Earlier this year, researchers at The Kinsey Institute released the results of a study that suggested masturbating may be able to reduce the symptoms of menopause.
Curious? We were too, so we took a deep dive into the study to examine the results, talk about the symptoms of menopause, and look at what effect masturbation may have on them.
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This study was conducted by researchers from The Kinsey Institute. It did receive some funding from a US-based sexual wellness brand, although it’s not super rare for a study to receive some funding from a company in a related industry. The Kinsey Institute is very well-respected and has a strong track record of pioneering research in sexuality, so we’re glad to see the topic of pleasure in menopause is getting the academic attention that it should!
The study, which you can read in full here, surveyed 66 women and non-binary people over the age of forty. All of the participants were assigned female at birth. One third of the group identified as being post-menopausal, while two thirds identified as being peri-menopausal.
Almost all of the people surveyed (97%) reported experiencing at least one symptom of menopause, with the most common symptoms being fatigue and night sweats.
The participants were asked to masturbate between three and four times a week, and by the end of the study the frequency of reported symptoms had markedly decreased. Participants reported feeling less irritable, anxious, and/or depressed, having fewer mood swings, experiencing fewer night sweats, and being less fatigued. That’s not to say that the symptoms went away entirely, but they did reduce a lot.
Participants were also asked to discuss how much their symptoms bothered them, both before and after the study. At the beginning of the study, 25% of participants said their symptoms bothered them a lot, but by the end this number had dropped to 9%. The takeaway here is that after weeks of regular masturbation, respondents were less likely to be bothered by their symptoms.
These results sound really promising, but we bet you’ve got questions, too. Let’s discuss!
Why were so few people surveyed?
This study is really interesting to us, although we would love to see a larger group of people surveyed. 66 people is not a lot, (often national studies require over 1,000 people and a sample that accurately mirrors the key characteristics, such as age, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and geographic location, to accurately reflect all demographic subsets) —but then again, there are a few reasons why the researchers may not have been able to get a larger group of people to survey. It may be that people were hesitant to discuss topics like pleasure, masturbation, and menopause with researchers, or it could be that the study only had funding to survey a small group. We’ve got our fingers crossed that the results of this study might spur a larger, more in-depth study at some point in the future.
Why was the study funded by a sexual wellness brand?
The researchers haven’t outlined exactly how much of their funding came from the brand, or why the study was funded by the brand, but we have some guesses! Sometimes researchers find it difficult to get the grants and funding they need for studies that aren’t considered absolutely essential by medical science—and even then, it can be tough. It may be that the only way to run the study was to have it funded, or partially funded, by a sexual wellness brand. In any case, the fact that the study was run by The Kinsey Institute is really reassuring, because it means that it was conducted ethically and with rigor.
Why did masturbating help relieve symptoms of menopause?
The study suggests that it’s because masturbating enhances vagal activation. The vagus nerve is the main component of the body’s parasympathetic nervous system, and helps control your heart rate, blood pressure, immune system, and mood. The authors of the study say that vagal activation can stimulate the release of neurochemicals such as serotonin and oxytocin, which are linked to improved moods and well-being. Put simply, masturbating didn’t necessarily make participants directly less fatigued or less likely to experience night sweats, but it made it possible for their overall well-being to improve so these symptoms were less prominent and less likely to be bothersome.
The medical and scientific communities have known for a while that masturbation can broadly be beneficial for some people, and these results add to that.
If that’s the case, why aren’t doctors recommending that people masturbate their way through menopause?
This is one of the key issues at the heart of the study. 91% of participants said that they’d be more likely to masturbate if they knew it could have a positive impact on their menopause symptoms, but only 3% of participants said their doctor had ever discussed it with them. That’s a huge drop, which says to us that there could be a lot of missed opportunities here for doctors to discuss masturbation with their peri- and post-menopausal patients.
There are a lot of reasons why this may not be happening, though. Many doctors will discuss sex as a biological process, and will discuss things like contraception, fertility, and STIs, but may be less willing to discuss sex and masturbation as things that bring us pleasure. The role of pleasure and its impact on our health is still being realised, so doctors may not be aware of the link between masturbation and symptom relief, or might feel that it’s too personal a topic to bring up. Patients may feel this way too, of course—some people may not want to discuss masturbation with their doctor, or may not have been able to access sex education that helped them to explore masturbation in a safe and informed way.
We understand that everyone has their own comfort levels when discussing masturbation, but we also hope that something that brings symptom relief to so many people can become more widely talked about! We think we’re starting to see a shift at the moment with more people of menopause age being seen as sexual beings, and we hope this carries through into medicine as well.
If I want to explore masturbation for symptom relief, where do I start?
If you’re keen to see if masturbation helps relieve your menopause symptoms, here are some tips:
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Start with what feels comfortable for you. The participants in the study used a specific toy three to four times a week. This may not be everyone’s approach—and that’s completely fine. Begin by masturbating in a way and at a frequency that feels good for you, and increase the frequency or change the method if you feel curious.
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Consider tracking your symptoms. If you’re exploring masturbation for symptom relief, it might make sense to track your symptoms and see how, and if, they improve over time. You don’t need anything fancy: your Notes app or a pen and paper will do it. You could rate your symptoms out of 10, out of 5, using descriptive words, or using any method you like.
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Be open to complementary treatments. Masturbation may offer relief from some symptoms, although it may not reduce every symptom, or remove symptoms entirely. If you’re experiencing menopause symptoms that are concerning you, speak to your doctor or an informed medical professional for tailored advice and more targeted treatments.
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Treat yourself to a toy. We’ve specifically designed our range of toys to be suitable for every body. Some people like internal pleasure, some like external, some prefer a bit of both…some people like a toy designed to target a specific erogenous zone while others want something more flexible. If you’re keen to begin masturbating to relieve the symptoms of menopause, or to change up the way you masturbate, can we suggest you start with our toy collection?
