Masturbation is healthy and wonderful, completely free, provides good blood circulation, gets rid of stress, acts as sleeping medicine, and replaces old semen with new.

Sexologist Stine Kühle-Hansen believes it is very important that we understand the health benefits and properly take care of the art of masturbation. “Masturbation is a good pleasure you can share with a partner, but it’s still very much a taboo thing. It is one of our basic building blocks as human beings. The very first is skin on skin contact for nine months, then we get experienced in oral stimuli by sucking milk either from a breast or a bottle. Masturbation is valuable and connects our pleasure areas. It teaches us how to recognize horniness and orgasms”.

Masturbation provides a skill in touching
“Masturbation is an important knowledge about your body. I call it a skill in touching. Unfortunately often we know too few techniques. Many of us only have one way we masturbate, one we’ve probably used for years, and for some it has been the only way they’ve orgasmed while pleasuring themselves. Our brains automatize masturbation much like it does reading. So it’s a good idea to learn more than one masturbation techniques to avoid being stuck in a rut. If your body is used to mixing it up, having someone else make you orgasm becomes easier”.

A mutual self-gratification before you fall asleep
Masturbation is also something you can do with someone, for example a partner. It can be a good experience that can help to satisfy your need that day or evening.

It is important to emphasize that sex does not necessarily have to put heaven and earth into motion. It can be as simple as a mutual self-gratification before you fall asleep after a long and hard day.

Learning more masturbation techniques
Stine Kühle-Hansen feels that you simply don’t know yourself well enough if you only have one masturbation technique. It’s both limiting, and excluding towards any partners. In her opinion everyone should have at least three ways to orgasm.

“Some masturbate by hand, others use some sort vibrator. Some can only climax when they’re laying down on their stomach, others again can only while laying down on their back”.

Your thoughts stop you from enjoying pleasure
Kühle-Hansen explains that the whole body is one big erogenous zone if we allow it to be. There are more nerve endings in the body’s openings than any other area of our skin. Unfortunately, it is the thoughts that prevent many from enjoying their entire body and genitals.

“Some people don’t like touching others because they do not like what they are feeling. Others are bad at enjoying being touched because they are dissatisfied with their own body. All places on the body can become extremely erogenous if they are perceived as the most delicious area. The brain controls much of our ability to enjoy ourselves and enjoy others. That is why many people enjoy touching more after drinking a little alcohol, because their self-censorship is reduced. They simply stop caring about hair, folds and wrinkles”, Kühle-Hansen explains.

This text has previously been published in the Norwegian magazine Cupido.