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Does Masturbation Decrease Testosterone?

Martin Miner, MD

Reviewed by Martin Miner, MD

Written by Nick Gibson

Published 06/10/2021

Updated 01/25/2024

There are plenty of old wives’ tales out there when it comes to the effects of masturbation — from claims that it can cause hairy palms to a purported link to blindness. We’re happy to report that, after decades of “hands-on” testing, we still have perfect vision and smooth palms. 

But does masturbation decrease testosterone? Contrary to what you might have read online or heard from certain social media influencers (or your youth pastor!), masturbating doesn’t appear to lower your body’s production of testosterone. 

In fact, scientific research hasn’t established any real link between masturbation and a reduction (or increase) in your levels of testosterone.

Below, we explain these research findings in more detail and cover everything else you need to know about the effects of masturbation on your testosterone levels, sexual performance and general sexual health.

Your body relies on testosterone for numerous important functions. Testosterone helps create sperm and keep you fertile, promotes healthy sexual desire, lets you get and maintain erections, strengthens your bones and produces red blood cells that supply oxygen to your body’s tissue.

Testosterone is also linked to your energy levels and mood, as well as important aspects of your physical body composition like muscle mass and fat distribution.

Low testosterone — which is commonly referred to as “Low-T” or hypogonadism — happens when your body is unable to produce an adequate amount of male sex hormones, or androgens, such as testosterone.

While low testosterone isn’t a life-threatening problem, it can lead to issues that may affect your health and well-being as a man. Common symptoms of low testosterone include:

  • Difficulty sleeping

  • Weaker bones and more body fat

  • Changes in facial and body hair growth

  • Loss of muscle mass and strength

  • Mental health issues, such as depression and loss of motivation

  • Reduced sperm count and fertility

  • Cognitive issues, such as difficulty concentrating

  • Sexual performance issues, such as low sex drive and erectile dysfunction (ED)

Our guide to the symptoms of low testosterone goes into more detail about these issues, as well as how you may notice them affecting you if your testosterone levels are lower than normal. 

It’s normal to experience some decline in your production of testosterone as you age, usually as you enter your 30s or forties. In fact, it’s normal for total bioavailable testosterone, or biologically active testosterone, to decrease by up to 50 percent by the time you reach the age of seventy-five.

Other factors may also contribute to reduced natural testosterone production, including

  • Reduced thyroid function 

  • Injuries that affect your testicles 

  • Problems with glands involved in controlling testosterone levels

  • The use of certain medications

Hypogonadism can be treated with testosterone replacement therapy, or TRT. This form of treatment involves using supplemental testosterone to bring your testosterone level back to the normal range. 

Testosterone replacement therapy is generally considered safe and effective, although there are some potential side effects and safety risks. 

Our guide to testosterone replacement therapy discusses how this form of treatment works, the potential side effects linked to testosterone replacement and other things you’ll want to know if you’re considering TRT. 

ED Treatment

Read up before getting down

First of all, if you’re having so much sex that you’re beginning to feel worried about your body’s ability to keep up hormonally, well, congratulations. 

Currently, there’s no proven link between orgasms — whether they’re accomplished through sex or masturbation — and testosterone levels. In other words, you aren’t “losing” testosterone each time you orgasm and ejaculate. 

There’s only a tiny amount of testosterone in sperm, and there’s no evidence that any significant amount of testosterone “exits” your body each time you climax.

Your hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis — a reproductive axis that involves your hypothalamus, pituitary gland and testicles — is constantly regulating your testosterone production. If you ever begin to run low on testosterone, your body produces more of this hormone as needed.

Overall, research on the topic of sex, masturbation and testosterone has been infrequent at best and is limited in quantity, with a lot more questions than answers.

Here’s what’s known right now:

For the Most Part, Study Findings are Mixed and Unclear

Scientific research on masturbation, testosterone and men’s health is mixed, with findings from most studies somewhat unclear. 

Many studies on masturbation and T levels only feature a small number of participants, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions from this type of research. 

In 1999, a study published in the International Journal of Andrology revealed conflicting findings about the role of sexual activity in testosterone levels.

The study’s researchers found that men suffering from erectile dysfunction and therefore lacking in sexual activity had lower testosterone levels than their peers. 

The lower levels of testosterone were found to be reversible for patients whose ED was successfully treated, but in patients who didn’t respond to treatment, testosterone production appeared to be consistently lower.

This suggests that ejaculating might actually increase testosterone levels, at least for men who are able to treat ED. However, the finding isn’t crystal clear, and it’s possible that other factors could also play a role in both sexual function and testosterone levels.

A different study, which was published in the World Journal of Urology in 2001, found that men who abstained from sexual activity, including masturbation, for three weeks showed increased testosterone concentrations.

However, the same study also found that plasma testosterone levels — the level of testosterone in the men’s blood — were unaltered by masturbation or sexual activity.

This study was also small in size, with only ten adult male participants, meaning it’s challenging to know if its findings are statistically significant and reliable.

Some Studies Suggest That Masturbating May Increase Testosterone

More recent research has found that masturbation might actually have a positive effect on your body’s production of testosterone.

For example, one study published in the journal Basic and Clinical Andrology in 2021 found that masturbation and visual sexual stimulus may help to reduce the severity of natural testosterone drops that occur over the course of the day.

However, like other scientific research on masturbation and testosterone, this study was small in size, with just 11 participants.

The one-stopsex shop

Overall, there isn’t any reliable, high-quality scientific evidence to suggest that masturbation has any negative impact on average testosterone levels in men, or that avoiding masturbation leads to any type of testosterone increase.

Likewise, there doesn’t appear to be any reliable link between sexual abstinence and increased testosterone levels.

One thing to keep in mind is that studying masturbation, sexual arousal and testosterone levels is quite a complicated process, meaning it can be difficult for even the most thorough experts to get accurate data because testosterone levels can fluctuate by a significant amount throughout the day. 

In one study, for example, researchers discovered that the average testosterone levels of men between the ages of 30 and 40 were as much as 25 percent lower at 4 p.m. compared to 8 a.m. This percentage decreased with age, but it’s a significant amount, regardless.

This daytime decrease in testosterone levels can make getting an understanding of testosterone challenging — an issue that’s often compounded by the difficulty of getting participants in a study to avoid masturbation and sex for several weeks (all while remaining honest). 

ED Treatment

Your best sex ever

If you’ve been worried that masturbation might decrease your testosterone production, you can rest easy knowing it’s not a concern, at least not based on the scientific evidence we have right now. 

If you’re concerned about frequent masturbation affecting your testosterone levels, make sure to keep the following in mind: 

  • Masturbating is healthy and normal. There's nothing wrong with masturbating when you feel in the mood for sexual activity but can’t or don’t want to have sex. 

  • There’s no clear link between masturbation and testosterone. Normally, when any type of sexual behavior is bad for your health, the effect is easy to detect in a scientific study. Studies on masturbation and testosterone don’t show any clear relationship.

  • Low testosterone is surprisingly common. While masturbation isn’t a likely cause of low testosterone, low-T can and does affect many men. As such, it’s important to talk to your healthcare provider if you notice any of the symptoms listed above. 

If you have worries about your testosterone levels or think you might have erectile dysfunction, it’s important to reach out to your healthcare provider for assistance and medical advice. 

Your provider can check your hormone levels with a quick and simple serum testosterone levels test. 

We offer a range of erectile dysfunction treatments online, including FDA-approved medications such as sildenafil (the active ingredient in Viagra®), tadalafil (Cialis®) and avanafil (Stendra®). 

You can access these treatments following an erectile dysfunction consultation with a healthcare provider, who will determine if a prescription is appropriate.

You can also learn more about increasing your testosterone production via lifestyle changes and healthy habits in our complete guide to increasing testosterone

8 Sources

  1. Hypogonadism in Men. (2022, January 24). Retrieved from https://www.endocrine.org/patient-engagement/endocrine-library/hypogonadism
  2. McBride, J.A., Carson, C.C. & Coward, R.M. (2016, February). Testosterone deficiency in the aging male. Therapeutic Advances in Urology. 8 (1), 47-60. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4707424/
  3. Nassar, G. & Leslie, S.W. (2022, January 4). Physiology, Testosterone. StatPearls. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526128/
  4. Jannini, E.A., et al. (1999, December). Lack of sexual activity from erectile dysfunction is associated with a reversible reduction in serum testosterone. International Journal of Andrology. 22 (6), 385-392. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10624607/
  5. Exton, M.S., et al. (2001, November). Endocrine response to masturbation-induced orgasm in healthy men following a 3-week sexual abstinence. World Journal of Urology. 19 (5), 377-382. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11760788/
  6. Isenmann, E., Schumann, M., Notbohm, H.L., Flenker, U. & Zimmer, P. (2021). Hormonal response after masturbation in young healthy men – a randomized controlled cross-over pilot study. Basic and Clinical Andrology. 31, 32. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8697462/
  7. Brambilla, D.J., Matsumoto, A.M., Araujo, A.B. & McKinlay, J.B. (2009, March). The Effect of Diurnal Variation on Clinical Measurement of Serum Testosterone and Other Sex Hormone Levels in Men. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 94 (3), 907-913. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2681273/
  8. Could you have low testosterone? (2021, May 13). MedlinePlus. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000722.htm
Editorial Standards

Hims & Hers has strict sourcing guidelines to ensure our content is accurate and current. We rely on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. We strive to use primary sources and refrain from using tertiary references. See a mistake? Let us know at [email protected]!

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. The information contained herein is not a substitute for and should never be relied upon for professional medical advice. Always talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of any treatment. Learn more about our editorial standards here.

Martin Miner, MD

Dr. Martin Miner is the founder and former co-director of the Men’s Health Center at the Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. He served as Chief of Family and Community Medicine for the Miriam Hospital, a teaching hospital of the Warren Alpert Medical School, from 2008 to 2018. The Men’s Health Center, under his leadership, was the first such center to open in the US. He is a clinical professor of family medicine and urology at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in Providence and has been charged with the development of a multidisciplinary Men’s Health Center within the Lifespan/Brown University system since 2008.

Dr. Miner graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Oberlin College with his AB in biology, and he received his MD from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Upon receiving his MD, he completed his residency at Brown University. He practiced family medicine for 23 years, both at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and in private practice.

Dr. Miner presently holds memberships in the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Rhode Island and Massachusetts Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Urological Association, and he is a fellow of the Sexual Medicine Society of North America. He is the former president of the American Society for Men’s Health and the current historian. He is the vice president of the Androgen Society, developed for the education of providers on the truths of testosterone therapy. Dr. Miner has served on the AUA Guideline Committees for erectile dysfunction, Peyronie’s disease, testosterone deficiency, and early screening for prostate cancer. He has served on the testosterone committees of the International Consultation on Sexual Medicine. He has presented both at the NIH and the White House on men’s health initiatives and has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications and spoken nationally and internationally in multiple venues. He has co-chaired the Princeton III and is a steering committee member and one of the lead authors of Princeton IV, constructing guidelines for the evaluation of erectile dysfunction, the use of PDE5 inhibitors, and cardiac health and prevention.

Dr. Miner was chosen as the Brown Teacher of the Year in 2003 and 2007 and was recognized by the Massachusetts Medical Society’s Award as achieving the most significant contribution to Men’s Health: 2012.

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