The Health Benefits of Masturbation for Men and Women

What if someone told you that there was a pleasurable "treatment" that would relieve stress, give you more energy, boost your mood, act as a sleep aid, and keep you free of sexually transmitted diseases? You might wonder what wondrous pill you'd have to pop in order to get all these life-enhancing benefits. Or you'd think that any treatment that could extend such benefits was too good to be true.

Such a "treatment" actually exists, in the form of masturbation, and the benefits for both men and women are extensive.

"Masturbation is a way to help you understand how your body works and what sensations are pleasurable," says Michael McGee, M.Ed., CSE, and an AASECT-certified sexuality educator. "It can help you learn about your own sexual response. It can help men with a tendency to arrive early last longer and it can help women who don't have orgasms from vaginal intercourse to achieve orgasm."

Masturbation also "has the potential to enhance your love life in general," says Yvonne K. Fulbright, Ph.D., M.S.Ed., president and CEO of Sexuality Source, Inc. and the author of The Better Sex Guide to Extraordinary Lovemaking. "And it gets your or your partner off the hook if neither is available or not in the mood."

But that's just part of the story. Here's a guide to masturbation's extensive health benefits for both men and women, from McGee and Fulbright.

The Benefits for Men

  • Improve the functioning of the immune system
  • Build his resistance to prostate gland infection
  • Help maintain prostate health
  • May lower the risk of developing prostate cancer when done frequently

The Benefits for Women

  • Increase resistance to yeast infections
  • Relieve the symptoms of PMS
  • Relieve menstrual cramps by increasing the blood flow to the pelvic region
  • Relieve chronic back pain and increases a woman's pain threshold.
  • Exercise and build stronger pelvic floor muscles, which ultimately helps a woman to have better sex

The Benefit for Both Sexes

Masturbation increases your sexual awareness and gives you the opportunity to discover what turns you on. As Fulbright explains, "With masturbation, you'll learn the sensations and the movements that give you the most sexual gratification. And masturbation generally enhances your sex life and boosts your sexual confidence."