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- It's unclear whether masturbation leads to an increase or decrease in testosterone levels.
- But there is slightly more evidence that more masturbation may be linked to a higher sex drive.
- If you are unhappy with your sex drive or testosterone levels, consult your physician.
- Visit Insider's Health Reference library for more advice.
Your body goes through many changes when you masturbate – your heart beats faster, your blood pressure rises, and you may have a spike in certain hormones like prolactin. But testosterone, the main male sex hormone, changes very little before, during, or after you orgasm.
Experts believe that over time, masturbating can increase your sex drive, but though high sex drive is often linked to higher testosterone, more research is still needed to see whether masturbating more often can affect your testosterone over the long term.
Here's what you need to know about how masturbating is linked to your testosterone levels and overall sex drive.
How does masturbation affect testosterone?
For both men and women, masturbating won't boost your testosterone levels in the moment, and it's still not clear whether masturbating can change your testosterone levels in the long term.
Currently, there are studies that show links between masturbating and long-term testosterone, but "there has never been a study that randomly assigned people to varying levels of sexual activity 'long term'," Nicole Prause, PhD, a sexual psychophysiology researcher and founder of Liberos, a sexual biotechnology company.
For this reason, we don't yet know if your testosterone increases or decreases when you masturbate more often.
How masturbation affects sex drive
There may be no clear answer about maturbation's long-term effects on testosterone, but research suggests that masturbating likely does have an effect on your sex drive.
More studies are needed on this subject, Prause says, but there is reason to believe that sexual activity may be a 'use it or lose it' phenomenon. "It appears that regular masturbation is associated with increased sex drive," Prause says, while avoiding masturbation is linked to a lower sex drive.
Insider's takeaway
Masturbating won't change your testosterone while you're doing it, but we don't have enough research to know if it affects your testosterone over the long term.
But even if your testosterone isn't affected, there is some evidence that masturbating more often can raise your sex drive.
If you're looking to make a change in your testosterone levels or your sex drive, it may help to talk to your doctor or a sex therapist to find out more about your options.