6 Benefits Of Masturbation: Why Self-Pleasure Is For Everyone
While most people don’t talk about it, masturbation is an incredibly common thing to do.
Self-pleasure is a normal part of a person’s sexual development and sexual health, regardless of their age, gender or relationship status. By adulthood, 92% of men and 62% of women report they have masturbated at some point.
Some people enjoy masturbating often, while other people do it occasionally, and some not at all. The important thing to know is that there is no “right” way to masturbate; it’s all about what feels good to you.
Masturbation is about more than self-pleasure too. While yes, it can feel great, there are also many health benefits to masturbation too. Let’s talk about a few of our favorite health benefits of self-pleasure.
It Builds Confidence And Self-Love
Many people find that taking control of their sexuality by masturbating helps them to build confidence and fall in love with themselves.
Similar to how wearing a sexy pair of lingerie to an important event might help a woman feel more confident, giving yourself an orgasm and seeing just how powerful your body is can do the same thing.
You can appreciate your body for all that it can do once you experiment with it and see how much pleasure you are able to give to yourself, without the help of others.
It Makes You Feel Happy
Every time you orgasm, your body releases lots of feel-good chemicals, like dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins. As Elle Wood said in Legally Blonde, “Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands!” While Woods was referring to endorphins caused by exercise, the endorphins that release during an orgasm have the same effect.
Dopamine is known as the pleasure hormone, and we experience it when we orgasm or enjoy a really great meal. Oxytocin is known as the love hormone, and causes that feeling of satisfaction you get after an orgasm. Serotonin promotes relaxation. Endorphins block pain, making it easier for us to feel all of the goodness of the other hormones we experience during and after an orgasm.
You might find that you are in a happier or better mood after sex with a partner, so why not create that good mood by yourself?
It Helps You Relax and Lower Stress
Self-pleasure can be an extremely important act of self-care. Spending time alone pleasuring yourself can be a relaxing experience and help you lower stress, even before your orgasm. Then once you enjoy your orgasm and experience the rush of all of those chemicals we talked about, you will feel totally blissed out and relaxed.
After a long day at work, you might like to unwind when you come home. Turn the lights down, light some candles, draw a bath, and begin to pleasure yourself.
If you're not quite sure where to begin, there are many different types of toys to help both women and men enjoy some solo time. These toys can make the experience easier or simply more enjoyable.
It Helps Relieve Cramps
This one is for the ladies. During that time of the month, period cramps can cause a lot of pain and muscle tension. A great way to relieve those cramps is to relax your body with masturbation and orgasms. If you're looking for a natural remedy to help you feel better during that time of the month, a solo orgasm just might be exactly what you're looking for.
It Helps You Sleep Better
If you’re having a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep at night, masturbation can help. The rush of chemicals you experience when you orgasm includes serotonin, which helps people relax. For many people, it also causes them to feel drowsy. Giving your body a rush of serotonin when you’re ready to go to bed but can’t fall asleep can be just what you need to doze off to dream-land.
It Helps You Have Better Sex
One of the most important benefits of masturbation is the chance to learn what you do and don’t like sexually. Having this knowledge helps you to communicate to partners exactly how they should please you, leading to great sex and a powerful connection.
If you don’t know what you like, how is your partner expected to know? Masturbation lets you do the research before you’re put in a potentially awkward situation.
Masturbation can also help you give your partner pleasure too. Understanding your own body and what turns you on gives you the ability to understand your partner when they’re talking about what they like.
As you can see, masturbation not only feels good — it’s also good for you! May is Masturbation Month, and May 28th is National Masturbation Day. Give yourself a hand and pleasure yourself this month in celebration. Make your masturbation even more enjoyable by browsing our selection of toys for men and women.