Does Masturbation Lead To Impotence: Myth Or Fact?

Masturbation is referred to the stimulation of own genitals for sexual arousal. The most often query which follows is that does it cause infertility? Take a deep breath guys, the answer is no! When a man masturbates till the end, he ends up ejaculating the semen. For a man who masturbates regularly, he will clearly have lower volume of semen in his ejaculate compared to men who don't. Masturbating quite often will deplete the quantity of semen per ejaculate and you will have to wait for a certain time period till it is restored. But given ample time there is no need for all of you out there to lose sleep over it.

Several people also link masturbation with erectile dysfunction in men. This is far from being true. Masturbation has no relation with a man suffering from erectile dysfunctions. In most of the cases it is not the masturbation but the unhealthy lifestyle which causes this condition. Excessive alcohol consumption, abnormal blood pressure and in extreme cases some major depressive disorders have been the cause of the dysfunction. Couples who took behavioural counselling to improve their communication and understanding of each other's sexual habits had fewer complaints about ED by the end of it.

Dr Anup Dhir says, "Regular frequent ejaculations also protect against prostrate cancer." Many men confuse between the terms semen and sperm. They don't understand that the sperm will finally need to get ejaculated from the body in order to make way for new sperm. This ejaculation could occur during sexual intercourse, or during masturbation. If it does not, the body will still expel these sperm during a wet dream (nocturnal ejaculation). Hence. we cannot simply store our sperms for future use. Obviously over doing anything will have detrimental effects on your health. But in certain cases, regulated masturbation has had healthy consequences. From acting as a stress buster to increasing your immunity, masturbation becomes essential for us. We need to break free of viewing it as a sin or a sly act and look towards it from a healthy perspective.

(Dr Anup Dhir is the Director of alpha one andrology group and consultant in sexual medicine)

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