Sex is the Secret to a Healthy Prostate

The prostate is a small but vital gland in the male body and one that most men over 50 are familiar with for unfortunate reasons.

Prostate diseases such as BPH, prostate inflammation, Prostatitis and even Prostate cancer are becoming increasingly common and showing up in men once considered too young.

When looking at numbers such as those provided by the prostate cancer foundation, “The risk of BPH increases every year after age 40: BPH is present in 20% of men in their fifties, 60% of men in their sixties, and 70% of men by age 70.”

The British NHS states that almost 15% of all men will develop prostate cancer”, so it is fair to say that Prostate disease is modern man’s persistent plague.

The side effects of Prostate disease are as numerous as they are nasty. From depriving you of your ability to sleep through the night to the incontinence, from urgency to problems starting from erectile dysfunction, to retrograde ejaculation, and that’s just to name a few. Ask any man with BPH, he’ll assure you that the symptoms are not fun and the disease is no joke.

Whether or not sex is good for prostate problems is a question many men wonder but very rarely vocalize.  They know that the doctor will tell them to abstain from sex before a PSA test, (Prostate Specific Antigen), but they don’t actually know if an active sex life is exacerbating their problems or causing new problems.

There is still a taboo surrounding sexual activity and it is not often spoken about. Many men are still embarrassed to talk about their prostate problems; talking about sexual activity is still relatively uncommon amongst some older men.

But with the prostate playing such an active role during sexual activity, the effect regular ejaculations can have on the prostate should be considered and become a major talking point, especially amongst men who are experiencing prostate problems.

Many men still don’t know whether Sex is good for prostate health. And if it is, how much sexual activity is enough and is there such a thing as too much?

So what does the science actually say; is sex bad for your Prostate? Does having sex cause Prostate inflammation? Does regular sex increase the risk of Prostate Cancer?

The Short Answer is, NO… Sex is actually GOOD for your Prostate… In fact, regular sex lowers your risk of prostate cancer and just might save your life.

For those of you who are still here, and have not already begun emailing this article to your wives, here is the long answer.

According to a report published in JAMA, men who reported having more than 20 ejaculations per month were 33% less likely to develop prostate cancer than those who reported having fewer ejaculations.

These measured ejaculations included sexual intercourse, nocturnal emissions, and masturbation. The researchers evaluated nearly 30,000 men, of whom 1,449 developed prostate cancer. Assuming the men answered the survey questions honestly, the results indicated that an active sex life is not associated with a higher cancer risk in most men (Leitzmann 2004).

An Australian study of 2,338 men also came to a similar conclusion. This study found that men who averaged 4.6 to 7 ejaculations a week were 36% less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer before the age of 70, compared to men who ejaculated less than 2.3 times a week, on average.

The study found no connection between prostate cancer and the number of sex partners. (An earlier study, however, found that men who had sex with 30 or more women were two to three times more likely to develop prostate cancer than men with only one partner.)

A University of Nottingham-Medical School study also attempted to address the question; is sex good for prostate problems? Researchers noted that frequent sexual activity (more than 10 encounters per month) gives men a “small” amount of protection against prostate cancer (Dimitropoulou 2009).

However, the same study also found that men who are highly sexually active (more than 20 times per month) in their 20s and 30s are more likely to develop prostate cancer, especially if they masturbate often. On the other hand, the researchers in this study did also discover that frequent sexual activity by men in their 40’s does not seem to have the same effect (Dimitropoulou 2009)… This link may require more investigation before we can say anything conclusive about it.

Sex can also have benefits for prostate health in a number of other ways. Apart from the potential decrease in risk of prostate cancer, sexual activity helps to maintain erectile function and healthy penile tissue.

Lack of frequent sex can result in penile shortening. The absence of consistent nocturnal erections can cause and contribute to self-esteem issues which can lead to further erectile dysfunction problems.

Overall, regular safe sexual activity seems to be healthy for the prostate and have benefits for a range of prostate problems.

Some prostatitis symptoms can be relieved by regular sexual activity and, in older men, regular ejaculation has protective effects against prostate cancer. In fact, a higher frequency of ejaculation is associated with a decreased risk of developing prostate cancer.

So to answer the question of is sex good for prostate health, the answer appears to be yes. In later life, regular sexual activity appears to have a positive effect on the prostate and prostate health, and there certainly don’t seem to be any negative effects of sexual activity on the prostate in later life if you still enjoy sexual activity but suffer from prostate issues.

Author Bio: Ben is one of the most sought after experts and best-selling author on the topic of prostate and sexual health. After overcoming his own benign Prostatic Hyperplasia back in 2000 Ben has been at the forefront of research and development in the fight against prostate cancer. You can check out his work at Ben’s Prostate.

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