While many of us are having a sudden crisis about how quickly the year has gone, and others are up in the loft getting out the Christmas decorations, some people are marking the first day of November slightly differently.
That’s because for a select group of people, today marks the beginning of No Nut November. And in case you’ve never heard of that before, it certainly doesn’t mean abstaining from snacking on peanuts, but from ejaculation.
The viral challenge sees men ‘encouraged’ to quit having sex or orgasming from masturbation for the whole month. Yeah, fun.
But while you might think it’s a bit of a laugh, a urologist has revealed the three main concerns she has for people taking part.
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No Nut November's impact on relationships
Dr Rena Malik speaks about No Nut November in one of her YouTube videos as she lays out some potential problems.
“One is that when you’re going through this process if you’re trying to really focus on having orgasms without ejaculation you can get very fixated on that prospect, you can get very fixed on edging,” she says.
“It can be very hard to have a relationship, a very meaningful important sexual relationship, with a partner because you’re fixated on yourself.”
No Nut November's impact on mental health
“It can also cause a lot of stress and anxiety to go through no nut November.”
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That’s because Malik claims there’s ‘a number of benefits to masturbation’.
This includes haing ‘better sleep’, decreasing your heart rate, ‘decreased stress’, and a real ‘increase in feel-good hormones’.
No Nut November's impact on physical health
“The other thing I worry about is that people can get a lot of pain and discomfort in their pelvic floor or their testicles,” the urologist says.
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While you’ve of course heard all about ‘blue balls’, Malik adds that there’s ‘very little data on this in scientific literature’.
“It’s called epididymal hypertension,” she explains, “and the reason being is that during arousal you get increased blood flow to the testicles, as well as everything else.”
Usually, this then decreases when you ejaculate but if you’re sticking to no nut November then that ‘increased pressure stays around’.
“For some people that can be quite painful and it can last for quite a big period of time.”
And it can have a bit of a lasting impact as she continued: “We also sometimes see men who have elevated pelvic floor tone in those who don’t masturbate or don’t ejaculate for long periods of time.
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“They’re building up all this stress and tension in their pelvic floor that can result in pain.”
While she points out there’s not really any data on this, she recommends that men who suffer with this should ‘masturbate two or three times a week’ to help with the pain.
Alternatives to No Nut November
In her opinion, a ‘much healthier option’ is to go ‘No Fap’ for November – avoiding porn.
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She says watching a load of porn ‘has a lot of potentially dangerous side effects’, particularly if you’re watching ‘violent’ or unrealistic content.
“It can actually really affect your brain and the way you perceive sex and the way you have relationships with other people,” she explains. “So, if you want to try something new for November try to hold off on pornography rather than holding off ejaculation.”
Topics: Health, Sex and Relationships
Jess Battison