Most adults masturbate, and the most common frequency falls somewhere between a few times a month and a few times a week. About 91% of men and 78% of women report having masturbated at some point in their lives, but how often varies widely depending on age, gender, relationship status, and individual preference. There is no medically defined “normal” number.
How Often Men and Women Report Masturbating
Survey data from men ages 18 to 59 shows a wide spread. About a quarter masturbate a few times per month to once a week. Roughly 20% do so two to three times a week, and fewer than 20% masturbate more than four times a week. The remainder report doing it rarely or not at all.
Women generally report lower frequencies. Most women in surveys say they masturbate once a week or less. The gap isn’t just about frequency: men are also more likely to report having masturbated in the past month at all. A 2021 nationally representative U.S. survey confirmed that significantly more men than women reported both lifetime and recent masturbation.
These numbers almost certainly undercount real behavior. Masturbation remains something many people underreport, particularly women, due to social stigma or discomfort with survey questions.
How Frequency Changes With Age
A longitudinal study tracking people from young adulthood into midlife found distinct patterns for men and women. For women, masturbation frequency gradually increased from age 19, peaked around age 31, then began a slow decline. Women between 18 and 24 still report masturbating more frequently than older women in most cross-sectional surveys, but the longitudinal data suggests the real peak comes a bit later than many people assume. There’s also evidence that women masturbate at higher levels during the year before menopause compared to their earlier menstruating years.
For men, the pattern looks different. Masturbation frequency stays largely stable from age 19 through 50 on the surface. But when researchers accounted for factors like sexual fantasy and whether the person had a partner, a more nuanced picture emerged: frequency dipped from the late teens to the mid-30s, then ticked back up. Having children also matters. Childless participants of both sexes showed a steeper increase in masturbation frequency up to about age 30, followed by a sharper decline afterward.
Why People Masturbate
The top reasons are straightforward: pleasure, feeling aroused, stress relief, and relaxation. When your body reaches orgasm, it releases dopamine (which drives feelings of reward and satisfaction) and oxytocin (which promotes a sense of calm and connection). Both of these counteract cortisol, the hormone your body produces under stress. That’s why masturbation can feel genuinely relaxing rather than just physically pleasurable.
Among those who don’t masturbate, the most common reasons are lack of interest, being in a committed relationship, or personal moral or religious beliefs. None of these reasons are unusual, and none require explanation or justification.
Masturbation and Relationships
A common worry is that masturbating will hurt your relationship. Research doesn’t support that. One study examining the link directly found no significant association between masturbation frequency and relationship satisfaction overall. How often someone masturbated simply didn’t predict how happy they were in their relationship.
Two things did matter, though. People who were less open with their partner about masturbating and who focused on someone other than their partner during the experience reported a more negative connection between masturbation frequency and relationship satisfaction. On the flip side, people who were open about it and thought about their partner actually showed a slight positive link between masturbation and relationship happiness. The behavior itself isn’t the issue. Secrecy and emotional distance are.
There’s also an interesting connection between masturbation and desire for partnered sex. Both men and women who wanted more sex with their partner than they were currently having were significantly more likely to masturbate frequently. Men who desired partnered sex “much more often” were about 4.4 times more likely to report frequent masturbation than those satisfied with their current frequency. For women, that figure was about 3.9 times. Masturbation, in many cases, supplements partnered sex rather than replacing it.
Potential Health Effects
For men, there’s a notable finding related to prostate health. A Harvard-linked study found that men who ejaculated 21 or more times per month had a 31% lower risk of prostate cancer compared to those who ejaculated four to seven times monthly. A separate analysis found that men averaging roughly five to seven ejaculations per week were 36% less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer before age 70. These studies tracked ejaculation from all sources, not just masturbation, but for single men or those with infrequent partnered sex, masturbation accounts for most of that total.
For both sexes, the stress-relief and sleep benefits are real but modest. The hormonal response to orgasm is short-lived, so masturbation works more like a single dose of relaxation than a long-term treatment for anxiety or insomnia.
When Frequency Becomes a Concern
There’s no specific number of times per week or month that crosses into “too much.” The question isn’t how often, but whether the behavior is causing problems. The World Health Organization recognizes compulsive sexual behavior as an impulse control disorder, but even among mental health professionals, there’s ongoing debate about exactly where the line falls.
The practical signs that masturbation has become compulsive are less about frequency and more about consequences. If it’s interfering with work, relationships, or daily responsibilities, if you find yourself unable to stop despite wanting to, or if it’s causing physical irritation or injury, those are worth paying attention to. Someone who masturbates daily and goes about their life without issue is in a very different situation from someone who masturbates less often but feels distressed and out of control about it.
Guilt alone isn’t a reliable signal. Many people feel guilty about masturbation for cultural or religious reasons even when their behavior is completely typical. If the distress comes from the gap between your values and your behavior rather than from actual life disruption, that’s a different kind of problem, and one that therapy can help with regardless of what you decide about frequency.