Hint: It starts with “mast” and ends with “urbation”.
As the rest of the calendar year draws to a close, for a lot of us, it can only mean one thing – party season. You know the story: you congratulate yourself on making it through another year with fabulous social plans, drinks and food while simultaneously still working your job as well as organising feasts and presents for all your loved ones. It’s a helluva lot of fun but it’s also a lot.
During this most wonderful (and hedonistic) time of the year, life can start to feel like a race rather than a time that has anything to do with an actual holiday. In order to enjoy the festive season as best we can, a feel-good, self-care routine is just what the doctor ordered.
What should be number 1 on your self-care to-do list? You guessed it – self-loving.
The benefits of masturbation for our mind and body are slowly becoming a topic more researched and less taboo. From stress relief and skin well-being to helping our libido and confidence, self-loving is arguably the ultimate self-care practice and an important one to make a part of our lives, especially at the busiest times.
This isn’t just for the singletons either. Everyone can benefit from a bit of festive fapping or flicking. Here’s why.
Hormonal
Feeling stressed about getting everything done before the end of the year? Orgasms can help with that.
Masturbation – particularly when we orgasm – causes a rush of dopamine (A.K.A. the happiness hormone) and oxytocin (A.K.A. the love hormone) which in turn decreases cortisol (our stress hormone). This helps to relax the brain, improve your mood and can lead to sense of calm or even the euphoric feeling people often report feeling after great sex or masturbation. It’s a natural high that American sexologist, Dr Gloria Brame PhD says is “the biggest non-drug blast of dopamine available.”
These hormones also have a positive impact on our sleep patterns. A 2019 study on sexual activities and their effect on sleep in adults found that orgasms achieved through self-stimulation were associated with better sleep quality.
Many of us know about this benefit already according to TENGA’s 2020 masturbation report (as shown in this graph) which found that 31% of people who masturbate do so to help them sleep.
Strike “expensive skincare pack” off your wish list because the post-sex glow is real and so are the long-term skin perks.
A study conducted by the University of Michigan on premenopausal people showed an increase in oestrogen in response to sexual stimuli. This rise in estrogen as well as blood flow has been shown to help prevent aging skin through maintaining your collagen levels.
By regulating your cortisol and oxytocin – providing stress relief to your body and getting a better night sleep post-nut – your skin and hair also has time to repair itself while you rest. Plus, this natural glow is completely free so adding it to your party season skincare routine is a no-brainer.
As humans, when something makes us feel good, we tend to want to do it again and again. The combination of endorphins, dopamine and oxytocin we get from rocking around our own Christmas tree helps to increase our libido, adds natural lubrication and is sometimes used in treatment plans for vulva owners with sexual dysfunction.