Being Your Own Friend With Benefits [Warning: Graphic]
IT’S BEEN A HELL OF a day at work. Rather than reach for a bottle of wine or start filling the bathtub for a relaxing dip, perhaps consider something more mood-boosting, something more healthful, something more … sensual. Or, thinking about it, supplement this activity with that bath and wine and you’ve got a home run.
Kelsey Lindsey
Masturbation. Worshiping the bishop, choking the chicken, flicking the bean. Whatever you call it, the act itself can have many benefits to your self-esteem, and physical and mental health. In a more obvious observation, people who masturbate are more likely to protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases, says Planned Parenthood.
And (almost) everyone is doing it. According to the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior from Indiana University conducted between March and May 2009, 78 percent of Americans age 14 and older have masturbated at some point in their lives. 93.4 percent of men in their 30s surveyed said they’ve masturbated alone at some point of their lives, and 80.3 percent of women in their 30s have masturbated alone.
So join the party, if you haven’t already. Like I said before, the benefits of masturbation are pronounced. They include, for males:
• reduced stress
• the ability to prevent premature ejaculation while engaging in regular intercourse, as you might be able to train yourself to last longer.
• a reduced risk of developing prostate cancer.
A 2003 Australian study that compared the sexual habits of men with prostate cancer with the sexual habits of healthy men found that the men who had ejaculated more than five times per week in their 20s were less likely to develop “aggressive prostate cancer” later in their lifetime — one-third less likely. While this study did include sexual intercourse as an “ejaculation” with masturbation, it does warn that intercourse has the potential to cause infections, and thus the risk of prostate cancer. “Had [researchers] been able to remove ejaculations associated with sexual intercourse, there should have been an even stronger protective effect of other ejaculations,” the report reads.
For the ladies out there, masturbation is also a pretty sweet deal. Using a tool or our magic digits, masturbating can:
• increase the likelihood to orgasm during partner intercourse and oral sex.
• help you sleep. (Orgasms are known to help relieve tension and chill out, with the help of calming hormones that are released after the climax.)
• increase pelvic floor strength, which reduces the chance of uterine prolapse.
So go on! Help yourself, and take advantage of those “feel good” endorphins like dopamine and oxytocin after a self-love sesh.
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