Masturbation is the act of touching or stimulating your own genitals for sexual pleasure. It’s one of the most common sexual behaviors across all age groups and genders, and it’s considered a normal part of human sexuality by every major medical organization. Most people do it at some point in their lives, many do it regularly, and it carries no inherent health risks.
What Happens in Your Body
When you masturbate, physical stimulation of nerve-rich tissue triggers a cascade of hormonal responses. Your body releases dopamine (a chemical tied to pleasure and reward) and oxytocin (associated with bonding and relaxation). If you reach orgasm, prolactin levels rise afterward, which contributes to that feeling of satisfaction and sleepiness. At the same time, dopamine and oxytocin levels drop back down. These shifts are the same ones that occur during partnered sex.
The hormonal release also works against cortisol, your body’s primary stress hormone. This is one reason many people feel calmer or more relaxed afterward. There’s also a modest effect on testosterone: one pilot study found that masturbation appeared to counteract the natural dip in free testosterone that happens over the course of a day, though the practical significance of that for most people is minimal.
How Common It Is
Masturbation is widespread across demographics. In a nationally representative U.S. survey of 1,500 women aged 40 to 65, the majority reported masturbating within the past year. Among premenopausal women, 66.5% had done so. That number was even higher for perimenopausal women at 73%, and somewhat lower for postmenopausal women at 56%. Those who did masturbate reported reaching orgasm about 81% of the time on average, a figure that held remarkably steady across all age groups in the study. About 44% of participants used sex toys at least some of the time.
Survey data on men consistently shows even higher rates of masturbation across the lifespan, though frequency varies widely from person to person. There is no “normal” number of times per week or month. What matters is whether it fits comfortably into your life.
Effects on Mood and Stress
Research on women has found that masturbation functions as a reliable coping strategy, producing feelings of happiness, relaxation, autonomy, and contentment. Women experiencing higher levels of psychological distress tend to masturbate more frequently, which researchers interpret not as a problem but as evidence of its role in self-regulation. It has been repeatedly linked to mood improvement and stress reduction in both clinical and survey-based studies.
These effects aren’t limited to women. The hormonal response (dopamine, oxytocin, the post-orgasm prolactin surge) is largely the same regardless of sex, which is why many people of all genders use masturbation to unwind, fall asleep, or manage tension.
Potential Benefits for Prostate Health
For men, there’s an interesting connection between ejaculation frequency and prostate cancer risk. A large Harvard study followed more than 29,000 men and 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 per month. An Australian study of over 2,300 men found a similar pattern: men who averaged about 5 to 7 ejaculations per week were 36% less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer before age 70 than men who ejaculated fewer than about 2 times per week. These studies counted all ejaculations, including from intercourse and masturbation.
The exact reason for this protective effect isn’t fully established, but the data is consistent across multiple large studies spanning decades of follow-up.
How It Relates to Partnered Sex
The relationship between masturbation and satisfaction with a partner is more nuanced than you might expect, and it differs between men and women. A systematic review of the research found that for men, about 71% of studies showed a negative association between frequent solo masturbation and sexual satisfaction with a partner. The leading explanation is the “compensatory model,” where men who are less satisfied in their partnered sex lives masturbate more to fill the gap.
For women, the picture looks different. About 40% of studies found no relationship at all between masturbation frequency and partnered satisfaction, and roughly 27% found a positive one. Women are more likely to follow what researchers call a “complementary model,” where masturbation and partnered sex reinforce each other. Women who masturbate may develop a better understanding of what feels good, which can improve their experience with a partner.
Neither pattern means masturbation itself helps or harms relationships. It reflects different ways people integrate solo and partnered sexuality into their lives.
Physical Safety
Masturbation carries essentially no medical risks. The most common physical issue is minor skin irritation from friction, which is easily avoided by using lubrication or simply being less vigorous. There is no evidence that it causes blindness, hair loss, infertility, weakness, or any of the other consequences sometimes attributed to it through cultural myths. It does not reduce sperm count in any lasting way; the body continuously produces new sperm.
Grip pressure is one thing worth being aware of. Some men who habitually use a very tight grip may find that partnered sex feels less stimulating by comparison. This is sometimes called “death grip syndrome” informally, and it’s easily reversible by varying technique. Similarly, people who rely on a very specific type of stimulation (from a vibrator, for instance) may occasionally find it harder to reach orgasm through other means. Taking breaks or varying your approach typically resolves this.
When It Becomes a Concern
Masturbation becomes worth examining if it starts interfering with daily responsibilities, causes physical soreness you’re ignoring, or creates significant guilt or distress. Compulsive patterns where you feel unable to stop despite wanting to can sometimes signal an underlying issue with anxiety, depression, or impulse regulation rather than a problem with masturbation itself. In those cases, addressing the root cause tends to bring the behavior back into balance.
For the vast majority of people, masturbation is a safe, normal activity with measurable benefits for mood, stress, and in some cases long-term health. There is no medical reason to avoid it.