Scientists Discover Unexpected Benefit to Masturbating — But Just for Men
Fellas, you might want to rethink that “hold it in” strategy. A brand-new study from the University of Oxford has flipped the script on one of the most common pieces of advice given to men trying to conceive: abstaining from ejaculation for several days before providing a sperm sample. Instead, researchers say regular ejaculation — including through masturbation — delivers a small but meaningful boost to male fertility by keeping sperm fresher and healthier. The unexpected benefit to masturbating for men? It flushes out old, damaged sperm that’s been sitting around too long in the reproductive tract. Published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B , the meta-analysis looked at more than 115 human studies involving nearly 55,000 men and 56 animal studies across 30 species. The takeaway is clear: sperm doesn’t improve with age while in storage — quite the opposite. The Groundbreaking Oxford Study on Sperm Storage Researchers Krish Sanghvi, Rebecca Dean, Irem Sepil, and thei...