5 Reasons to Masturbate Daily

Contributed by Kelly Jones, Lavalife

Trying to get people talking about step-by-step solo seductions can make even the most sexual single squeamish.

But masturbating not only adds life to your days, it also adds days -- even years -- to your life. And if you don't happen to have a hot date this weekend, it's a great way to take matters into your own hands. The solutions to many of life's problems are within your reach. Herewith, five reasons to go it alone.

1. Life's Small Pleasures

What would life be without the simple pleasures? Our days are often complicated, busy, exhausting. Having an orgasm brings us back to ourselves, reclaiming control over our emotions and urges, and sating our most basic desires. Whacking off just plain feels good -- both during and in the afterglow. And there's no post-peaking partner complications to deal with.

2. Good for Your Love Life

It's true what they say: Use it or lose it. When you orgasm, your body exudes pheromones, hormones that give off the message that you're feeling sexual. So the more you masturbate, the more likely you are to attract lovers. And who doesn't want to add more and merrier sexual partners to their list of experiences?

3. Getting It On for Your Nerves

To reach orgasm, you have to completely let go of your mental inhibitions. And this letting go, in combination with the oxytocin that is released into your body during masturbation, calms nerves, stimulates relaxation and can lead to better sleeps. Marta K. Helliesen, New York sex therapist, says, "An area of the brain called amygdala (famous for it's essential role in fear and anxiety) has shown decreased activity during sexual arousal and orgasm, which can suggest a lower feeling of anxiety and fear -- a pretty good deal given the anxiety-driven society we live in." Got a deadline at work that's taking a toll on your mental clarity? Find an empty boardroom and steal away for a quickie solo-O -- it's 10 times more calming than Valium.

4. A Cumming of Age

According to Samuel and Cynthia Janus, a husband-and-wife research team who surveyed 2,765 men and women across the U.S. about sex, only 47 per cent of men and 23 per cent of women masturbate on a daily or weekly basis. And yet research shows that there is an endless list of long-term health benefits associated with orgasms and healthy sexual lives, of which masturbation plays a key role. For instance, both testosterone and estrogen levels increase during masturbation, the former of which helps fortify muscles and bones and keeps hearts healthy and happy. And all that heavy breathing keeps organs and tissues functioning at their very best by increasing blood flow, saturating them with oxygen and removing waste products that can cause illness and fatigue.

For women, masturbating to orgasm leads to a relaxation of the uterine muscle, which can relieve cramps. And the increased estrogen levels help protect her from heart disease and osteoporosis, lower bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol, and improve bone density and the cardiovascular system.

Graham Giles and his team at the Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne interviewed 1,079 men with prostate cancer, asking them about their sexual habits through life. He compared those results to 1,259 healthy men and discovered that the more guys ejaculate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop prostate cancer. And Davey Smith in "Sex and Death: Are They Related," published in BMJ, reported that men who orgasmed two times or more a week had a 50 per cent lower mortality rate than those who ejaculated less than once a month.

5. You've Got a Woe? Go For An O!

Countless studies -- done in both labs and lairs all over the globe -- have shown the immediate powers that masturbation and orgasm have over ailments. Right before orgasm, the level of the hormone DHEA spikes radically, and DHEA has been found to improve brain function, balance the immune system, maintain and repair tissues and promote healthier skin.

Psychologists at Wilkes University, Pennsylvania, found that students who orgasmed regularly had a third higher level of immunoglobulin A, an antibody that helps fight flus and colds. Komisaruk and Whipple in Annual Review of Sex Research showed that the endorphins released into the blood after an orgasm alleviate many types of pain, including whiplash, arthritis and headaches, and they can even act as anti-depressants. Like a natural antihistamine, masturbation and orgasm can also combat asthma and hay fever. Is there anything a wonder-whack can't do?