Doctor explains what No Nut November does to the penis as people begin challenge today

A doctor has revealed exactly what happens when you take part in the bizarre November sex challenge.

It's officially 1 November, which means you'll likely be spending the morning wondering how the hell 2024 managed to slip by so quickly. It's also the first day of (and it brings me no joy to write this) No Nut November, the internet's infamous month-long abstinence challenge.

No one really knows where the idea for No Nut November actually came from, but the rules of the challenge are pretty simple.

Men around the world are 'encouraged' to quit having sex or masturbating for the entire month, with followers of the trend claiming this will bring you a vague array of health benefits.

However, we hate to rain on your parade, but abstaining from jerking off may not be something you want to spend the month doing, let alone be bragging about it.

Erectile dysfunction expert Dr Alexis Missick, from pharmaceutical company UK Meds, has explained that masturbation is (surprise surprise) actually beneficial - which means that No Nut November isn't actually doing men any favours.

"Masturbation actually has beneficial effects on testosterone levels and libido, almost like a positive advocate loop," she told the Daily Star.

"By masturbating, it can delay the time to ejaculation, almost like building stamina and routine."

No Nut November is back (Getty Stock Image)

Dr Missick continued: "It can also reduce some of the psychological issues such as low self-esteem and performance anxiety, that would increase the chance of erectile dysfunction. The reverse in true - refraining from masturbating could worsen premature ejaculation and indirectly erectile dysfunction."

And she isn’t the only expert who has urged men not to take part either.

Urologist and sexual health expert Dr Rena Malik took to her YouTube channel to explain that not ejaculating could help boost your fertility when you finally do have sex, but overall there wasn't much of a reason to do it, especially not for 30 days.

She went on to add that while there's not really huge health penalties to participating in No Nut November, it didn't really help much either as you'll miss out on the benefits of masturbation.

"There's a number of benefits to masturbation," Dr Malik said. "Including better sleep, decreased heart rate, decreased stress and a lot of increase in feel good hormones.

Turns out that advice from random people on the internet isn't actually the most accurate (Getty Stock Image)

"People can get a lot of pain and discomfort in their pelvic floor, or their testicles. A lot of you guys have heard of 'blue balls'."

It turns out that most health experts are pretty united against No Nut November, as there are some pretty grim side effects to not ejaculating.

Dr Karan Rajan explained that while you might want to spend a month without masturbating, your body is still producing sperm and needs a way to get rid of it from time to time.