Almost everyone does it. And regularly too. Of course, we’re talking about masturbation. For a while now the stigma around this topic has significantly lessened. Nevertheless, there are still many myths surrounding masturbation. For example, there is still the common belief that it’s possible to masturbate “too much” – and that it can even have consequences for your health. Is that true? We get to the bottom of this!
If you compare masturbation habits between men and women, there are a few clear differences. For example, an infographic from Womanizer shows that only 9% of women in Germany take matters into their own hands multiple times a week. In comparison, 32% of men masturbate more than once a week. Around 18% of all women masturbate monthly, while around 24% of men do the same. The most surprising result was actually that approximately 24% of female participants said they never masturbated at all.
You can take a look at the infographic and comparison of masturbation behaviors worldwide here.
Whether this result is true remains up in the air. Instead, this result may be due to the fact that many women are hesitant to open up about their own masturbation habits. This trend is reflected by a study from the University of Applied Sciences of SMEs (FHM), which showed that around 26% of people prefer not to talk about this topic. In this same study, the majority of men said they masturbated daily, while 9% said they did so more than once a day.
Too much masturbation? It’s up to you!
What is clear from this research is that masturbation habits vary from person to person. In reality, there is no medically recommended threshold for masturbation that people should be afraid of exceeding. Although there are always horror stories circulating online, in general one can answer the question “Too much masturbation: Is there such thing?” with: if you feel like it, then just listen to your body. Health issues are unlikely to arise from this, regardless of whether you have a penis or vagina…
Furthermore, factors like stress, time and your age can also play a significant role. Many experts even state that solo sex is really healthy. It can help with reducing stress, sleep disorders and, yes, it’s even good for your skin.
However, the basic rule applies. If your behavior becomes addictive, for example if you start to give up on your social/professional commitments and replace them with masturbating, that is an issue. At this point, masturbation can be considered “unhealthy.” Often there is also a connection to porn addiction. If you’re experiencing anything like this, then we suggest consulting a medical professional.