How often should a man ejaculate? Is it healthy?

Most guys would say that ejaculating feels pretty good. But could it also be good for your health? Some studies suggest that ejaculating regularly has health benefits like improving sperm quality, reducing inflammation, and supporting heart health. Meanwhile, some claim that semen retention (avoiding ejaculation) is better for your health. Here’s what the science says.

There’s no “normal” number of times a man should ejaculate per day, week, or month. What works for you varies depending on things like your age, relationship status, and overall sexual health. The good news is that research indicates that the more you ejaculate, the better. 

Studies have found that men who ejaculated 21 or more times per month had a lower risk of prostate cancer compared to those who ejaculated 4–7 times a month. Researchers theorize that frequent ejaculation may clear the prostate of irritants or toxins that cause inflammation and contribute to prostate cancer. 

There isn’t a lot of research about the health benefits of ejaculation specifically, but here are a few ways it may boost your sexual health––and overall well-being:

• Improve relationships: Sexual arousal increases bodily levels of oxytocin, also known as the bonding hormone. This promotes intimacy between you and a partner. 

• Reduce stress: Getting aroused and having an orgasm causes a surge of dopamine, a feel-good hormone that contributes to pleasure. More pleasure typically equates to less stress. 

• Promotes better sleep: While some studies claim it has no effect, some people swear by masturbation or sex before sleep to help them have a more restful night.  

• Lowers the risk of death in people with a history of heart disease: A study of patients who had heart attacks showed that weekly sex reduced the chance of death from heart attack by about 10% and the risk of death from other causes by a whopping 44%.  

The short answer? Maybe. That’s because the data is conflicted. Some studies suggest that moderate ejaculation (2–4 times per week) is associated with a lower prostate cancer risk. 

However, ejaculating more often doesn’t mean your cancer risk drops even more. Confusing things further, other data suggest that men who have fewer sexual partners and start having sex later in life may also have a lower incidence of prostate cancer. 

Some people swear by semen retention, the practice of avoiding ejaculation. Semen retention includes not masturbating, masturbating without orgasm, or delaying or skipping ejaculation during sex. 

Advocates of semen retention claim that holding back ejaculate preserves their energy and enhances masculinity by keeping semen in the body. While learning how to last longer in bed is fine to practice, there is no scientific evidence that semen retention does anything for your health.

Okay, so we now know ejaculating regularly is healthy. But can you do it too much? 

Again, there is no magic number for how many times you should or shouldn’t ejaculate in a day. Your age, relationship status, sex life, and overall health all factor into how many times a day you masturbate.

It’s important to note that every man has a refractory period following ejaculation—this is a period of time when you can’t get an erection or ejaculate. It varies from person to person and changes with age. What may have only been a few minutes in your 20s may be hours or days when you get older. 

Your refractory period determines when you can physically ejaculate again. But ejaculation is more than just the physical stuff. The process of arousal, erection, and orgasm is a very complicated pathway involving hormones, emotions, and so much more. 

And if you worry about how often you should release sperm, there is no need––male sperm counts are in the millions for most, and sperm is perpetually regenerated basically from puberty until old age, so you don’t have to worry about running out of sperm in your lifetime.

There’s no magic number as to how many times you should ejaculate in a week, but the basic rule is: do what feels good (pun intended). Ejaculating multiple times a day isn’t inherently harmful. If, however, you find that your proclivity for masturbating is harming you or the people around you (as in you can’t do what you need to do on a daily basis because you’re masturbating too often and you find it difficult to stop), you may consider speaking to a professional. 

There is such a thing as sex-addiction and porn-addiction. And some people may find that, for example, their use of pornography is disrupting their relationship. If that’s the case, speaking with a professional and considering therapy can help you get back into a healthier place.

There’s no scientific evidence that says that ejaculating multiple times is bad for you, but here’s where you might run into a problem: some people find that if they ejaculate, they have more trouble performing with a partner. The time between ejaculating and being able to get an erection again is called the “refractory period,” and if you find that you’d like to be able to shorten that period, reducing the number of times you ejaculate in a day may help.

The bottom line? As long as you and your partner(s) are happy and healthy, there is no such thing as ejaculating too much.

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Every article on Health Guide goes through rigorous fact-checking by our team of medical reviewers. Our reviewers are trained medical professionals who ensure each article contains the most up-to-date information, and that medical details have been correctly interpreted by the writer.

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Current version

January 10, 2024

Written by

Michael Martin

Fact checked by

Yael Cooperman, MD

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About the medical reviewer

Yael Cooperman, MD, Ro

Yael Cooperman is a physician and works as a Senior Manager, Medical Content & Education at Ro.