WATCH: Emma Chamberlain’s guide to looking cute on your period
In May 2020, adult toy company Womanizer and moon cup suppliers Lunette conducted a clinical study to find an answer to the age-old myth: does masturbation really help relieve period pain? And the answer? Yes—all the yesses of yes, in fact.
The survey got 486 different women of varying ages to drop their traditional methods of pain control when on their periods and to masturbate instead. And, over a period of six months, they found that, when regularly masturbating, not only did the intensity of their period pain dramatically decrease but the frequency of it did, too.
Miss Biology really said, ‘go on, have one on me 😌.’
“Masturbation can have positive effects on health and general wellbeing,” explained sex educator Georgia Grace. “After the climax, the hormone dopamine is released, which activates an inner bliss.”
“In this way, other physical processes take a back seat, which in turn is similar to pain relief. At the same time, the metabolism and blood circulation is stimulated. Both counteract pain. When the muscles contract and release during orgasm, this has a relaxing effect.”
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But hang on, why are periods painful anyway?
"During the period, the uterus contracts spasmodically to expel the mucous membrane that was formed for a possible pregnancy,” Grace said in the study. “This alone causes pain.”
“The contractions of the uterus are also controlled by the hormone prostaglandins. This hormone is a pain messenger and is also involved in inflammation, for example.”
“The higher the prostaglandin level in a person's body, the stronger the period pain can be."
In 2021, we said 🙅♀️🙅♀️🙅♀️ to intense period pain that ruins our entire day and 🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️ to regular masturbation self-care and not having horrible cramps at the middle of school—period.
As Bridget Hustwaite told us when we asked her about endometriosis, "period is not a dirty word. Periods are normal. Period pain isn’t normal."
