Sexual Healing Is in Your Hands

It Can Relieve Pain, Aid Sleep and Even Elevate Your Mood, Yet We’re Still Tight-lipped About Masturbation.wh Explores Whether We Could Be Sitting on an Untapped Health Goldmine.

- Gemma Askham

My wellbeing approach is pretty holistic. There’s yoga (for the mind), 10 minutes of post-sleep stretching (for the spine), weekly spin classes (legs), pilates (core), a little dedicated supplement taking and juicing in more colours than Nike does Air Max (skin and gut sorted). But now, I’m adding in another activity. And I don’t even have to get out of bed to do it.

Yep, we’re talking masturbation. As a growing field of scientific research proposes to shift it from pleasurable pastime to bona fide health habit, I’ve committed to making self-love a serious priority. You know, for the sake of my wellbeing and all.

Now, before you write this offas the most dubious claim since we declared a post-work pinot the elixir for a long life – let’s look at masturbation’s health credentials.

“We know orgasms – typically from masturbation, as studies are done in labs where it’s hard to bring in partners – can improve pain tolerance and lower physiological markers of stress and anxiety,” explains Dr Tierney Lorenz, a visiting research scientist at the Kinsey Institute. Specialising in decoding sex’s impact on immune response, she’s noticed regular masturbators tend to live longer, have better cardiovascular health and lower levels of inflammation. Meanwhile, a study published in Psychosomatic Medicine had a group of women watch a series of documentaries as well as an erotic film, during which they were required to pleasure themselves until orgasm. The results? A significant decline in most of the women’s cortisol levels – a common inflammation marker.