not by a number but by impact: if masturbation is getting in the way of work, relationships, or daily responsibilities, or if it’s causing physical discomfort, that’s worth paying attention to. Compulsive masturbation can lower productivity, strain relationships, and affect overall well-being.
On the other end, never masturbating is equally fine. Some women simply aren’t interested, and the absence of solo sexual activity isn’t a sign of dysfunction unless it’s driven by shame, pain, or medication side effects that bother you. The healthiest frequency is whatever fits comfortably into your life without creating problems you’d rather not have.