masturbationFrom a strictly medical/psychological standpoint, how much masturbation is too much? At what point does it become harmful, either physically (e.g. for men, once you start chaffing?) or psychologically (e.g. if you’re doing it more than five times a day, you might have an underlying issue that you’re not dealing with), or physiologically (e.g. for men, you might permanently damage your sperm count)?
At what point does it become harmful, either physically
That really depends on the person and how hard you're doing it. If you're doing it correctly then it should never become painful.
or psychologically
Again very subjective. If it starts to impact your social life or work/studies you need to reduce it. Otherwise go ahead.
physiologically (e.g. for men, you might permanently damage your sperm count)?
There is no long term damage caused by masturbation (correctly done). There are lots of health benefits of masturbation including lower prostate cancer risk (see here)
I don’t know that there’s a medically accepted standard for “too much” masturbation.
I think it’s safe to say that if you’re experiencing any pain or discomfort from masturbation, as with any other activity, you should probably take it down a notch.
As far as psychologically, as long as the frequency of masturbation isn’t making you uncomfortable, it’s probably fine. There’s no “magic number”. Obviously if you’re just masturbating all day every day you may have a problem that you need to address, but if it’s not precluding or negatively affecting important things in your life (family, friends, work, etc.) you’re most likely all right. Of course if you’re frequently feeling negative emotions connected to masturbation you might want to talk it over with a professional, regardless of how often you masturbate.
One caveat: frequent masturbation, using a lot of friction, pressure, or speed (way more than you would get during sex with a partner) can cause what’s called retarded ejaculation, which basically means that it becomes difficult or impossible to ejaculate from other kinds of stimulation.
And no, you can’t run out of sperm. Obviously you may ejaculate less after masturbating, but it’s not a permanent issue.
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