If you want to know how to stop masturbating, or simply do it less, the approach that tends to work is practical rather than heroic: be clear about why you want to change, find the few moments when it usually happens, change those moments, and plan for the urge before it arrives. Masturbation is not harmful in itself, so this is not about fixing something broken. It is about bringing a habit back in line with what you want.
If you are still asking whether your frequency is a problem at all, start with is it normal to masturbate every day. If you want to keep masturbating but drop porn, see masturbating without porn.
Evidence strength: stronger for masturbation having no serious physical side effects; developing for how habits and cues keep a behavior going; early for what helps people abstain from masturbation specifically. The stories below are lived experience.
Is it bad to masturbate?
Not on its own. Cleveland Clinic states that masturbation has no serious side effects and does not cause erectile dysfunction, infertility, lower libido, mental illness, or shrinkage of the penis. Cleveland Clinic on masturbation. The same page lists the real downsides: guilt, chafing from rough technique, reduced sensitivity if it is very frequent or forceful, and a pattern that becomes compulsive. We cover the claims about testosterone, hair loss and muscle in masturbation myths.
Is it healthy to stop? We found no good evidence that a break harms a healthy adult either. If you notice more wet dreams after stopping, here is what they mean.
Why do you want to stop?
Your reason shapes the right goal. Common ones:
- Faith or values. You want your behavior to match what you believe.
- Control. You keep doing it more than you mean to, or at times you did not choose.
- Porn. Masturbation is the part you notice, but porn is the part that bothers you.
- Sexual function. You worry it affects erections or finishing with a partner.
- Time and mood. Sessions eat evenings, or you feel low or guilty afterwards.
It is worth being honest about where the pressure comes from. In an online survey of 1,063 people recruited through Reddit, most had tried to abstain from masturbation at some point. Their motivation was linked mainly with seeing masturbation as unhealthy, along with religiosity, conservatism and lower trust in science, and was not significantly linked with behavioral markers such as their maximum number of orgasms. Zimmer and Imhoff. That does not make a faith-based reason wrong. It means the distress may be about values rather than loss of control, and the help that fits can differ.
Clinicians make the same distinction. The ICD-11 guidance on compulsive sexual behaviour disorder says distress that comes only from moral judgments about sexual behavior is not enough for a diagnosis. Kraus and colleagues. If guilt is the main problem, Cleveland Clinic suggests talking with a sexual health therapist or counselor. You might also talk with someone you trust in your own faith tradition.
Why is it so hard to stop masturbating?
Because it is a habit, and habits are built to run without asking you first. A review of habit research describes people repeating the same behaviors in recurring contexts, with habit as the brain’s efficient default; it also notes that people tend to assume a behavior they do often must be one they intend. Wood and Rünger. The bed, the shower, the phone at midnight and the empty flat become the cue.
In 104 abstinence journals from men on a porn “rebooting” forum, the hardest part was habit and cravings triggered by many everyday cues. Those who managed it combined their own strategies with outside support. Fernandez, Kuss and Griffiths. That forum was about porn, but the pattern is familiar to anyone trying to cut back on masturbation too.
Then there is what it does for you. If it is how you fall asleep, calm down or fill a lonely evening, stopping removes a tool without replacing it. Porn as a way to cope explores that side.
Should you stop completely or cut back?
Either can be a reasonable goal. Pick the one that matches your reason.
- Stop for a set time if you want to see what changes without it, or your values ask for it. A fixed window, such as 30 days, is easier to keep than “forever”.
- Cut back if the problem is frequency, timing or control. Write a specific rule, such as “not on weekday nights” or “not in front of a screen”, rather than “less”.
- Drop porn first if porn is what bothers you, and see whether the frequency changes too.
Write the goal down. A vague goal is easy to renegotiate at 1 a.m.
How to masturbate less: practical steps
Treat the next 30 days as an observation window, not a cure or a recovery timeline.
- Count for a week first. When, where, how long, with or without porn, and what you were feeling just before.
- Change the two or three usual settings. If it happens in bed, get up when you wake instead of lying there. If it happens in long showers, shorten them.
- Make porn harder to reach on your phone. Turn on a content blocker or your phone’s built-in limits (step-by-step for iPhone and Android), and charge the phone outside the bedroom. Blockers are a barrier, not a fix; what they can and cannot do.
- Plan for the urge itself. Decide in advance what you will do in the first ten minutes: stand up, leave the room, text someone, go for a walk. What to do when an urge hits has more ideas. Cleveland Clinic also suggests replacing the urge with an activity such as reading, journaling or a walk.
- Give the freed time a job. Exercise, friends, a hobby with your hands, an earlier bedtime.
- Tell one person, or use a group. Support was one of the main resources people credited in the journal study.
- Treat a lapse as information. Note what came before it and adjust the plan. After a setback explains how.
How long does it take to stop?
Nobody can give you a reliable number of days. Breaking this particular habit has not been studied properly. The nearest evidence is on forming new health habits such as flossing or exercise: in a 2024 review of 20 studies, the median time to a new habit was about two months, but individual results ranged from 4 to 335 days, and most studies had a high risk of bias. Singh and colleagues. Count progress in weeks, not in one unbroken streak.
When it may be compulsive
Doing it often is not the same as being out of control. Compulsive sexual behaviour disorder describes a persistent failure to control intense sexual urges over a long period (for example, six months or more) that causes marked distress or impairment, such as neglecting health or responsibilities, repeated failed attempts to cut down, or carrying on despite consequences or with little satisfaction. Kraus and colleagues. Cleveland Clinic gives everyday versions: missing work, cancelling plans or forgetting responsibilities, and suggests talk therapy if that is happening.
Talk to a GP or therapist if you have tried several times and cannot change it, if it is affecting work, study or a relationship, or if shame is heavy. Our guide to the terms and finding the right kind of help explain the options.
If you are thinking about harming yourself, get help now. In the UK, call 999 or Samaritans on 116 123; in the US, call or text 988.
What people describe
Ethan, 25, cut masturbation “from once or twice a day to once or twice a week.” What still catches him is the half-asleep moment: “It feels like a reflex; I don’t even have time to consider what I am doing.” Read his story.
Luca, 25, describes how it starts without a decision, at the computer while doing something else: “I tell myself I’ll just take a look to calm down, but it rarely ends with just a look.” Read his story. Content warning: frank descriptions of masturbation and porn use.
Lukas, 24, found that when he started going to the gym, “the desire to masturbate decreased.” Read his story. Content warning: explicit descriptions of sexual material.
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