Does Masturbation Cause Premature Ejaculation?
Does masturbation cause premature ejaculation? Not the act — but rushed, finish-fast habits condition a fast reflex you can retrain. An andrologist explains.
Does Masturbation Cause Erection Problems?
A Chennai andrologist explains how porn-driven and compulsive masturbation cause psychogenic erectile dysfunction with a partner, why the ‘weakness’ is Dhat syndrome, and how it is treated.
Does Masturbation Cause Infertility?
A Chennai andrologist on whether masturbation causes infertility — the truth about sperm count, abstinence timing, what really lowers sperm count, and how to conceive.
How Long Should You Lie Down After Sex to Get Pregnant?
How long to lie down after sex to get pregnant — a reassured Indian couple resting together after intimacy The short answer: How long you lie down after sex to get pregnant makes no difference — there is no set time, and no medical need to stay flat at all. Staying supine has no scientific foundation; sperm reach the cervical canal within seconds and the fallopian tubes within minutes, regardless of your position (ASRM, 2022). Let me answer this the way I answer it in my clinic almost every week — how long should I lie down after sex to get pregnant? Couples phrase it a dozen ways — how long should you stay lying down after sex, do you need a pillow, should you wait before getting up. It is one of the most loaded little questions couples bring me, usually whispered, usually with a lot of anxiety behind it. And here is the honest, reassuring truth: you have been worrying about the wrong thing. So let me give you the evidence-based version, gently correct a piece of advice I myself used to give, and then tell you what actually matters. Quick facts Remaining supine (lying flat) after sex to “help” sperm travel has no scientific foundation — this is the explicit position of the ASRM (ASRM, 2022). Sperm can be found in the cervical canal within seconds of ejaculation, regardless of coital position (ASRM, 2022). Sperm reach the fallopian tubes within minutes — labelled particles placed at the vagina were found in the tubes in as little as 2 minutes during the follicular phase (ASRM, 2022). The one study showing a benefit from lying still — 27% vs 18% pregnancy — was after IUI (intrauterine insemination), not natural intercourse, so it does not transfer to sex at home (Custers et al., BMJ 2009). What actually raises your odds is timing sex to the fertile window, not posture (Wilcox et al., 1995; ACOG). Now, here is something I want to clear up straight away. For years the standard advice — including, I will admit, the older version of this very article — was “lie down for 5 to 10 minutes after sex.” Based on the current evidence from the ASRM, that advice is unnecessary. It does no harm, but it does no measurable good either, and worrying about it only adds pressure. Let me explain what we actually know about how sperm travel. After sex, what actually matters: no need to lie down, sperm reach the cervix in seconds, timing beats posture, relax and don’t stress Does lying down after sex help you conceive? No — and I say that as someone who studies sperm transport for a living. The belief feels intuitive: deposit semen, lie flat, let gravity keep it in. But sperm do not wait around for gravity. They swim. The ASRM, in its 2022 committee opinion Optimizing Natural Fertility, could not be clearer. It states that the idea that remaining supine after intercourse facilitates sperm transport “has no scientific foundation.” Sperm deposited at the cervix at midcycle are found in the fallopian tubes within about 15 minutes. In studies where labelled particles were placed at the back of the vagina, those particles travelled up into the fallopian tubes in as little as 2 minutes during the follicular phase — propelled by uterine contractions, not by you lying still. Most tellingly, sperm can be found in the cervical canal within seconds of ejaculation, regardless of coital position (ASRM, 2022). So by the time you have settled a pillow under your hips, the fastest, healthiest sperm are already well past the cervix and on their way. The “lie still” ritual is doing nothing for them. After sex — does it change your chance of getting pregnant? What the evidence says Lying down / staying flat for a set time No effect — sperm reach the cervix within seconds (ASRM, 2022) Pillow under the hips or legs in the air No effect — sperm swim; they do not rely on gravity (ASRM, 2022) Sex position No effect on conception (ASRM, 2022) Semen leaking out afterwards Normal — the sperm that count are already past the cervix Peeing after sex No effect — urine exits through a separate opening Timing sex to the fertile window The one thing that actually raises your odds (Wilcox et al., 1995) Talk to a fertility specialist Where the “lie down after sex to get pregnant” belief comes from (and the one real study) If posture does not matter, why does every aunty, forum and half the internet insist on it? Two reasons, and it is worth understanding both so you can stop second-guessing. First, there is an old idea sometimes called the “poleaxe” theory — the notion that female orgasm makes a woman want to lie down and rest, and that this rest evolved to reduce semen loss. It is a tidy story, but it is a hypothesis, not evidence. Second — and this is the genuinely important one — there is a real, well-conducted study where lying still helped. In 2009, Custers and colleagues published a randomised trial in the BMJ: 391 couples, half asked to lie still for 15 minutes, half allowed to get up immediately. The group that stayed flat had a higher ongoing pregnancy rate — 27% versus 18% (Custers et al., 2009). Here is the crucial catch that almost every blog gets wrong: that study was about IUI — intrauterine insemination — not ordinary sex. In IUI, a thin catheter places washed sperm high inside the uterus, and the small fluid volume can theoretically trickle back. That is a different physical situation from intercourse, where sperm are deposited at the cervix and swim through cervical mucus on their own. Later trials even questioned the 2009 finding for IUI itself. So if you are doing an IUI cycle and your clinic asks you to rest for 10–15 minutes afterwards, that is reasonable. But for couples conceiving the natural way
How Long Does Sex Last? The Real Average, Explained by an Andrologist
How long does sex last? Here’s the honest answer, straight away: when researchers actually timed it with a stopwatch, the average lasted a median of about 5.4 minutes from penetration to ejaculation — what doctors call the intravaginal ejaculation latency time, or IELT (Waldinger, 2005). Not 30 minutes. Not an hour. About five and a half minutes — and that is completely normal. As a practising andrologist in Chennai, I am asked this almost every day, usually by a worried young man who is convinced that “real” sex should last half an hour and that he is failing some test. So let me set the record straight with the actual evidence, because the truth is far more reassuring than the myth — and once you see the real numbers, most of the worry simply disappears. Talk to Dr Shah Quick Facts The average is about 5.4 minutes. In a stopwatch study across five countries, the median time from penetration to ejaculation was 5.4 minutes (Waldinger, 2005). The “normal” range is huge. Real measured times ran from under one minute to over forty — there is no single correct number (Waldinger, 2009). “Desirable” is around 7–13 minutes. When sex therapists were asked, they rated 3–7 minutes “adequate” and 7–13 minutes “desirable” (Corty & Guardiani, 2008). Most men who feel “too quick” are actually normal. Men who believe they have premature ejaculation often have the same IELT distribution as everyone else (Janssen & Waldinger, 2019). Genuine premature ejaculation is a real, treatable threshold — roughly within one minute, with distress and loss of control (Serefoglu, 2014) — not just “a bit faster than the films.” So how long does sex actually last? Let me give you the single best piece of evidence we have, because almost no one quotes it properly. A landmark study put a stopwatch in the hands of 491 couples across five countries — the Netherlands, the UK, Spain, Turkey and the United States — and asked them to time intercourse, from penetration to ejaculation, over four weeks. The median came out at 5.4 minutes (Waldinger, 2005). That figure — the intravaginal ejaculation latency time, IELT — is the closest thing we have to a real answer to “how long does sex last.” Why the average sex time is only half the story But the average is only half the story, and the more important half is the spread. The measured times ranged from about half a minute at one end to forty-four minutes at the other, and the distribution was heavily skewed — most men clustered in the few-minute range, with a long tail of much longer times (Waldinger, 2005; Waldinger, 2009). In plain terms: there is no “correct” duration. A man finishing in three minutes and a man going twelve are both squarely within the normal range. Here is the part I most want you to hear, because it lifts a real weight off so many of my patients: men who are convinced they are too quick very often have exactly the same latency-time distribution as men who have no complaint at all (Janssen & Waldinger, 2019). The problem, in a large share of cases, is not the clock — it is the comparison to pornography, to exaggerated talk, and to a number that was never realistic in the first place. There is no single correct duration — the normal range runs from too short to too long, with the average sitting around five minutes. How long does sex last? The real durations at a glance Duration (penetration to ejaculation) What it means Under ~1 minute (with distress & no control) Likely premature ejaculation — treatable About 3–7 minutes “Adequate” — well within normal About 5.4 minutes (the median) The statistical average About 7–13 minutes Rated “desirable” by therapists Routinely 20–30+ minutes, unable to finish May be delayed ejaculation — worth checking How long should sex last? The desirable range “Average” and “should” are different questions, and the second one matters more to most couples. So when researchers asked sex therapists what a good duration actually is, the answers were clear and very human: intercourse of 1–2 minutes was judged “too short,” 3–7 minutes “adequate,” 7–13 minutes “desirable,” and anything past about 10–30 minutes “too long” (Corty & Guardiani, 2008). Notice where 5–6 minutes sits — comfortably inside “adequate,” brushing “desirable.” The number you were probably told to aim for, half an hour, is in the bracket the experts call too long. So let me answer the question I get in Hinglish almost daily — sex ka normal time kitna hota hai? Around five to ten minutes of penetration is a perfectly normal, healthy, satisfying duration. If you are landing anywhere in that band, you do not have a problem to fix. You have a number to stop worrying about. Worried you finish too soon? Talk to Dr Shah today. Book a Call What about foreplay and the whole encounter? Here is where the stopwatch studies can mislead, because they time only penetration. Real intimacy is not a sprint that begins at penetration and ends at ejaculation. A satisfying encounter usually runs much longer than the IELT suggests, because the part that most partners value most happens before and around penetration. In my clinic I tell couples to think in terms of the whole encounter: roughly 7–10 minutes of unhurried foreplay — kissing, touching, oral stimulation, simply being close — followed by 5 or so minutes of penetration, giving a total of around 12–15 minutes that feels generous and complete to both partners. That is not a rule with a stopwatch; it is a reminder that fixating on penetration time alone misses the point. Cross-cultural surveys of what men and women consider a normal, satisfying duration land in much the same place (Amidu & Owiredu, 2015). The clock measures one ingredient; intimacy is the whole meal. When “too quick” is actually premature ejaculation Now, I never wave away a real problem, so let me draw the
How Many Times Can You Masturbate in a Day? An Andrologist’s Honest Answer
Here’s the honest answer, straight away: there is no medically “correct” answer to how many times masturbation can be done in a day — and the once-occasional release will not damage your body, drain your testosterone or ruin your fertility. But as a practising andrologist, I do not recommend masturbation as a habit at all. The harm is not in the act; it is in the compulsion — the daily, guilt-laden, porn-driven loop that quietly wrecks real sex. I have sat with close to 9,000 men carrying this exact worry in my Chennai clinic, and almost none of them feel good about the habit. So let me give you the truth that neither the breezy “do it as much as you like” articles nor the fear-mongering “it drains your vitality” blogs will tell you — the honest, evidence-based, clinical answer. Talk to Dr Shah Quick Facts There is no medical daily limit. Your body sets no fixed quota; the right number depends entirely on whether the habit is harming your life, your mood or your partnered sex — not on a magic figure. It does not lower your testosterone. Ejaculation causes no lasting drop in testosterone — levels are essentially unchanged by how often you climax (Exton, 2001; Jiang, 2002). It does not destroy your fertility. Your body remakes sperm continuously; frequent ejaculation does not “use them up,” and in some men more frequent release actually improves sperm quality (Raditya, 2025; Xi, 2025; Clay, 2026). Frequent ejaculation is, if anything, protective for the prostate. Large cohort and meta-analytic data link a higher ejaculation frequency to a lower risk of prostate cancer, not a higher one (Rider, 2016; Jian, 2018). The real danger is compulsion, not frequency. When masturbation becomes a daily, porn-driven compulsion, it is linked to erectile difficulty, low partnered satisfaction and real distress (Park, 2016; Zacharopoulos, 2026). So how many times can masturbation be done in a day? Let me answer the exact question first, because it is the one you came here for. There is no fixed daily, weekly or monthly limit that your body imposes. No number — not five times a day, not once a week, not once a month — is a medical threshold that flips you from “safe” to “damaged.” Anyone who quotes you a precise figure is inventing it. How to tell if it’s a problem — judge the cost, not the count So how do you judge it? Not by counting, but by asking one question: is it costing you anything? If you are doing it once in a while, alone, with no guilt and no effect on your work, sleep, mood or sex life, it is not harming your body. If it has become something you do several times a day, reach for out of boredom or stress, feel guilty about, and which is starting to flatten your interest in real intimacy — then the number is beside the point. The habit itself is the problem. Here is the at-a-glance answer for the way most men ask it: Is there a daily masturbation limit? The honest answer in six points The honest answer What I mean by it No fixed number Your body sets no daily, weekly or monthly quota — no count flips you from “safe” to “damaged” Occasional is fine An occasional, private release now and then is not physically harmful, and no medical reason to fear it Depends on the person The right amount depends on your own life, mood and partnered sex — not on a magic figure Daily can dull sex Daily, porn-driven use conditions the brain and can flatten real intimacy, bringing on ED or PE Loss of control The warning sign is reaching for it several times a day and being unable to cut down Habit is the limit When it runs your day or replaces partnered sex, that habit — not a number — is the real limit My own position, as the doctor you are asking, is plain: I am not in the camp that cheerfully tells young men to masturbate as often as they please. I do not recommend it as a habit. But I refuse equally to lie to you that an occasional release is poisoning your blood or stealing your strength. Both of those messages do harm. The truth sits in between, and you deserve the truth. There is no fixed number — the line is compulsion, not a count. Is daily masturbation harmful? What the evidence actually says This is where the Indian health blogs do real damage, so let me be blunt and back every word with evidence. The classic fears about masturbation are myths, and carrying them only feeds the very anxiety that hurts you. The three big myths: testosterone, fertility and prostate It does not lower your testosterone. Careful endocrine studies show that ejaculation produces no meaningful or lasting fall in testosterone; your hormones are not being “spent” (Exton, 2001; Jiang, 2002). It does not destroy your fertility or “finish” your sperm — the testes manufacture sperm around the clock, and the research on ejaculation frequency shows that more frequent release does not wreck semen quality and can even improve it in men with poor parameters (Raditya, 2025; Xi, 2025; Clay, 2026). And far from harming the prostate, a higher lifetime ejaculation frequency is associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer in the largest studies we have (Rider, 2016; Jian, 2018). Where the semen-loss fear really comes from So when you read that “masturbating 5 times a day will cause weakness, hair loss and infertility,” understand that this is folk fear dressed up as medicine — I debunk each of these one by one in my guide to masturbation side effects. It is the same false belief that drives Dhat syndrome — the conviction that losing semen drains your vital essence (Prakash, 2014; Kar, 2021). It does not — and it is the same misplaced fear that makes men panic over completely
How Often Should You Have Sex to Get Pregnant?
How often should you have sex to get pregnant? An andrologist’s guide: have sex every 1-2 days through your fertile window, why every-other-day wins, and why ‘saving up’ sperm doesn’t help.
Prone Masturbation: What It Is, Why It Harms & How to Stop
Prone masturbation can quietly cause delayed ejaculation and trouble with intercourse. An andrologist explains what it is, why it harms, and how to stop.
The Withdrawal Method of Contraception
Men’s Health Blogs The Withdrawal Method of Contraception The Withdrawal Method of Contraception – quick facts Vanakkam and welcome to Dr. Shah’s clinic. Have you ever heard of the withdrawal method of contraception? alias pull out technique?. Wish you a very happy new year and it’s been quite some time since I post my last video. In this short blog post, we are going to discuss the withdrawal method of contraception also called the withdrawal method of birth control. Watch the video below if you do not have the patience to read through the full article. I promise you, it will be worth it. Now the withdrawal method of contraception is also called as a pull-out method. So in the withdrawal method what usually men do is that just before the point of ejaculation or just before they hit their orgasm they pull out the organ from the vagina so that intra-vaginal ejaculation does not happen and thereby an unwanted pregnancy can be avoided. Now what’s very interesting here is that withdrawal or the pull-out method of contraception is probably the oldest contraception method that has been used since time memorial. It’s a biblical method it’s been around for so very long. Now, it’s important to understand here that the withdrawal method of contraception gives a contraception protection rate of almost 95% and there is a 5% failure rate even in this method. Now what this means is that the withdrawal method of contraception is as good as a condom, so basically if you are averse to using a condom that is if you wear a condom and you feel you lose your erection you are not able to connect with your partner, bond with your partner because you are wearing a bloody condom try the withdrawal method of contraception, it usually works. It’s amazing as a method, because you have a good connection with your partner from a psychological perspective but the only problem here is that you are not going to get an intravaginal ejaculation. It’s more of a male method of contraception what happens here is that your partner’s satisfaction is not going to be impacted. So basically you have to last long enough so that you can give your partner the orgasm and then pull out and then you have to ejaculate outside the vagina. Dr. Shah Dupesh Consultant Andrologist & Sexologist Ready to improve your Reproductive Health? Discuss your concerns in a private setting and get personalized guidance tailored to your needs. Book a Call Book a Call Furthermore, you don’t want to give your partner an unwanted pregnancy and that’s why the withdrawal method or the pull-out method is so good. Many men pride themselves in using the withdrawal method or pull-out method of contraception since to some extent it shows that the man has tremendous control over his ejaculation. The next important point is the partner will also respect you because you care for her you don’t want her to have an unwanted or an unintended pregnancy. So the withdrawal method or the pull-out method has a 95% protection rate which is almost as good as a condom but a 4% to 5% failure rate because sometimes the pre-lubricating fluid can have a small number of sperms and there are about 6 to 7 studies on the topic. Some studies say that the pre-lubricating fluid has no sperm at all. Subscribe to our Newsletter All said and done the best way to optimize the success of the method to pass urine after sexual intercourse. This will help wash off any residual sperm present in the male reproductive tract. If you masturbate in the previous day or you had sexual intercourse the previous day what you should do is you should urinate flush your urinary system off any residues and then have sexual intercourse and then adopt the withdrawal method during the particular session. So this will lower diminish or completely remove the chances of unwanted pregnancy so even if a small amount of pre-lubricating fluid deposits in the vagina the chance of pregnancy is going to be very less. I hope you found this video quite informative and useful on this withdrawal method of contraception also the pull-out method of contraception. This is Dr Shah consultant sexologist in chennai, keep watching this space for more interesting articles References https://www.sciencedirect.com/ science/article/abs/pii/ S001078241400208X Related Blogs Recent Blogs Having more doubts? Consult with our doctor Consult with Dr. Shah Leave Your Comment Cancel Reply Logged in as Dr Shah Dupesh. Log out? Δ
Why Is My Semen Green? An Andrologist Explains
A worried man in a reassuring private consultation with a calm male andrologist in a warm clinic Why is my semen green? Most often, green or greenish semen is a sign of infection in the male reproductive or urinary tract — commonly prostatitis or a sexually transmitted infection such as gonorrhea — rather than something harmless. It is usually treatable, but if you also have pain, burning, foul smell or fever, please see a doctor promptly (Cleveland Clinic, 2024). Let me answer this the way I do almost every week in my clinic, when a worried man sits across from me and quietly says, “Doctor, my semen looked green — is something seriously wrong with me?” (Some men describe it as “green sperm,” though it is really the seminal fluid, not the sperm cells, that has changed colour.) First, take a breath. Noticing a colour change like this is alarming, and it is sensible that it brought you here. But I am not going to do what some articles do and simply tell you to “relax and ignore it.” That would be poor medicine. Green semen is one of the few colour changes that genuinely deserves attention, because the most likely explanation is an infection — and infections are easy to treat once we find them, but not safe to ignore. So let me walk you through exactly what greenish ejaculate means, what is probably causing it, and the clear signs that mean you should come in. Quick facts Normal semen is a whitish-grey, jelly-like fluid; its colour can shift slightly with diet, age and how long it has been since you last ejaculated (Cleveland Clinic, 2024). A yellow-green or bright green tint most often points to infection — prostatitis or a sexually transmitted infection — frequently alongside burning when you pass urine (Medical News Today, 2024; Healthline, 2026). STIs most associated with a green or yellow-green tint are gonorrhea and chlamydia (Medical News Today, 2024; Healthline, 2026). Excess white blood cells in semen — pyospermia (leukocytospermia) — can accompany infection and can harm sperm; the WHO threshold is more than 1 million peroxidase-positive leukocytes per millilitre (WHO, 2021). Green or foul-smelling semen with fever, pelvic pain, or pain/burning on urinating or ejaculating warrants prompt evaluation — not reassurance to ignore it (Cleveland Clinic, 2024). Here is something I want to correct straight away, because the older version of this very article said it. It is sometimes claimed that a “liver problem” or bilirubin turns semen green. In practice, jaundice and liver-related pigments are associated with a yellow tint, not a true green. When semen looks genuinely green, the explanation that matters clinically is infection. Let me explain the real causes. Green semen at a glance: usually an infection, get tested don’t guess, watch for pain or fever, often treatable What causes green or greenish semen? 1. Infection of the prostate or seminal tract (the most common reason) The prostate and seminal vesicles produce most of the fluid in your ejaculate. When they become infected or inflamed — prostatitis or seminal vesiculitis — pus and white blood cells mix into the semen and can give it a yellow-green, sometimes foul-smelling appearance (Medical News Today, 2024; Healthline, 2026). In my clinic this is the single commonest reason a man notices a green tinge, and it usually comes with a clue: a burning sensation while passing urine, a heavy ache in the pelvis or perineum, or discomfort on ejaculation (Cleveland Clinic, 2024). 2. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) Green or yellow-green semen, especially after unprotected sex, can be a sign of an STI. Gonorrhea is the classic culprit and can produce a thick, greenish urethral discharge that colours the ejaculate; chlamydia is also linked to a yellow-green tint (Medical News Today, 2024; Healthline, 2026). Many STIs are silent in men, so colour change may be your only warning. If there is any chance of exposure, testing for gonorrhea and chlamydia is the responsible next step — a single NAAT swab or urine test screens for both (CDC, 2021). Other genital-tract infections — including genital herpes (HSV-2) — can drive inflammation and raise the white-cell count in semen (pyospermia) without specifically turning it green; the green tint itself points more to gonorrhea, chlamydia or prostatitis (Cleveland Clinic, 2023). 3. Pyospermia / leukocytospermia (too many white blood cells) When your body fights infection in the reproductive tract, it floods the area with white blood cells. An abnormally high count of these in semen is called pyospermia, or leukocytospermia. The WHO defines it as more than 1 million peroxidase-positive leukocytes per millilitre of semen (WHO, 2021). These cells release reactive oxygen species — useful against germs, but they can also damage your sperm and their DNA, which is why pyospermia matters if you are trying to conceive (Cleveland Clinic, 2023). A semen analysis will pick this up. 4. Medications, supplements and certain foods Not every colour change is sinister. Certain foods, spices, vitamins and supplements — and the metabolites of some medications — can be reflected in seminal fluid and lend a yellowish tinge (Cleveland Clinic, 2024). In my experience these dietary causes tint toward yellow rather than a true green, and any such change is usually mild, comes without any pain or smell, and settles once you stop the supplement or food. 5. Rarely, dyes or contamination Very occasionally a harmless dye, lubricant residue or external contamination explains an odd colour — a diagnosis of exclusion I reach only after infection has been ruled out (see the table below). Green semen: cause vs. what you might notice Likely cause Typical colour Accompanying signs What it usually means Prostatitis / seminal tract infection Yellow-green, may smell foul Burning urine, pelvic/perineal ache, painful ejaculation Needs urine + semen culture; antibiotics STI (gonorrhea, chlamydia) Yellow-green, sometimes with discharge Discharge, burning, recent unprotected sex Needs STI testing (gonorrhea + chlamydia NAAT) Pyospermia / leukocytospermia Yellowish to green Often none; may affect fertility Found on semen analysis; treat underlying