Most men between 18 and 59 masturbate a few times per month to a few times per week. Most women masturbate once a week or less. Those are the broadest findings from the National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, one of the largest studies of American sexual habits, conducted by Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute. But “average” varies widely by age, gender, and life circumstances, and there is no medically defined normal number.
What the Numbers Look Like for Men
Among men aged 18 to 59, roughly a quarter reported masturbating a few times per month to about once a week. Around 20% masturbated two to three times per week, and fewer than 20% reported four or more times per week. That puts the typical range somewhere between a few times a month and a few times a week, with a smaller group on either end: some men rarely or never masturbate, while others do so daily or more.
What the Numbers Look Like for Women
Women report lower frequencies overall. Most women in the Kinsey data masturbated once a week or less. Among women aged 40 to 65, a nationally representative survey of 1,500 participants found that the majority had masturbated in the past year, but the rate depended on hormonal stage. About 73% of perimenopausal women reported masturbating in the past year, compared with 66.5% of premenopausal women and 56% of postmenopausal women.
Perimenopausal women were the most likely to report masturbating a few times per week, while postmenopausal women were more likely to report about once per month. Notably, orgasm rates during masturbation did not differ across these groups: women reported reaching orgasm about 81% of the time they masturbated, regardless of menopausal status.
How Frequency Changes With Age
Masturbation frequency drops steadily as people get older, and the decline is steeper for men simply because they start from a higher baseline. Among men aged 57 to 64, about 63% reported masturbating in the past year. By ages 75 to 85, that figure dropped to roughly 28%. For women in those same age brackets, the numbers went from about 32% down to 16%.
A separate study broke it down by decade. Among men in their 50s, 72% reported masturbating. That fell to 46% for men 70 and older. For women, 54% of those in their 50s reported it, compared with about 33% of women 70 and older. Another dataset showed the trend continuing into very old age: only about 17% of men aged 80 to 90+ reported frequent masturbation, compared with 7% of women in the same range.
The reasons are a mix of declining hormone levels, reduced sex drive, physical health limitations, and shifting priorities. None of this means that masturbating more or less than these numbers is unusual or unhealthy at any age.
What Happens in Your Body
During arousal and orgasm, your brain releases a surge of feel-good chemicals, including dopamine (which drives pleasure and motivation) and oxytocin (which promotes bonding and relaxation). After orgasm, the brain shifts into a recovery phase, releasing serotonin and prolactin. These hormones create that familiar feeling of calm and drowsiness, which is why many people find masturbation helpful for falling asleep.
The post-orgasm recovery phase, sometimes called the refractory period, is the window during which arousal is difficult or impossible. It can last minutes for younger men and hours or even a full day for older men. Women generally have a shorter or sometimes nonexistent refractory period, which is one reason multiple orgasms are more common for women. This built-in cooldown is part of what naturally regulates how often someone masturbates.
Potential Health Benefits
One of the most cited findings comes from a Harvard study tracking tens of thousands of men over nearly two decades. Men who ejaculated 21 or more times per month had a 31% lower risk of prostate cancer compared with men who ejaculated four to seven times per month. A related 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 than men who ejaculated fewer than two to three times per week. These numbers include all ejaculation, not just from masturbation, and the findings suggest a correlation rather than a guaranteed protective effect.
Beyond prostate health, masturbation is associated with better sleep quality, reduced stress, improved mood, and relief from menstrual cramps. For people without a current sexual partner, it also provides a way to maintain sexual function and familiarity with their own body.
When Frequency Becomes a Concern
There is no official threshold where masturbation becomes “too much” from a purely medical standpoint. The number itself is not the issue. What matters is whether the behavior causes problems in your life: missing work or social obligations, damaging relationships, causing physical soreness or injury, or feeling unable to stop despite wanting to.
Compulsive sexual behavior is recognized by the World Health Organization as an impulse control disorder, but even among mental health professionals, there is ongoing debate about exactly how to define it. It is not listed as a standalone diagnosis in the DSM-5, the primary diagnostic manual used in the United States. The general consensus is that the line falls where sexual behavior, including masturbation, starts causing significant distress or real-world consequences rather than at any specific number of times per day or week.
If masturbation fits comfortably into your routine and does not interfere with your responsibilities, relationships, or well-being, the frequency is almost certainly fine, whether that is several times a day or a few times a year.