Probably one of the least discussed or avoided conversations in our society is the topic of Masturbation. I can remember my mom telling me that I would go blind or grow hair on the palms of my hands if I masterbated too much. Of course at the time I acted like I had no idea of what she was talking about and continued on with my adolescent behaviors behind closed curtains. Now it seems like I had actually done some good!

This discovery was made by a team of doctors in Australia led by Dr. Graham Giles. The doctors questioned a group of men with prostate cancer and a group of similarly-aged men without prostate cancer. They asked them about their sexual activity throughout their lives. They found that the men without prostate cancer had masturbated more frequently in their teens and 20s than the men with prostate cancer. They postulate that frequent ejaculation is good for the prostate gland and wards off the buildup of harmful substances.

Why masturbation and not intercourse? They theorize that masturbating is healthier than having intercourse (even though both result in the ejaculation that is good for the prostate gland) because by having a lot of intercourse, one is taking the chance of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, which might negate any benefit of frequent ejaculation.

Dr. Giles recommends that younger males masturbate at least six times a week. I wonder what Dr. Giles would have thought when I was 13, I definitely went over the recommended prescription there. Now why has he not won the Nobel prize for medicine?

In April of 2004, New Scientist had published an entire article about this subject that you can see here. It seems that there was a U.S. Study that followed nearly 30,000 men over eight years which showed that those men that ejaculated more frequently were significantly less likely to get prostate cancer. You will see in the article by “New Scientist” that they have also cited the study by the Austrians earlier in 2003.

So, the next time your buddy gives you a hard time you can tell them that you are just into preventative medicine!