The vast majority of men masturbate. Large-scale surveys consistently place the number between 90% and 95% of men reporting they have masturbated at least once in their lifetime. When the timeframe narrows to the past month, the number drops but remains high: data from Britain’s National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles found that roughly 77.5% of men reported masturbating within the past four weeks.
How Common It Is by Age
Masturbation rates peak in the late teens and twenties, then gradually decline with age, though they never disappear entirely. Among men aged 18 to 59, about a quarter report masturbating a few times per month to weekly. Roughly 20% do so two to three times per week, and just under 20% report four or more times per week. The remaining men in that range either masturbate less than monthly or not at all during a given period.
Younger men tend to cluster at the higher-frequency end of that range, while men over 50 are more likely to report monthly or occasional frequency. But there is no single “normal” number. Frequency varies widely based on relationship status, stress levels, sex drive, and personal preference.
Rates Have Been Rising Over Time
Men today report masturbating more than men a decade or two ago. The British National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles compared responses from 1999–2001 with those from 2010–2012 and found a statistically significant increase: 73.4% of men reported past-month masturbation in the earlier survey, rising to 77.5% in the later one. Women showed a similar uptick, from 37.0% to 40.3%.
Researchers attribute this shift partly to reduced stigma and greater willingness to report the behavior honestly, though increased access to internet pornography likely plays a role as well. Either way, the trend points in one direction: more men are comfortable acknowledging masturbation as a routine part of their sexual lives.
Physical Health Effects
Masturbation is generally a low-risk activity with a few documented health associations worth knowing about. The most notable involves prostate cancer. A Harvard Health analysis of long-term data found that men who ejaculated 21 or more times per month had a 31% lower risk of prostate cancer compared to men who ejaculated four to seven times per month. A separate dataset in the same report found that men averaging 4.6 to 7 ejaculations per week were 36% less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer before age 70 than men who ejaculated fewer than 2.3 times per week.
These numbers don’t prove masturbation itself prevents cancer. Ejaculation frequency could be a marker for other health factors, and the studies didn’t distinguish between ejaculation from sex versus masturbation. Still, the association is consistent enough that researchers consider it meaningful.
On the neurochemical side, orgasm from masturbation triggers measurable changes in the body. A study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found that masturbation to orgasm significantly increased blood levels of a natural compound in the body’s endocannabinoid system, which is involved in mood regulation, relaxation, and reward. Interestingly, the same study found that cortisol (the body’s primary stress hormone) was not significantly altered by masturbation, suggesting the relaxation people feel afterward is driven more by the release of pleasure-related chemicals than by a direct drop in stress hormones.
When Frequency Becomes a Concern
There is no medical threshold for “too much” masturbation in terms of physical harm. The tissue can become temporarily sore from friction, and an overly tight grip over time can reduce sensitivity, but neither of these causes lasting damage.
The line where masturbation becomes problematic is behavioral, not physical. If it regularly interferes with work, relationships, or daily responsibilities, or if it feels compulsive rather than enjoyable, that pattern is worth paying attention to. Some men find that high-frequency masturbation reduces their interest in partnered sex, which can create tension in relationships. Others use it as a primary coping mechanism for anxiety or loneliness, which can mask issues that would benefit from other forms of support.
For the large majority of men, though, masturbation at any reasonable frequency is a normal, harmless part of life. The fact that three out of four men report doing it in any given month reflects how ordinary the behavior actually is.