How many times a week is masturbating good for health?

Question

I'm 18 years old. Every weekend I watch a pornographic film and when it finishes, I do a hand job. In addition, on weekdays, I masturbate.

My question is: Is it good for your health or not?

Answer 1

Let's get a few things out of the way...

Sex is normal (1). Sexual desire and arousal are normal (2). Asexuality is normal (3). Masturbation is normal (4),(5). There is no problem whatsoever with these three things, although everyone blushes when they talk about them.

Is Masturbation healthy?

Downsides:

Masturbation is not risk free. It is about as dangerous as chewing or walking (6). Some side effects are irritated skin and ruptured penis, but only if you really, really, really overdo it (Once or twice a day is by far not overdoing it!).

Upsides:

While masturbation does not have the health benefits sex has (6), there are some advantages to it:

a) You get to know how your penis/vagina works. This will greatly benefit you when having sexual intercourse!

b) Masturbation can help you relax and improve your mood; it won't resolve clinical depression but it can help you feel better if you're having a bad day, and it can help you forget about stressful events of the day and improve sleep.

c) Masturbating can provide pain relief. Reports indicate that masturbation can help relieve menstrual cramps.

d) Masturbation can help strengthen muscle tone in the pelvic and anal areas, which can reduce the chances of incontinence and uterine prolapse. (7)

e) Masturbating men are less likely to develop prostate cancer. (8)

Conclusion: Unless it hurts and as long as you are comfortable with it and feel the desire, masturbation is actually a good thing.

How much is too much?

As pointed out before, one can overdo it. This article (9) sums everything up quite neatly though:

There is no amount of masturbation that is healthy or unhealthy. Masturbation isn’t like candy or eggs, there isn’t a "recommended daily allowance", it means different things to different people, and we all use masturbation differently, in positive and negative ways. So this question needs to be answered on an individual basis, keeping in mind that very few of us actually masturbate in ways that are harmful to ourselves or others.

Having said that, there are people whose masturbation is causing them distress and even pain (physical, emotional, psychological), and for those people it may make sense to talk with someone and sort our whether they are masturbating too much or whether they can adjust their feelings about masturbation to allow them to enjoy it more.

References and Sources

(1): Encyclopedia of Neuroscience - Sex
(2): BBC Future - What is a 'Normal' Sex Life?
(3): PLOS One - Asexuality Development among Middle Aged and Older Men
(4): Women Health - Masturbation
(5): Encyclopedia of Adolescents - Masturbation
(6): WebMD - Five things about male masturbation
(7): WebMD - Women Masturbation
(8): Men'sHealth - Masturbation
(9): Sexuality.com - Worried About Too Much Masturbation

Might also be worth another look: This great answer by Chris on a very similar question.

Answer 2

Since you have not been rendered blind, you can follow this link which states that it is not intrinsically unhealthy unless it starts to interfere with the way you function socially or at work. In some people it intrudes into their public life and so then might considered an illness. Another form of harm is when it displaces normal sexual activity and some people find that they are then not able to engage in normal sexual activity with a partner due to habituation.

Answer 3

I'm somewhat surprised stopping or drastically reducing your, um... fantasies, can lead to Monk's Disease.