If you’ve ever wondered: “Does masturbation decrease my stamina?”, you’re not alone.
Billions of men rub the magic lamp every day, whether to release stress, have a good time, or because they’re compulsive masturbators. But masturbation affects your body and hormones – and with them, your mood, drive, and even stamina.
After you ejaculate, you often fall into a lethargic state. Your energy and drive plummet and your motivation to hit the gym or work drops to Mariana Trench levels.
The immediate effects are obvious – but does masturbation also decrease your stamina in the long run?
Science has a comprehensive answer.
What Happens to Your Body When You Masturbate?
Masturbation is like setting off fireworks in your body.
Your heart rate rises, the creative part of your brain lights up, and once you’re done, it releases a powerful cocktail of hormones:
- Cortisol & prolactin. Both increase your immune system response.
- Endorphins. These make you feel good and sleepy at the same time.
- Dopamine & oxytocin. Two more feel-good hormones that also lower your stress level.
This sounds pretty good, right? But before you buy lotion in bulk and lock yourself into your apartment for hours, let’s look at the most important hormone – testosterone.
Does masturbation affect your testosterone levels?
Testosterone is the most important male hormone.
It helps you build muscle mass through increased protein synthesis, boosts your energy, and heightens your libido. High testosterone levels bring you raw masculine power, but masturbation can harm them.
Research shows that masturbating temporarily increases testosterone blood levels, but they drop to their initial values soon after. No wonder you feel flat as a pancake after you rubbed one out.
However, abstinence increases your testosterone levels – peaking seven days after your last session.
Before you pull out a calendar to plan your forearm workouts, you have to know these are minor effects compared to the psychological ones.
The mental effects of compulsive masturbation and watching porn can be detrimental to your testosterone levels. Guilt, shame, and watching a woman you desire to have sex with another man do to your confidence what a baseball bat does to a Jenga tower. The occasional self-stimulation won’t hurt, but compulsive porn watching will.
Does Masturbation Decrease Stamina in Your Workouts?
Should you avoid masturbating before a workout?
Short answer: yes. There’s no direct evidence yet that masturbation or ejaculation decreases your stamina, strength, or muscle gains. However, your brain releases hormones that put your body into “chill mode” instead of an alert state soon after. This means less motivation to swing weights around, making your workouts less effective.
Business and workouts before pleasure.
Does Losing Sperm Make You Weaker?
Since testosterone levels drop right after masturbation, it’s likely that losing sperm makes you weaker.
Also, your testosterone rises when you don’t masturbate, so abstinence can increase your stamina and strength gains.
Even if losing sperm doesn’t make you weaker, holding it in (aka semen retention) can make you stronger.
Does Masturbation Decrease Stamina in the Bedroom?
It’s a million-dollar question – with more than one answer.
First, the obvious one. In general, the less you masturbate, the hornier you are. More heat on the stove means the pot boils over quicker. However, you can also have a second and third round more easily. And it doesn’t stop there.
While masturbation itself isn’t bad, watching porn can lead to issues that decrease your stamina and dampen your experience in the bedroom.
- Desensitization. If you watch picture-perfect porn and extreme fantasies, normal women and sex don’t get you excited anymore.
- Premature ejaculation. If you use porn for quick stress relief, you train your brain to achieve orgasm quickly, decreasing your stamina in bed.
- Performance anxiety. You compare yourself to actors on performance-enhancing drugs, making you anxious about your own.
- Erectile dysfunction. All these effects can lead to decreased erection strength or not getting it up at all – the last thing you want to happen when you’re with an amazing woman.
Research shows erectile dysfunction is on the rise in younger men and linked to porn consumption. Keep this in mind the next time you want to open your browser in incognito mode.
Does Ejaculation Reduce Stamina?
Every time you ejaculate, your energy drops.
The scientific explanation is a change in physiology and hormone levels – but there’s another factor.
Sexual Lifeforce Energy.
It’s an ancient concept found in many cultures, tantra teachings, and bestselling books like The Way of the Superior Man.
It’s this energy that drives you and allows you to show up as a powerful man. Ejaculation doesn’t immediately decrease your stamina but reduces your masculine power and energy. So think twice before you rub one out.
Does Abstinence Increase Stamina?
Abstinence from masturbation has tons of positive effects.
- More masculine energy. You give off a powerful aura, increase your confidence, and become more disciplined and driven.
- More sexual energy and drive. You’ll be more aroused and enjoy sex more.
- More sensitivity to stimuli. This can make you ejaculate faster during the first round, but also go for a second one much quicker – and enjoy both a lot more.
While it might not feel like you increase your stamina through abstinence in the short run, in the long run, you do. You’ll have better sex, more of it, and a tremendous increase in masculine energy both in the bedroom and in everyday life.
That is if you can keep your hands off yourself.
Summary: Does Masturbation Decrease Stamina?
The short answer – and good news! – is: no.
The Biological Effects of Masturbation
Masturbation has no significant impact on your stamina, whether it’s in the bedroom, in the gym, or on the field.
The changes in your hormone levels are small and temporary, so your body quickly gets back to full capacity.
The Psychological Effects of Masturbation
However, the release of relaxing hormones after you’ve ejaculated can cause you to be less alert and motivated. They reduce your drive because your brain thinks you already have done the deed and passed on your DNA. This can be problematic if your masturbation becomes compulsive or a coping mechanism.
How To Increase Your Stamina, Energy, Power, and Life Satisfaction
You can increase your stamina with a few surprisingly simple lifestyle tweaks.
Healthy Living Will Increase Your Stamina
The healthier and fitter your body, the better your stamina will be – so adopt these healthy lifestyle choices:
- Eat a well-balanced diet. No matter if you’re vegan, keto, paleo, or an omnivore who loves it all – balance is key. Focus on unprocessed foods, a good assortment of healthy fats, protein, and complex carbohydrates. Top it off with enough fruit and veggies to cover your micronutrient needs.
- Drink enough water. Water is to your body what oil is to a car engine. Even a slight dehydration of 1-3% can significantly impair your cognitive and motor functions. The U.S. National Academies recommend about 3.7 liters (15.5 cups) of water per day for men living in a temperate climate.
- Exercise regularly and get your steps in. If you sit motionless all day, your metabolism slows down and with it, your fitness and stamina. Move every two hours, take the stairs instead of the elevator, and aim for 10,000 steps per day. Lifting weights also increases your testosterone levels and overall performance and stamina.
- Quit smoking. It’s harmful for your lungs and body, reduces your stamina significantly, and research shows it can cause erectile dysfunction.
- Get enough sleep. The Sleep Foundation recommends 7-9 hours for adults between 18-64 years of age. You can survive on less, but cutting yourself short on slumber will decrease your performance and stamina.
- Reduce stress levels. The stress hormone cortisol drives your body to new heights in the short run, but is detrimental to your fitness, health, and libido in the long run.
Supplements and Nutrients to Increase Your Stamina
There are only a handful of supplements and nutrients scientifically proven to increase your stamina during exercise and in the bedroom:
- Caffeine. Research shows it can delay fatigue and increase your stamina, especially in endurance sports.
- Beta-Alanine. Similar to caffeine, this has been shown to improve endurance performance and stamina.
- Sodium-Phosphate. According to studies, it increases aerobic capacity and time to exhaustion.
- Capsaicin. This component of hot peppers boosts recovery, helping you go again in no time.
- Potassium. An important electrolyte that keeps your cells hydrated and boosts your metabolism, both key factors to increasing your stamina.
- B vitamins. Especially B1 to B5 and B12. They regulate your sex hormones and can increase your libido and boost your performance.
- Omega-3s. These essential fatty acids balance your sex hormones with effects similar to the ones of B vitamins.
- L-citrulline & L-arginine. Both improve strength, stamina, and blood flow – which is why they might help have stronger erections.
- Magnesium. Low levels of this element impair your stamina and performance.
Apart from classical supplements and nutrients, there are also a few herbs that are supposed to increase your libido, stamina, and sexual performance. They include Damiana, Guarana, Maca, Ginseng, Catuaba, and Goji Berries. However, there is no solid scientific evidence for their effects.
The Gamechanger: Use Your Sexual Energy the Right Way
Most men have unhealthy masturbation habits.
Instead of viewing it as sacred self-pleasure, they use it as a quick and dirty stress release. This behavior leaves you drained and guilty once the post-nut clarity hits. A hyper-sexual world and readily available HD porn contribute to the vicious cycle that impedes your growth and potential.
A high sex drive is great, but it’s even better if you know how to use it to show up more powerfully in your business, relationships, and with new women you meet.
The good news is that you can easily learn to harness your masculine energy to reach new levels of success with the Lifeforce Mastery program. It’s the only one that acknowledges that willpower alone doesn’t work and provides simple, yet super-effective tools that do.
