Does Masturbation Cause acne? Watch the video below
Hey guys, in this short post, lets quickly discuss on the topic ‘does masturbation cause acne?’. Not surprising, since most of us must have had acne…also called acne vulgaris.
The word acne is derived from a Greek word, acme which means a ‘spot’ or a ‘point’. The first historical reports of acne dates back to the Egyptian era!.(Guess even the pharaoh’s and their mistress’s were no exception to this disease!!)
King Tutankhamun suffered from acne. Moreoever, his tomb was filled with anti-acne remedies. Interesting right?. Furthermore, acne was believed to be caused by telling lies.
That apart, acne is nothing but a skin disorder that affects close to 85% of individuals worldwide. Acne typically is seen more during puberty but can occur at any age.
Acne is specifically linked with a bacteria called Propionibacterium acne. The bacteria specifically infects the sebum secreting glands(this gives your face an oily appearance) in the skin.
Androgens (the male sex hormones) and other inflammatory processes also lead to acne development.
Now, coming to the important part of the conversation
Does masturbation cause acne?
A popular masturbation myth is that, excessive masturbation can result in forehead acne, combined with pale eyes and general tiredness.
However, their are 2 points to be noted, their is definitely a link between excessive masturbation and the generalized feeling of sexual weakness.
Specifically in Indian men, who do engage in masturbatory behavior, a syndrome called as Dhat develops. Now, Dhat syndrome affects indian men across age groups.
Men diagnosed with Dhat syndrome, complaint of feeling tired, weak, report erection problems, small penis size or shrunk penis and most importantly feel low and/or depressed.
Moreover, men not surprisingly, among the younger men, acne is also seen.
So, its easy to probably point of the link between acne and masturbation.
Young men with excessive masturbation habits are more likely to develop Dhat syndrome along with Acne.
However, this DOES NOT mean that ‘Masturbation alone caused the acne’!!
To elaborate, younger men specifically the cool teenagers and young adults, tend to have the following lifestyle habits as mentioned below
Excessive Diary intake:
A clear link has been established between acne and diary intake. In young men who intake more than >2 glasses of whole milk per day, acne is more prone to develop. However, this association is not seen with yogurt or cheese consumption or even skim milk/skimmed milk products.
Chocolate intake
Chocolate promotes inflammation, chocolate thereby aggravates acne formation in young individuals. Love chocolates? Love your acne as well then!. More chocolates = More Acne
Increased Glycemic load a.k.a more Carb intake
Studies have clearly found that a definite link exists between acne and taking processed food. Do you love taking burgers, pizzas, chips and among other things? Get prepared for acne to erupt.
On the other hand taking fish (rich in omega 3 fatty acids) along with whole vegetables definitely reduces acne significantly
Low Fiber intake
Interestingly, acne is seen in younger individuals with low fiber intake along with gastrointestinal symptoms like bloating. A high fiber intake is shown to significantly reduce acne.
Stress
Lastly, the most important factor to discuss is stress. Now excessive masturbation amplified your stress response. You may feel transiently good, but you will feel low and down (or stressed out) post masturbation.
With stress, acne definitely increases, thus an indirect effect of excessive masturbation on increasing can definitely be seen. However, to what extent this may be true, needs a LOT of scientific research.
Not just, masturbation,
In fact, behaviours like smoking excessively also leads to ‘smokers acne’ with a dark face. The nicotine in the cigarette smoke affects stimulates acne growth.
Quit smoking and also definitely quit masturbation
So,
To summarize, does masturbation cause acne?
Directly NO, Indirectly probably YES.
What should you do?
Quit Masturbation and adopt the following life-style habits
1. Stop Smoking
2. Reduce Diary intake
3. Reduce Carb intake
4. Take whole vegetables and fish
5. Lastly, get your acne treated with a dermatologist
I hope you enjoyed reading this post on ‘does masturbation cause acne’. Please share this post with your friends and loved ones. Keep watching this space for more interesting content
This is Dr Shah, Consultant Andrologist and Sexologist in Chennai. See you again soon
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