Article: Can Masturbating Impact the Immune System?
Can Masturbating Impact the Immune System?
Nobody likes getting sick. It hurts, there’s sweat and mucus everywhere, and that’s in the best-case scenario. Building a healthy immune system is key to preventing these awful moments, or at the very least, making sure they don’t last too long.
There are many great tips on how to keep your immune system in check. We will even go further into some later on. But, we here at TENGA are all about tackling the serious questions you might actually wonder about, like “Does masturbation affect the immune system?” Do those moments of pleasure put you at greater risk of illness, or is that just another anti-masturbation myth? Let’s find out.
Contents
What is the Immune System?
So what exactly is the immune system? In simple terms, it’s a network of organs, cells, proteins, and chemicals that work together to defend your body against germs and disease. It does this by recognizing which cells belong to you and which don’t. When it detects a foreign cell, the system quickly launches an “attack” to eliminate it.
So how does this attack actually work? It all starts with leukocytes, better known as white blood cells. If high school biology feels like a distant memory, here’s a quick refresher: these cells play a crucial role in protecting your body from infection. They travel through your bloodstream, seek out potential threats, gather at the site of infection, and work together to destroy invading pathogens, keeping you healthy and safe.
Does Masturbation Affect Immunity?
“Ok, that’s all well and good, but will jerking off make me sick?” you might be asking. Good news, no, it will not, but there is a connection between masturbation and the immune system. In fact, one study had 11 men give blood samples after masturbating until orgasm. The researchers found that the number of leukocytes increased, especially the natural killer blood cells. It should be noted, however, that this was only for a short time. Bottom line is, you may actually be giving your immune system a quick boost when you masturbate, but probably not enough to cure whatever ails you.
Reducing Stress to Improve the Immune System
That is how masturbation directly affects your immunity, but there may be other ways that beating the meat every once in a while can help you stay healthy. Once again, let’s take it back to biology and talk about cortisol. This stress hormone gets a little bit of a bad wrap, because short-term, it actually does have a “good” use. During stressful moments, your body releases cortisol in order to keep your mind on high alert and to make sure you have fast energy by breaking down glucose in your liver. That’s all, really good in short moments of high stress like getting attacked by a big animal, or other similar situations that our primitive ancestors had to deal with. Long-term, though, cortisol begins to do more harm than good. Things like having too much cortisol in the blood can actually lead to more inflammation. Furthermore, chronic stress can actually lead to fewer white blood cells, which, as we already went over, protect you from/fight illness.
This is where masturbation comes to save the day!
We have talked about it before, masturbation has a special effect on the brain. It triggers the release of various pleasure chemicals that not only reward you with a good feeling after orgasm, but also counteract the effects of cortisol and stress. So if you are having a particularly stressful day, picking up your favorite masturbator and enjoying a bit of private time could be just what you need to unwind.
What to Do to Boost Immunity
Besides masturbating (as if there is anything else), what else can you do to boost your immunity? Well, similar to boosting your sex drive, keeping your immunity up comes down to three pillars:
- Sleep
- Balanced Diet
- Exercises
Overall, creating and maintaining healthy habits that work for you is really the most important thing when it comes to living a healthy life, no matter what aspect you are trying to improve. It doesn’t have to be complicated, either. Even something as simple as a daily walk can give your immune system a boost by improving blood circulation and helping to reduce stress and inflammation.
Summary
Getting sick is the worst. Taking preventive steps by boosting your immune system is always something to keep in mind so you can continue living a healthy life for as long as possible. Once you have those core aspects of health down, it might be worth remembering the link between masturbation and the immune system. And who knows? Maybe a good, honest masturbator is exactly what you need to feel just a little healthier and happier. We have plenty of great masturbators and other male sex toys, so click here to check them out!
