Oluwadamilare Adeniyi & Charles Faseki
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Medical experts have revealed that people, who engage in masturbation, are prone to several health risks.
Masturbation, also known as self-induced-pleasure can simply be explained as the erotic stimulation of one’s own genital organs commonly resulting in orgasm and achieved by manual or other bodily contact exclusive of sexual intercourse.
Mainly people believe men are more involved in this act, but findings have shown that women also engage in self-pleasure.
Nowadays, with more availability of sex toys like vibrators, dildos, etc, self-pleasure is becoming popular in females. Some of them no longer depend on their partners for sexual satisfaction. With more resources and exposure to sexual lives, females don’t compromise with their sexual lives.
While it is believed that masturbation helps people to understand themselves sexually and avoid engaging in immoral or illegal sex the negative effects are numerous.
One of the people who got addicted to the act, who simply identified himself as Adedayo, told The Hope that he became addicted because it was easy to access and cheap to practice.
Speaking, Dr Tola Abidokun said self-induced-pleasure is highly addictive and could lead to fatigue, memory loss, hair loss, blurred vision, pains in the male organ and impaired sexual function like erectile dysfunction, low sex drive and premature ejaculation.
He further said it is not the act itself that causes these effects. They are products of the overproduction and over stressing of sexual hormones and neurotransmitters that happen by frequent self-pleasure.
Dr Abidokun further stated, “Self-induced-pleasure can also lead to sexual exhaustion, which is exhibited in the form of impotence or erectile dysfunction and weak erection. He also stated that extreme masturbating can interfere with an individual’s personal relationship and professional life”.
Also, Dr Shola Ale said Excessive self-pleasure has been found to result to seminal leakage, in which case, semen would be leaking or flowing out freely from the male organ. This is usually caused by the weakening of the parasympathetic nerves because the ejaculatory valve that opens and closes during sex stays open for a longer time.
“Thus, it is not uncommon for people who masturbate to see some stains on their inner wear, especially moments after doing it, and if personal hygiene is inadequate, it has been found to cause offensive odour in that region of the body. It could also deplete the amount of semen in their seminal vesicle and cause weak or fast ejaculation during normal sex”.
He said it can be cured or relieved by psychotherapy but psychotherapy is not really a popular practice in Nigeria as people hardly patronise the experts.
In the same vein, a psychologist, Dr Kayode Abanikanda people develop addiction to masturbation when they said can no longer suppress the psychological urges.
He said, “most people masturbate because they enjoy the feeling. This is true even without an orgasm, although the orgasm is preferred for a climactic experience. Self induced pleasure is calming and stimulates many senses to a greater extent than most other natural activities.
“Consequently, it has a pleasurable effect on the brain It releases mood enhancing hormones such as dopamine and oxytocin as well as cortisol, which assists with the regulation and maintenance of the immune system.
“As an added benefit, it helps boost self-esteem and mental health.Like other addictions, the more of something pleasurable the brain receives, the more it wants.This is what contributes to obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors.
According to Dr Abanikanda, self induced pleasure increases blood flow in the body and releases endorphin, a pleasure enhancing brain chemical. It releases emotional stress, depression, and anxiety.
“It makes you comfortable and confident with your body. It lets you explore your desires and makes you sexually satisfied even without a partner.
However, the psychologist stated the act could lead to many unwanted behaviours. “The more one masturbates, the more pleasure diminishes. It may also decrease the likelihood of orgasm and gratification from other sexual acts.
This may ultimately lead to frustration, confusion, hopelessness, anxiety, depression, and a plethora of other negative emotion
“Masturbating takes up a lot of your time and energy. You might be late to meetings, cancel events, or leave social appointments early to masturbate, You masturbate even when you don’t feel aroused, sexual, or horny.”
Dr. Kayode Abanikanda said it can injure your vagina as a female and can cause irritation due to too much rubbing. It may cause an infection inside the genitalia.
He also said that it is a serious sin in the Holy Bible. Makes the male organ get weak when been used in the body of a female. It makes a male organ develop too many veins thereby making it unattractive.
“If you get addicted to it, it can lead to frustrations if you are deprived of doing it every time you feel like. It can cause early ejaculation in men. It can make you emotionally and physically detach from your partner.
It Weakens the womb in females, thereby not enabling it to carry a child which leads to abortion (miscarriages most of the time). It can also cause sperm disability which leads to abnormal children (in fewer cases).
A therapist, Dr Olamide Ogundipe said most people engage in the act for pleasure because they are unable to forge relationship with the opposite gender and also because they lack adequate knowledge about the side effects of self-pleasure.
She advised that, “self induced pleasure is not something one should get addicted to as it negatively impacts one’s body system”.