[PhDre]

(03-26-2016 04:10 PM)TooFineAPoint Wrote:  

I have a (very informed about general health, food, fitness, economics) friend who claims that excessive orgasms are draining. He also claims that withholding (tantra) will contribute to prostate problems. So his ideal is sex a few times a week for mental health, satisfaction, bonding, and release.

...

So sometimes I fuck for a few days, then allow release. I have noticed this resulted in more vigorous sexual energy and more intense erections, but the trade-off is a bit more post-sex stress (I am still buzzing and horny)... although much less than if I got no sex at all. Orgasms are mildly more intense once I allow them.

I suggest OP start experimenting with small steps, like withholding for a fuck or two. If that produces positive results then follow the path. But semen is coming out eventually, one way or another, so holding it in constantly seems more like superstition than anything.

It also depends on your sex drive. If you are satisfied with sex every few days, you can probably get away with longer periods between cumming.

This is good advice.
I believe there are serious benefits to limiting your amount of ejaculations.

Ejaculation requires a rollercoaster of hormones and neurotransmitters.
- a big norepinephrine spike is needed for ejaculation
- oxytocin and prolactin strongly increase after ejaculation
- FSH and spermatogenesis increase after ejaculation, thereby reducing free testosterone
All of these hormones and neurotransmitters need to be made by your body, a process that requires energy and nutrients.

So ejaculating too often can exhaust you in multiple ways:
- the upstream basic building blocks (minerals, amino acids, …) get depleted and all the bodily functions that depend on them deteriorate
- the downstream hormones and neurotransmitters cannot be made quickly enough and get depleted
- receptors get desensitized because they get flooded too often by the ejaculation effects

The only reason why mainstream doctors continue to state that you can ejaculate as much as you want without harming your body is because the studies they rely on only measured total testosterone levels after ejaculation (and these remain fairly constant).

As with many health related subjects, the observations made by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are fairly correct. Unfortunately they did not have the knowledge to explain these effects so they made up theories about yin, yang, qi, meridians etcetera.
And now the reasoning of science-based medicine is:
Explanation of TCM makes no sense -> observation of TCM makes no sense.
Which is indeed a logical fallacy, yet one that is often employed to dismiss the observations and results from alternative branches of medicine.

Thus yes, there are benefits to limiting your amount of ejaculations.
However, you should never completely avoid ejaculation.

How often can you do it?
I think I read somewhere:
- early 20’s: 4-5 times a week
- late 20’s: 2-3 times a week
- 30’s: 1-2 times a week
- 40’s: once a week

Still it will vary from person to person and even then it will depend on your stress level, how well rested you are, the season. If you really start paying attention to your body, you will feel when you need to release and when you should hold back.