MASTURBATION AND ITS EFFECTS by Lawrence Wilson, MD © August 2014, The Center For Development I often receive emails from young men and women who have a masturbation habit. Here is a typical one: Dear Dr. Wilson, I had a severe addiction with pornography and masturbation between the years of 18 and 26. I ejaculated about 60 times a month during these years. It felt good for a while, but then I developed the following symptoms: -severe premature ejaculation all of a sudden -severely sexually exhausted and drained -feeling tired, sleepy, and dopey all the time -seminal leaking during bowel movement and after urination -severe lower back pain -severe bloating/tension pain in my abdomen after orgasm and lasting days/weeks -frequent urination -waking up during the night to urinate -severe prostatitis I became very alarmed and concerned, and finally realized that I had destroyed my body over the years. My addiction was hard to kick. However, a year later most of my symptoms have cleared, except for the prostate pain/inflammation and its associated issue (urinating frequently, etc.). So I basically still have the prostatitis issue. I need help, please doctor, I am desperate. - John Another young man, age 21, wrote to me he could not understand why doctors told him that masturbation is okay. By the age of 15, he had developed the following symptoms: 1. Damage to the nervous system. He became very nervous in social gatherings and seminars. 2. Tremors in the hands and head. 3. General tightness over the body, especially the legs. 4. Pain in the legs after masturbation. 5. Trouble walking. His legs feel wooden and he feels like a robot when walking. 6. Loss of muscle mass. 7. Lethargy and dull feelings, and sometimes depression. 8. Loss of self-esteem and confidence. 9. Both knees look distorted and tend to be bony pointing outwards. Before excessive masturbation, they looked normal and healthy. 10. Back pain. 11. In his teens, until age 18, he could recover after masturbating much faster. Now at 21 years of age, recovery is MUCH slower. MASTURBATION IS A BAD IDEA I do not care what any psychologist, doctor or preacher says about masturbation. It depletes a man or woman’s sexual fluid, especially that of men, and it wastes vital energy needed for healing. It keeps one living in fantasy-land, which is not helpful at all. The best idea is to stop it altogether. If you must do it now and then, it is not too bad if it is done once a month or less. Also, stop the behaviors that feed the masturbation habit. These include: - Looking lustfully at others – men and women. - Pornography, or even just watching programs on television or elsewhere that feature pretty girls and handsome men who are not well covered up. This is sometimes called ‘soft porn’, and is very common. - Thinking about sex and sexual fantasies. - ‘Dressing down’, in an effort to make yourself look sexy and attract the attention of others in a sexy way. - Other behavior such as gesturing, staring, or visiting bars or other places where sex is featured. If you have been masturbating, then you must eat an 8-ounce hamburger every day – not overcooked (it should be juicy) - for at least three months to replenish some of the vitamins and minerals that are lost when you masturbate. Instead of a hamburger, once or twice weekly you may substitute lamb or another cut of beef such as roast beef or beef stew meat, but you must eat 8 ounces of some kind of beef or some lamb daily. This article presents a view of masturbation that focuses on its physical effects on the body and how to cope with it. To repeat, masturbating once a month or less is fair and not too harmful. However, it is a problem when done more than once a month or so, and especially when it becomes a repetitive habit. End the habit, which is slow suicide and like raping yourself gently. Do not be too ashamed or embarrassed about it, however. Just move on. Masturbation is not a healthful habit for a number of reasons discussed below. However, becoming ashamed and embarrassed is not that helpful. Much more helpful is to simply become informed about it, and stop doing it for that reason. Here are reasons to stop masturbating: SYMPTOMS THAT CAN RESULT FROM A MASTURBATION HABIT 1. Rapid aging and an early death. This is a horrible syndrome in which one’s vitality goes down and one may feel exhausted, even as a teenager, or as a young man or woman. The hair may turn gray, the body may become thin and lose muscle, and one feels old. This is why masturbation, which some feel is okay, is really a form of slow death or suicide. 2. Irritability and unsteadiness. The most common symptom is a kind of irritability, emotional unsteadiness, low self-esteem, loss of willpower, and a certain type of weakness of the mind and the body. One also often becomes more lazy, and thinking is definitely impaired. Both the speed of the mind, and the memory are impaired when sexual fluids are depleted. Most people notice this even after regular sex. They often mistakenly think it is a sign of ‘love’ or ‘relaxation’. However, it is the same type of ‘relaxation’ one gets from using drugs or alcohol. It is more like a type of deep fatigue, mild stupor or trance state, and is not the same as real relaxation. 3. Sexual fluid depletion. No matter what anyone tells you, this is a total disaster. It is a nutritional and etheric disaster, and it gives rise to aging, unsteadiness, tremors, lack of courage and willpower, and more. 4. Sexual fluid craving. Women, in particular, who lose a lot of sexual fluids, all develop Sexual Fluid Craving. Please read about this, ladies, as it is a very important article on this website. Men can develop this condition, also, craving male or even occasionally female fluids, but it is not as common. Women may say that they re-absorb their sexual fluids, so it is not a problem. This is true to some degree, and is the reason that women can handle occasional masturbation better than most men. However, frequent masturbation, too much sex, vegetarian diets, junk food diets and rapes, in particular, deplete women terribly of precious sexual fluids. Often the nutrients are never replaced and the woman suffers fatigue, depression, brain fog and other problems for the rest of her life. (There is no need to suffer, however, as this can be overcome with a complete nutritional balancing program). Also, down sex does not cause this problem nearly as badly. For more, read the article Down Sex on this site. 5. Loss of vigor. Electrically, the body is discharged and the person loses his or her vigor. This is a very critical effect. Also, the sodium/potassium ratio tends to decrease, which is another sign of loss of vitality in some subtle way. Loss of vigor means one loses ambition, excitement with life, and perhaps some mental capacity. 6. Prostate problems in boys and men. This can occur because the prostate gland requires a lot of zinc and selenium, and these can easily become depleted by repeated masturbation. I know that some doctors recommend having plenty of sex for prostate problems. I do not agree with this. 7. Acne, dermatitis, eczema, other skin diseases and hair loss. This also has to do with zinc depletion, particularly in boys and young men. 8. Women may gain weight on the hips. 9. Damage to the first and second energy centers or chakras. This is a bit esoteric, but very important. It affects the brain, as well as the sexual and other pelvic organs. For more, read The Energy Centers on this website. 10. Orgasms all cause energy to flow upward and tend to weaken the body. This is another subtle problem, but it is real. For more, read Down Energy And Healing on this website. 11. Psychologically, masturbation is a form of self-absorption and fantasy, and this is not healthful. Far better to volunteer and help others, or get a job. Distract yourself, rather do not become self-absorbed. 12. Masturbation is addictive, in some cases. Masturbation fits the definition of an addiction. It is a behavior that provides some pleasure, but then weakens the person so that one craves more of the same behavior afterwards. Please read Addiction for much more on this important aspect of masturbation. 13. Masturbation tends to make one more attracted to homosexual acts. This is not helpful. 14. It definitely weakens the brain and nervous system. It can cause or contribute to slow thinking, memory loss, brain fog, irritability, depression, anger, and stupidity. 15. Spins all of the energy centers or chakras backwards. This is a type of trauma to the energy system of the body. 16. It is a huge waste of time and energy. 17. It makes the body more “yin” in Chinese medical terminology, which allows stray discarnate entities to enter and lodge in one’s energy field. This is disruptive, and can even cost you your life. Entity attachment may also occur due to having too much sex, or due to a rape. For more on this, please read Entity Attachment And Release on this website. 18. As stated above, masturbation causes loss of vital nutrients that are quite difficult and slow to replace. Restoring the zinc and selenium, alone, can take several years of basically sexual abstinence to recover fully. 19. It tends to make a person secretive, which is not a good idea because it can lead to other secretive behaviors. 20. As mentioned earlier, masturbation often is associated with the pornography habit, which is always harmful. 21. Repeated masturbation is a type of trauma, not unlike rape, in some ways. These effects include nutritional depletion, and causing shame, embarrassment, low self-esteem and others. 22. It can cause infections of the genitals from excessive handling of them, and from nutritional and etheric depletion of these organs. 23. It tends to harm interpersonal relationships – children with parents, and adults with their partners. Often masturbation starts because a child feels that a parent is not there – usually the father. Often, the relationship with the mother is affected as well, and the mother may be cold and unloving as a cause of masturbation, especially in boys. 24. It may slow emotional maturing. Instead, a person lives in a little fantasy land, often with delusions of grandeur. 25. It can lower the testosterone level in boys. 26. It can be a type of ‘gateway’ into drug use, since drug use is also a type of self-absorption. 27. It tends to open one up to outside influences. This is because it makes the body more yin. In fact, some doctors and psychologists may tell you it is okay to masturbate because they want to control you. MASTURBATION DOES NOT AFFECT EVERYONE EQUALLY Several ways in which this is true are: 1. Men tend to lose much more sexual fluid from ejaculation than women. Therefore, masturbation may be more harmful for men. Also, all the male sexual fluid contains sperm, which are the essence of the body and not easily replaced. Women’s sexual fluid, in contrast, does not contain their essence. Instead, it is mainly a mucosy lubricating fluid, whose loss is less important. However, I do not suggest that women should masturbate. It is not helpful for them, and they do lose some of the life force when they do it. 2. Some men, in particular, lose much more sexual fluid than others during ejaculation. This is especially true if orgasm continues for more than a few seconds. Extending ejaculation with more orgasms is the worst thing to do, men. Boys and men that lose more fluid, for whatever reason, are more affected by masturbation or by regular sexual intercourse, for that matter, and will usually feel much more tired afterwards, and will experience more of the symptoms listed above if they ejaculate too often. Women, generally, do not have as much variability in the amount of sexual fluids they lose, except during rapes, which can be of varying intensity. For much more on this topic, read Rape on this website, a long and important core article, though not pleasant to contemplate. MASTURBATION VERSUS SEXUAL INTERCOURSE OR ABSTINENCE Some people prefer masturbation to sexual relationships because: 1. Sex carries risks of disease, entangling or abusive relationships, and the risk of pregnancy and rape for women. 2. Some have trouble finding and keeping a sexual partner. This may be due to a history of sexual trauma, or physical disabilities, one’s appearance, or for other reasons. 3. It can be easier to live in a fantasy world than to handle life on more physical and emotional levels. On the other hand, sexual relationships have definite advantages, in that they can bring true love, happy relationships, greater sexual enjoyment, companionship, and perhaps other subtle energetic benefits in some cases. Abstinence. Abstaining from sex altogether gives one the advantages of no sex such as not spreading disease, no pregnancies, and no entangling relationships. There is also no need to find a sexual partner, or to use someone for that purpose. Abstinence also does not require living in a fantasy world of your own making. Instead, it urges one to engage in productive activities. MORE DETAILS ON SOME EFFECTS OF MASTURBATION 1. Zinc and other nutrient loss. Masturbation depletes the body of zinc, selenium, B-complex vitamins, as well as many other vital nutrients. Male and female sexual fluids are particularly rich in certain forms of zinc and selenium that are hard to replace with food and impossible to replace with supplements, as far as I know. Some herbs help, but are somewhat toxic. Anyone who masturbates often, and even those who have sex more than once a week, will lose a significant amount of zinc and other nutrients that are difficult to replace. For this reason, sexual fluid should be treated as very sacred and never ever wasted. 2. Etheric loss. Etheric energy is also sometimes called "vital energy" or "vital force". Masturbation causes a depletion of this special type of subtle energy each of us was born with that is required in order to live a long, healthy life. One can regenerate this energy, at least to some degree, so all is not lost. But it should never be wasted, ever, and regaining the energy takes months of sexual abstinence, in most cases, and eating red meat daily or almost daily. It is fine to hug and kiss, but orgasms must be avoided or limited to regenerate the etheric energy. 3. Subtle energetic effects of masturbation. Masturbation and sexual intercourse, even more so, tend to spin the seven main energy centers of the body backwards. This may sound strange, but it is a big reason that orgasm causes pleasure in the body. This is a bit esoteric, but I am told it is the truth and important to know about. Spinning the energy centers backwards feels good for a few seconds, but subtly weakens the entire aura or energy field of the body. In effect, it uses up a certain amount of vital force or adaptive energy that leaves the person with less energy and less vitality afterwards. This can help explain some of the symptoms of masturbation such as faster aging, irritability, and others. 4. Encouraging the mind in unhealthy thought patterns. This means that stimulating the genital organs tends to cause a certain type of thinking and feeling that is generally harmful for a person. It is much worse if one does it often. This also applies to viewing pornography, in any amount. This problem, by the way, is often more harmful for women, as it can attract them to the wrong kinds of men, and attract a rape, for example. This is a more complex topic that has to do with the type of energy that resides in the lower part of the body, as compared with the type of energies that reside in the upper part of one’s body. The symptoms of this problem include difficulty concentrating, attention deficit or ADD, ADHD, irritability, superficiality in your thinking, lack of intelligence, lack of follow through ability, impaired school or work performance, and other difficulties in thinking clearly and forcefully. 5. Pornography and masturbation. Another consequence of masturbation in some people is a strange attraction to pornography. By this I mean attraction to photos, movies, written material such as racy sexy novels, and other things that discuss, illustrate, or demonstrate sexual acts, sexual organs of the body, and things related to this area. Attraction to pornography easily becomes a habit and an addiction. It is one of the worst addictions, in fact. It can waste a lot of time, energy and money. If continued, it usually leads to unhappy relationships, and even to rape or murder. If you are involved with pornography in any way, I suggest you stop it immediately and do not compromise with yourself. This may be difficult, at first, and there may be groups and other resources available to help, but it is important to stop this habit that often accompanies masturbation. 6. An anti-social behavior that reverses the mind in some way. Masturbation tends to make one self-centered in a serious way. It is a selfish habit. Doing it once a month or less is probably okay for most people. If repeated often, however, it tends to turn a person too inward and has an anti-social effect. It is also a reversal of nature’s natural process to procreate the species. By this I mean that the vital sexual fluid is designed to impregnate or fertilize an egg and produce a new human being. When orgasm occurs in other contexts, such as rape and masturbation, it is a type of mental reversal that is confusing to a healthy mind and has a detrimental effect. Similar to depletion after sex. Some men and women feel depleted after sex due to fluid loss or etheric energy loss. However, other factors also cause this feeling in men and women after sex. These are discussed in the article on this website entitled Energy Vampirism. OVERCOMING MASTURBATION If you follow these suggestions, you can overcome the masturbation habit. To overcome a masturbation habit: 1. Reach out and help others so you are not focused on your own problems and your own body. 2. Do not stimulate yourself with pornography, fantasies or pornographic thoughts. This is also quite important. Get rid of the girlie photos, magazines, websites, books, movies and friends who talk about it or encourage it in any way. Ladies, this applies to you, as well. Stop talking dirty, stop staring at boy’s and men’s bodies, and stop flirting by the way you dress, your behavior, your gestures, etc. All of these perpetuate the problem, and can set a woman up for rape very easily. 3. Read the bible and become very clear that both the Old and the New Testament of the bible abhor and discourage masturbation. This is often ignored today in some churches. 4. Follow a complete nutritional balancing program. This can be very helpful, and perhaps required, to rebuild your health, learn self-discipline, and set you on a much more positive healing path in life. It will also help replenish the minerals lost during masturbation, such as zinc and selenium – two spiritual minerals. Be sure to eat at least 8 ounces of beef every single day for several months, at least, if you are breaking a masturbation habit. 5. Read about addictions. A masturbation habit is a type of sexual addiction. It causes a slight ‘high’, like some drugs, and this is why people like it. Some experience this more than others. The high is always followed by a low, however. For more on how all types of addictions work, read Addiction on this website. 6. Meditate using the modified Roy Masters exercise. This can be very helpful to end masturbation. A secret of this exercise is moving energy downward from the head to the feet as hard as you can. It will provide a little erotic pleasure. You may do the exercise as much as you wish. Avoid most other meditations, which will not have the same effect and may make things worse. For more on this, read Meditation on this website. My new CD on this subject is free to listen to and download at this article, or you can purchase one. 7. Distract yourself with other activities and increase your interest in other things. For example, go out, be with friends or family, watch non-sexual TV or movies, eat at healthful restaurants instead of home alone by yourself if this is when you masturbate, take short showers instead of long ones if this is where you masturbate. Perhaps you can find a healthy sexual relationship instead of fantasizing. 8. If needed and if helpful, get help from a counselor. Know, however, that many counselors actually condone masturbation and think it is just fine. Stay away from these counselors, as they are very wrong, in my opinion. 9. Be sure to eat enough high zinc foods. The main one for this purpose is hamburger meat, and ground chuck is the best of them. Lamb is also very good – about 8 ounces of some kind of red meat daily for a few months, perhaps. Then you can cut back on the amount to about two to three times weekly. Totally avoid vegetarian diets, which will weaken you more. 10. Helpful herbs. A good condiment to use every day is mustard. You can buy just regular mustard at the store. Put a little mustard on everything and it will help you move along faster with your healing. Another product that may help rebuild the body and restore lost sexual fluid is royal jelly (a bee product). 11. The less ejaculation or orgasms, the better. Explain this to your partner, who may not understand at all. For example, many women do not understand that men must conserve their sexual fluid. In fact, many women crave male sexual fluid, so they want their male partners to ejaculate or “it doesn’t count as sex”. This is not true. You can have lots of fun together without male ejaculation. This takes some practice, I know, and it is better to keep the sex to a minimum if you end up ejaculating each time. Women lose less fluid when they have an orgasm, but it does not include their “seed”. However, too much sex is still not wise for women, either. Limiting orgasms can will allow your etheric energy to regenerate as fast as possible. You can kiss and hug with a partner, but don't ejaculate. 12. For men and for women, possibly, an “orchic glandular product” may be helpful for a while. Orchic glandular means freeze-dried animal testicles, and they have been used for this purpose for millennia. However, this is not a substitute for eight ounces of hamburger or other red meat daily for a while. 13. Avoid herbs that are used as aphrodisiacs and used for sexual potency. Stay away from yohimbe, ginseng, licorice, and most other “sexual herbs”. These are stimulating and not good at all in the long run. Avena sativa or common oats are fine, however, and may be helpful to rebuild vitality. 14. Increase your absorption of etheric energy from the environment. There is a real energy you can absorb from the environment by eating a slow oxidizer diet, sleeping and resting a lot, drinking a good quality spring water, keeping warm, breathing deeply every day, taking in extra oxygen, and avoid all distractions and wastes of energy. 15. Oxygen therapy. Breathing extra oxygen, or taking it in other ways, is also helpful. If possible, live in a rural area with a higher oxygen content. Try to avoid spending a lot of time in closed-in spaces with a lot of other people such as crowded theatres that are not well-ventilated. An ozonation/ionizer air purifier in your bedroom is also very helpful. For more on this topic read, The Ozonator/Ionizer Machine. You can also take baths twice weekly with one to two cups of 35% hydrogen peroxide added, and with ozone added, as well. These are excellent two times weekly for most people. They are described in the article entitled Baths on this website. 16. Other procedures. Lesser, but often excellent effects come from doing coffee enemas daily, daily genital coffee implants, and using a near infrared lamp sauna daily, (but less so with other saunas). 17. Sexual rejuvenation. Also see the article entitled Sexual Depletion And Rejuvenation. 18. I suggest circumcising all male children. This seems to reduce the tendency for masturbation later on in life. The Israelites used this method of reducing sexual sins and it still works very well. 19. Avoid vegetarian diets. Masturbation plus a vegetarian diet is a particularly bad combination. CAUSES FOR MASTURBATION These vary and include: 1. Some children accidentally discover the little pleasurable feelings they get from touching themselves. It becomes a fun habit, but one that should be discouraged. 2. A parent may stimulate a child too much while changing diapers. 3. A child may learn masturbation from a friend or even from a parent. 4. Too much female energy in the home of a young boy, especially if he is unhappy or feeling frustrated, can lead to masturbation in boys. This is more common than one may imagine. The boy feels somehow emasculated, and masturbation is a type of social anxiety disorder response. It is related to depression, in this sense. 5. A rape or some other trauma can lead to masturbation in girls, as can too much emphasis on sex, sexy clothes, sexy talk, and so on. This can also happen to boys and men, but it is less commonly the cause among boys and men. 6. Unhappiness or boredom can lead to masturbation, especially among boys, but occasionally among girls as well. 7. Loneliness, extreme shyness and/or embarrassment or awkwardness, especially with the opposite sex. This is also a type of social anxiety disorder in which the person withdraws into self-pleasuring instead of participating in society. 8. A kind of “safe sex”. For a man, masturbation offers a way to avoid a relationship with a woman, and a way to avoid risking a pregnancy. It is also a way to avoid getting or spreading sexually transmitted diseases. For a lady, masturbation is also much “safer” than regular sex in many ways, and this is certainly true. 9. An unusual cause is entity possession or attachment. For more on this, please read Entity Attachment And Release on this website. MASTURBATION AND THE HEBRAIC TRADITION The following link gives a very detailed and interesting biblical perspective about masturbation. http://www.jewishsexuality.com/what-is-so-bad-about-masturbating. PSYCHOLOGICAL MEANING OF MASTURBATION According to the dictionary, the word masturbation, used metaphorically, can refer to any activity that tickles the mind or body and gives a little pleasure, but is really a waste of time and accomplishes nothing. MASTURBATION AND HAIR MINERAL ANALYSIS Masturbation is more common in those with a slow oxidation rate. This may be a cause or effect of masturbation. Masturbation does not cause a four lows pattern, early on. This may be because it gives a little pleasure. However, if one persists with the habit, it will lead to a four lows pattern and ruined health, depending upon how often one masturbates. ANOTHER LETTER ABOUT MASTURBATION I received this letter about masturbation on 9/6/2013: Dear Dr. Wilson, I was addicted to masturbation until I read your article about masturbation. Now its more than 4 months that I have stopped this practice. I feel that I have got my life back. I am 30 years old, unmarried, and after stopping masturbation I feel very, very strong both mentally and physically. My hair on my head has become very thick and silky. My eyes are clear and I am looking very handsome (many people have noticed my change). On the professional level, I have also had success. I got promoted to Research Scientist. I am from an orthodox Christian community, but no one told me that masturbation is sin. After reading your article about the 10 commandments, it all makes sense. In Matthew 5:28, Jesus said that whoever looks at a women with lust already commits adultery with her. Furthermore, Jesus says that to pluck out the eyes if your eyes make you to sin, thus saving the whole body. This is so true. I have noticed that not only one should stop masturbation, but one should also stop looking at women lustfully. As when you look at them lustfully or have bad thoughts, there is semen build up in the prostate whereas when we live a holy life then the sperm is stored in the testis, which is natural. I have finished reading the whole Bible recently and found that Paul in all his letters to the Gentiles asked them to keep away from sexual sin, lust, fornication etc. ITS A SHAME THAT THESE THINGS ARE NOT TAUGHT IN OUR CHURCHES NOWADAYS.... Recently I have started living a very strict Biblical lifestyle. I have stopped watching movies, going to malls, watching sitcoms(most American sitcoms are shown non stop in Indian TV, these days). One thing that I have noticed is that once I stopped masturbation, my testosterone levels have increased, my voice is very deep now, I am calm and relaxed, and have no brain fog. I tried explaining the need to educate the youth to not masturbate and be away from sexual temptation to my youth pastor, but he laughed at me. He told me the usual answer that masturbation is harmless. Many of my friends in the Church listen to me, but then I sense that they laugh at my back. I have noticed that in North India, Christians are not circumcised, but in South India due to the influence of St Thomas (who preached in South India and his grave is also there) most Christians are circumcised. Circumcision greatly decreases the desire to masturbate as the sensitive nerve endings are cut. Thus South India Christians are stronger and more successful. I personally believe that, as Paul says, that circumcision of the heart is necessary (Romans 2:28-29, Colossians 2:11). But this should also be taught in the church, where the attitude to sex and masturbation is very casual. I have lost most of my precious years to masturbation. It is only by the grace of God that I stumbled across your articles and got my life back. My Father is very proud of me (though he does not know that I was addicted to masturbation and have now stopped). He feels that I have become very responsible and serious with life now. I really thank you for sharing these things in your articles. Yours in Christ - SM WET DREAMS OR NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS This occurs more with men than with women, and consists of an orgasm with loss of fluid during one’s sleep, often during an erotic dream. The problem of wet dreams seems to occur in the same people who are having a problem with masturbation, in a number of instances. Wet dreams are disturbing mainly because one cannot control them, and they cause vital fluid loss, which is not good. To stop wet dreams, the advice is the same as that given above to help stop the masturbation habit. That is, stop fantasizing about sex, or about body parts, or anything related to sex. In many cases, the wet dreams will begin to fade away if you do this consistently.