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Topics: Health, Sex and Relationships
Claire Reid
Today is the last day of November - for most of us that means we’re thinking ahead to our advent calendars or trying to come up with ideas for a tiny plastic elf.
However, for some fellas it marks the last day of No Nut November - a challenge which, as the name suggests, sees men restraining themselves from sex and masturbation for a whole month.
Those who take part claim that resisting the urge to knock one out can bring benefits such as increased focus and mental wellbeing and preventing erectile dysfunction - although there’s little evidence to support those claims and some experts even reckon it could be bad for you.
Erectile dysfunction expert Doctor Alexis Missick, from pharmaceutical company UK Meds, told the Daily Star that masturbation is actually beneficial and No Nut November might not be doing blokes any favours.
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She explained: "Masturbation actually has beneficial effects on testosterone levels and libido, almost like a positive advocate loop. By masturbating, it can delay the time to ejaculation, almost like building stamina and routine.
"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 Dr Missick isn’t the only expert who has urged men not to take part.
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.
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She explained that while there wasn't 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.
Dr Malik said: "There's a number of benefits to masturbation including better sleep, decreased heart rate, decreased stress and a lot of increase in feel good hormones.
"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'."
Other health experts have also previously weighed in on the potential side effects of No Nut November, and they aren't in favour of it either.
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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.