Expert explains why there's no shame in failing No Nut November as challenge comes to an end

An expert has revealed why there's nothing wrong with failing No Nut November (NNN), as the challenge comes to a close this weekend.

For those of you who have been participating and will just be waiting for the clock to tick past midnight, fair play - it's no easy feat.

But there's no doubt that there will be a lot more people that would have tried to part-take in the viral challenge and failed before the 30 days were up.

While some have shared how it's like to abstain for the full period, with experts having also outlined both positives and negatives of the challenge, is it the worst thing in the world if you fail?

Is No Nut November really that beneficial to your health? (Getty Stock Photo)

To find out more about how important NNN is, and if not completing it is as bad as it seems, we spoke to GP and specialist in men's health, Dr Ed Rainbow.

Speaking about the act of masturbating, the Men's Mind GP explained: "Masturbation is a normal human behaviour - The British Sexual Attitudes survey suggested 73% of men and 37% of women have masturbated in the previous 4 weeks."

Describing it as 'healthy' as a human being, he highlighted that it may not be the worst thing if you break the NNN streak, pointing out: "It can make you feel better, and can be a normal part of sexual expression and play."

Most people aim to take part in NNN as they may think that they are too reliant on the act to relieve stress or feel good, with the term 'addicted' often used, but the medical professional disagrees with the free use of the word.

"Addiction is not a word to be thrown around loosely. A medical definition would be, 'masturbating despite negative or harmful consequences to your life (usually long term)'," Dr Rainbow highlighted.

He cited possible causes of this to be a relationship breakdown, secret masturbating in a relationship and a difficulty in getting an erection as possible signs of actually being addicted.

"This will usually overlap with hard core pornography overuse/addiction. This by it's nature is addictive (you are trying to get dopamine hits)," he highlighted.

Dr Rainbow doesn't see the problem with masturbation, but rather with excessive porn usage (Getty Stock Photo)

As well as this, Dr Rainbow explained that other issues to do with alcohol, vaping, smoking, and an unhealthy lifestyle may contribute to this issue.

He continued: "Some people also have guilt around sexual behaviour, culturally, or because of past abuse."

But to conclude on the topic of masturbation as a whole and the idea of NNN, he stated: "Overall, masturbation is normal, and it doesn't help to stigmatise it in our complex world." he urged.

"Sexual behaviour has a wide variety of norms. Hardcore porn addiction is a growing issue, and often those with issues will have multiple problems."

The expert said to seek help if you are addicted to pornography, such as Pivotal Recovery, which has its own questionnaire, or Relate if you are 'secretly masturbating' in a relationship.

You can find Dr Ed Rainbow on LinkedIn here.

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