Stopping masturbation is not harmful to your health. There is no medical condition caused by abstaining, and your body will continue to function normally without it. That said, masturbation does offer some documented physical and psychological benefits, so giving it up means forgoing those. Whether stopping makes sense depends entirely on why you’re considering it and what you’re experiencing.
What You Give Up by Stopping
Orgasm triggers the release of dopamine and oxytocin, two hormones that elevate mood and counteract cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone. That’s not a theoretical benefit. It translates into measurable stress reduction, improved sleep for some people, and a short-term mood boost. If masturbation is part of how you manage stress or wind down, removing it without a replacement can leave a noticeable gap.
There’s also a well-studied link between ejaculation frequency and prostate health. A Harvard study tracking thousands of men over their lifetimes found that those who ejaculated 21 or more times per month had a 31% lower risk of prostate cancer compared to men who ejaculated 4 to 7 times monthly. A separate analysis found that men averaging roughly 5 to 7 ejaculations per week were 36% less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer before age 70 than those ejaculating fewer than about 2 times per week. These numbers don’t prove that stopping masturbation causes cancer, but they do suggest that regular ejaculation plays some protective role.
What Happens to Testosterone
One of the most common reasons people consider stopping is the belief that abstinence raises testosterone levels. The evidence here is thin. An older, small study found that testosterone was higher after three weeks of abstinence, and another frequently cited study observed a temporary spike around day seven. But these were limited studies with small sample sizes, and no research has connected those short-term fluctuations to real-world outcomes like muscle growth, energy, or confidence. Testosterone levels fluctuate throughout the day for many reasons, and the temporary bumps seen in abstinence studies don’t appear to produce lasting hormonal changes.
Fertility and Sperm Quality
If you’re trying to conceive, the timing of ejaculation matters more than whether you masturbate. A large cross-sectional study of over 3,000 men found that both very short abstinence (less than one day) and long abstinence (more than seven days) were associated with lower sperm quality. Short abstinence reduced semen volume and total sperm count. Long abstinence increased sperm concentration but reduced motility, meaning sperm were less able to swim effectively, and raised DNA fragmentation, a marker of sperm damage.
The sweet spot is 2 to 7 days between ejaculations, which is the range recommended by the World Health Organization for semen analysis. The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology narrows that further to 3 to 4 days for the best balance of concentration and motility. So if fertility is your goal, moderate and well-timed ejaculation is better than total abstinence.
The NoFap Claims
Online communities centered on masturbation abstinence report a wide range of benefits: sharper focus, higher confidence, better sleep, increased motivation, muscle growth, and even “heightened spirituality.” These reports are genuinely felt by the people sharing them, but none have been validated by clinical research. There is no peer-reviewed evidence linking masturbation abstinence to improved concentration, muscle development, energy levels, or any of the other commonly listed benefits.
That doesn’t mean the experiences are fake. Some of those benefits likely come from related changes people make at the same time, like reducing pornography use, improving sleep habits, or building more intentional daily routines. Quitting porn specifically has shown more promising signals. A literature review found that heavy pornography use is associated with rising rates of erectile dysfunction in young men, and clinical reports indicate that some men who eliminate pornography regain normal sexual function. If porn is part of the picture, the porn itself may be the more relevant variable than masturbation.
When Stopping Makes Sense
There are legitimate reasons to cut back or stop. If masturbation is interfering with your daily responsibilities, relationships, or work, that’s a pattern worth addressing. If you can’t control the urge despite wanting to, or if the behavior causes significant distress, it may fall under what the World Health Organization classifies as compulsive sexual behavior disorder, an impulse control condition recognized in the ICD-11. The line between normal and problematic isn’t always clear, and mental health professionals acknowledge that defining when sexual behavior becomes a clinical issue remains an ongoing discussion.
Treatment for compulsive patterns doesn’t aim to eliminate sexual behavior entirely. The goal is managing urges and reducing behaviors that cause harm while maintaining a healthy relationship with sexuality. If this sounds like your situation, a therapist who specializes in behavioral health can help you sort out what’s compulsive from what’s simply habitual.
The Bottom Line on Physical Harm
Stopping masturbation will not damage your body. Your reproductive system adjusts on its own. Sperm that aren’t ejaculated are reabsorbed naturally, and no medical consequence comes from abstaining. But the framing of the question matters. “Is it bad?” depends on what you’re hoping to gain. If you’re stopping because you believe it will dramatically raise your testosterone, build muscle, or give you superhuman focus, the evidence doesn’t support those expectations. If you’re stopping because your relationship with masturbation or pornography feels out of control, that’s a reasonable and healthy decision, especially if paired with professional support. And if you simply don’t feel like it, that’s fine too. Your body doesn’t require masturbation any more than it requires abstinence.