Pleasure Is Good For You: 7 Health Benefits Of Masturbation

It’s remarkable that solo pleasure is still taboo considering all the health benefits that come with masturbation. And these benefits aren’t limited to your sexual health! When I recommend a regular self-pleasure practice to my clients, they often share that it feels indulgent, daunting or impossible to make time for.

Pleasure is a complex multidimensional phenomenon involving both psychological and emotional components and female pleasure is still not properly understood as there is little research into the individuality of our orgasms (surprise, surprise!). Even though there’s not a wealth of science on the subject, there is evidence masturbation can improve your wellbeing in various ways as well as being safe, easy, free AND absolutely nothing bad can come from doing it.

Still not convinced? Read on seven health benefits of masturbating. Take this a gentle reminder or an intro into why it’s healthy to touch yourself, bust out a toy, or do anything that makes you feel good as a duty of personal care.

An orgasm-induced endorphin release can put you in a great mood and support connection with others

Orgasm releases the feel-good neurochemicals dopamine and oxytocin, aka the ‘bliss’, ‘cuddle’ and ‘love’ hormones that improve your mood, create a natural high, boost your satisfaction and activate the reward circuits in your brain. Masturbation is a powerful oxytocin-releasing activity and lowers your defenses and makes your trust people more, strengthens emotional bonds with self and others. People may feel the effects for up to an hour afterwards. This not only makes you feel closer to your romantic partners, you may treat strangers better too.

Masturbation creates greater access to pleasure when having sex with others

You are responsible for your own pleasure, and if you don’t know what makes you feel good, no one will. Masturbation allows you to explore your body and discover what feels best. It is vital to know and understand how you can consciously access pleasure in your own body in order for you to discover deeper, greater pleasure with others. The more you know about your body, the easier it is to communicate with them too.

Find it hard to sleep? Masturbation can help

There’s a reason why you may feel sleepy after those toe-curling climaxes: Orgasms physically and emotionally relieve tension and exhaust the body, which allow you to fall asleep quicker. Generally, people do sleep better after masturbating, but very often it’s from feeling relaxed and satisfied. Masturbation helps people sleep the same way reading a book before bed does, you feel calm and relaxed after.

Masturbating can ease pain, body aches and menstrual cramps

Studies have found that during orgasm, people can withstand up to twice as much pain as usual. The brain chemical serotonin, which can act as an analgesic, dampens the sensation of pain.

Self-pleasure can boost your libido

The more sex you have, the more sex you’ll want to have. This is the same with self-pleasure, the more you masturbate and become comfortable being sexual with your own body, the more you’ll want to be sexual with others. I call this a libido mindset. Libido is a state of being and an aspect of your identity that can grow, transform and change. Self-pleasure is a part of the process in creating a libido that works for you.

Self-pleasure: the kinky stress relief

Orgasmic or sexual pleasure will often require you to be mindful or present in the moment in order to feel the full potential or your arousal. This supports you in feeling all the sensations in your body, getting out of your head and into your body. Pleasure, whether it ends in orgasm or not, shifts the focus away from anything that is causing stress. If it helps you feel more relaxed and gets you into the moment so why not have fun with it?

Pleasure is now accessible with an endless array of toys and accessories to explore

And We-Vibe is at the cutting edge of this technology. With everything from the We-Connect app to Melt’s Pleasure Air™ Technology, there is something to please everybody. Pleasure is becoming more accessible than ever before with variety in sex toys, online shopping options and discreet design.

Pleasure is such an individual experience, the more you explore your body with patience, openness and curiosity, the more you will learn about your pleasure potential. It’s time to rid ourselves of the taboos and uncertainty and start to celebrate our bodies, in the name of health!