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. 2021 Dec 23;31(1):32.
doi: 10.1186/s12610-021-00148-2.

Hormonal response after masturbation in young healthy men - a randomized controlled cross-over pilot study

Eduard Isenmann  1   2 , Moritz Schumann  3 , Hannah L Notbohm  3 , Ulrich Flenker  3 , Philipp Zimmer  4
Affiliations

Hormonal response after masturbation in young healthy men - a randomized controlled cross-over pilot study

Eduard Isenmann et al. Basic Clin Androl. .

Abstract
in English, French

Background: Hormones like testosterone play a crucial role in performance enhancement and muscle growth. Therefore, various attempts to increase testosterone release and testosterone concentration have been made, especially in the context of resistance training. Among practitioners, sexual activity (coitus and masturbation) a few hours before training is often discussed to result in increases of testosterone concentration and thus promote muscle growth. However, there is no evidence to support this assumption and the kinetics of the testosterone and cortisol response after sexual activity have not been adequately investigated. Therefore, the aim of this pilot-study was to examine the kinetics of hormone concentrations of total testosterone, free testosterone and cortisol and their ratios after masturbation. In a three-arm single blinded cross-over study, the effects of masturbation with visual stimulus were compared to a visual stimulus without masturbation and the natural kinetics in healthy young men.

Results: The results showed a significant between-condition difference in free testosterone concentrations. Masturbation (p < 0.01) and a visual stimulus (p < 0.05) may seem to counteract the circadian drop of free testosterone concentrations over the day. However, no statistical change was observed in the ratios between total testosterone, free testosterone and cortisol.

Conclusions: It can be assumed that masturbation may have a potential effect on free testosterone concentrations but not on hormonal ratios. However, additional studies with larger sample sizes are needed to validate these findings.

RéSUMé: CONTEXTE: Les hormones comme la testostérone jouent un rôle crucial dans l’amélioration des performances et dans la croissance musculaire. Par conséquent, diverses tentatives pour augmenter la libération de testostérone et la concentration de testostérone ont été faites, en particulier dans le contexte de l’entraînement à la résistance. Chez les praticiens, l’activité sexuelle (le coït et la masturbation) quelques heures avant l’entraînement est souvent évoquée comme induisant une augmentation de la concentration de testostérone et favorisant ainsi la croissance musculaire. Il n’existe, cependant, aucune preuve à l’appui de cette hypothèse et la cinétique de la réponse de la testostérone et du cortisol après l’activité sexuelle n’a pas été étudiée de manière adéquate. Par conséquent, l’objectif de cette étude pilote était d’examiner la cinétique des concentrations hormonales de testostérone totale, de testostérone libre et de cortisol et de leurs ratios après la masturbation. Dans une étude croisée à trois bras en simple aveugle, les effets de la masturbation avec stimulus visuel ont été comparés à un stimulus visuel sans masturbation et à la cinétique naturelle chez des hommes jeunes en bonne santé. RéSULTATS: Les résultats ont montré, pour les concentrations de testostérone libre, une différence significative entre les conditions. La masturbation (p < 0,01) et un stimulus visuel (p < 0,05) pourraient sembler contrecarrer la baisse circadienne des concentrations de testostérone libre au cours de la journée. Cependant, aucun changement statistique n’a été observé dans les ratios entre la testostérone totale, la testostérone libre et le cortisol. CONCLUSION: On peut supposer que la masturbation peut avoir un effet potentiel sur la testostérone libre mais pas sur les ratios hormonaux. D’autres études, avec des échantillons de plus grande taille, sont cependant nécessaires pour valider ces résultats.

Keywords: Cortisol; Free testosterone; Hormonal response; Masturbation; Sexual activity; Testosterone.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Study design. Abbreviations: d = day; h = hours; T = time point.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Hormone changes after masturbation with visual stimulus, only visual stimulus and passive setting. Figure 2A-F show the raw data (bullets), individual fits (dotted lines) and the population fits (solid lines) for each measure and grouped by activity (A: Total Testosterone concentration; B: Free Testosterone concentration; C: Cortisol concentration; D: Ratio of Testosterone/Cortisol; E: Ratio of Free Testosterone/Testosterone; F: Ratio of Free Testosterone/Cortisol). With all concentrations, both trigonometric terms are consistently required in the corresponding linear mixed effect models (p<0.01 respectively, F statistics). The polynomial term in the models of the ratios likewise is indispensible (p<0.001 respectively, F statistics). All significant differences were marked with #. Abbreviations: Active = masturbation with visual stimulus; C= Cortisol; FT = free testosterone; ln = logarithm; min: minutes; ng/ml = nanogram/millilitre; P = participant (P1 =participant 1 etc.); Passive: no masturbation and no visual stimulus; TT = total testosterone; Visual: visual stimulus without masturbation
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