Does Masturbating Relieve Stress? Is Masturbation Good For You?

Does masturbating relieve stress and help with PTSD? Let’s dive into it.

PTSD is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event – either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, and uncontrollable thoughts about the event.

About 6 out of every 100 people (in other words, 6% of the population) live with PTSD or suffer from it at some point in their lives. In the US alone, about 12 million adults have PTSD during a given year. You might probably know someone living with PTSD, or maybe, it’s you.

While these numbers are concerning, they don’t come as a surprise; we all go through different traumas along our lives during our life, and all you need to develop PTSD is the right amount of exposure to stress or fright. Therefore, not only combat veterans are vulnerable to having PTSD; anyone can develop it at any age. There are also a number of other factors that can contribute to someone developing PTSD, including genetics and brain chemistry. For example, people who have experienced previous traumas are more likely to develop PTSD after another traumatic event.

If someone is suffering from PTSD, it’s important that they seek professional help. There are a number of effective treatments available, including therapy and medication. With treatment, most people with PTSD are able to live normal, productive lives. However, there’s another less conservative way to deal with PTSD…

According to the PTSD Alliance, there is an evident connection between blowing off steam in a natural way and reducing overall body stress, which helps soothe PTSD. And what is a pleasant and free body-stress reliever? Yes, masturbation.

Whether you have PTSD or just need to unwind, masturbation as stress relief is the answer. And it’s not me saying that. It’s all the studies on sexual intercourse backing the fact that masturbation relieves stress. So to the question is jerking off good for your health, the answer is: hell yeah!

5 reasons why you should be masturbating more often

1. It releases feel-good hormones

Why does ejaculation relieve stress? It probably has to do with the feel-good hormones that are released in the process.

One of the most well-known benefits of masturbation, is that it boosts your mood and helps you feel more at peace. But why? This happens because when we masturbate we release dopamine, a chemical associated with pleasure.

On top of that, during orgasm, we also release oxytocin, a hormone that lowers cortisol levels. For starters, cortisol is the main stress level, which is usually present in people with high levels of stress.

So there you go, touching yourself and climaxing releases happy hormones, and we know that happy hormones = happy human.

2. It helps you sleep better

Following the previous point, oxytocin also acts as a natural sedative, putting you in sleepy mode. So why turn to sleeping pills when you can orgasm instead? The choice seems clear to me.

Some people even turn to masturbation for anxiety related issues. The less anxiety you experiment before bedtime, the easier you will fall asleep. Moreover, if you’re struggling with stress-related insomnia, masturbation for stress relief before bed can be a helpful way to ease your mind and help you drift off to sleep.

3. It relieves physical pain

You’ve probably heard about endorphins before. These hormones are released not only during a long exercise session, but also during orgasm. And did you know that they have pain killing properties? Yup. They interact with the opiate receptors located in your brain to alter your perception of pain. Therefore, endorphins act as natural painkillers, providing an overall calming effect on the body. All in all, endorphins can help alleviate headaches, menstrual cramps, and even labor pains.

4. It boosts your confidence

Masturbating is essential to develop body-awareness, self-acceptance and confidence, as it’s a way to get in touch with your body and learn what turns you on and what not, and what you like sexually. It can also help improve your general body image and become more comfortable with your own body. So not only is masturbation a stress reliever, but it’s also a great way to practice self-love and build up self-esteem.

Masturbation gives us the opportunity to explore our own bodies and discover what feels good for us. This kind of exploration helps us to become more confident in bed, as it teaches us about our own preferences and desires. When we take time to enjoy ourselves alone, we feel better about ourselves overall, making it easier to have positive interactions in other areas of life.

Not only that, but masturbating can also help address any feelings of shame or guilt we may have around sex or pleasuring ourselves. By normalizing it in our own lives, we can learn how to be more accepting of our bodies and what they need, creating an environment where we feel better about expressing those needs in intimate relationships too.

In a nutshell, masturbation is a form of self-care.

5. It may reduce the risk of prostate cancer

While the exact mechanisms for how masturbation reduces prostate cancer risk are not entirely known, scientific studies have suggested that avoiding long periods of abstinence and engaging in sexual activity at least once a week is associated with a lower risk of developing prostate cancer. According to research, men who ejaculate 21 times or more per month across their lifetimes, have about a 31% lower risk of prostate cancer than those who ejaculate 4 to 7.

This could be due to semen being expelled during ejaculation which may help flush out any carcinogenic or toxic substances present in the urethra and prostate gland. The release of hormones such as dopamine during orgasm has also been linked to reducing inflammation and oxidative stress, which may help to protect against prostate cancer development. Additionally, recent studies have indicated that masturbation may increase testosterone levels which could also reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

There’s also a connection between stress and cancer risk. We already know that masturbation to relieve stress works, therefore, masturbating might play a role in preventing disease risk.

Therefore, it's important to incorporate regular masturbation into one’s sexual health routine not only for pleasurable reasons but potentially as a preventive measure against certain diseases like prostate cancer as well. So now you know what to do: masturbate to relieve stress and keep good health. Not bad if you ask me…

Bottom line

To summarize, masturbation when stressed is one of the most efficient and enjoyable ways to de-stress. All of us experience stress everyday and it’s important that we have a healthy way to channel our anxieties. Masturbation can help anybody relax, relieve some pressure, and just have some fun. So if you find yourself in need of a break from the world around you, why not give yourself some relief with a little self-love? Treat yourself to some quality “me” time – you won’t regret it! After all, there’s nothing like an orgasmic reminder that life is too short not to enjoy it.

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