How Often Should You Ejaculate? The Answer Might Surprise You
- By Austin Letorney
- Fact-checked by Joy Ferguson
- November 14, 2023
Fast Facts
- There’s no “right” number of times to ejaculate per week or month.
- Some research does suggest frequent ejaculations may help reduce your risk of prostate cancer and heart disease.
- Claims that not releasing sperm can boost testosterone have been debunked.
If you’ve ever perused the r/AskMen subreddit, you’ve no doubt noticed the number of threads about ejaculation frequency. Some men indulge just one to two times per week while others get after it five to six times in the same time frame.
And they’re all reaping the health benefits. We’ve previously reported that ejaculating has been purported to help you sleep, boost your heart health, and increase your confidence. It may even increase the intensity of your partner’s orgasms.
But when it comes to releasing sperm, is a higher frequency of ejaculation better? We asked Justin Dubin, M.D., urologist from Memorial Healthcare System in South Florida.
How Often Should a Man Release Sperm?
“There isn’t a number that is too much or too little,” Dubin says. “You should do what you enjoy and what makes you comfortable as long as it is not interfering with your relationships, work, or other aspects of your life.”
The only time you really need to be mindful of how frequently you ejaculate is when it comes to fertility, says Dubin.
If you’re trying to have a baby, shoot for sex every day or every other day to maximize fertility, Dubin says.
One study with participants who had high sperm DNA damage found that ejaculating for four consecutive days reduced sperm DNA fragmentation–high levels of sperm DNA fragmentation have been linked to risks, such as an increased risk of miscarriage (1).
“Holding off on sex until one time a month when your partner is ovulating can decrease your sperm count because you are not ejaculating as much and prolonged periods without ejaculation can cause less than optimal sperm quality,” he says.
Does Ejaculating Frequently Reduce Your Risk for Prostate Cancer?
Yes it may. According to a study from Harvard University a high ejaculation frequency was linked to a decreased prostate cancer risk in their subjects: Participants who ejaculated 21 times a month or more, compared to subjects who reported 4 to 7 ejaculations per month across their lifetimes, had a lower risk of prostate cancer by about 31 percent (2).
But don’t go marking up your day planner, says Dubin. “Scheduling sex makes it less fun and a lot more stressful,” he says.
Plus, there are a multitude of factors—including weight, diet, genetics, and if you engage in habits like smoking—that determine whether you’ll develop prostate cancer.
“Ejaculating 21 times a month really will not be the way to prevent prostate cancer,” says Dubin. “It’s just something to consider, but overall there are too many other factors involved to say that more frequent ejaculation will prevent you from ever getting prostate cancer.”
Do Frequent Ejaculations Lower Your Risk of Heart Disease?
Sex is inherently exercise. And exercise increases nitric oxide production, which improves blood flow to your entire body, including your penis.
During sexual activity, you also release endorphins—“feel good” hormones—that can help counter depression and anxiety.
Anxiety and depression can cause your heart rate and blood pressure to rise. This reduces the flow of blood to your heart and increases levels of cortisol, a stress hormone. According to the American Heart Association, over time these effects can lead to heart disease.
Dubin says that, again, there’s no specific number to aim for, but he points to a study in the American Journal of Cardiology that found that participants who only had sex once a month or less were at a significantly higher risk for cardiovascular disease than subjects who had sex two or more times a week (3).
How Many Times Can a Man Ejaculate in a Day?
There is no hard-and-fast rule on number of ejaculations in a day, as the number is totally dependent on numerous factors—age, sexual function, libido, and overall healthfulness all included. A sufficiently young and healthy man could ejaculate more than five times in a day without much issue, if they were motivated enough; older men with longer refractory periods—the “cool down” period when your penis is unable to become erect again after coming—and generally lower libidos will have lower daily maximum ejaculations (4).
Does not releasing sperm increase testosterone?
To say semen retention is popular is a serious understatement. Dubin, lead author in a study published in 2022 in the International Journal of Impotence Research, found that semen retention had over 1.2 billion impressions on TikTok and over one million posts on Instagram (5).
One of the biggest claims from No Fap proponents is that putting the kibosh on ejaculation raises testosterone—a myth that experts have debunked.
“You don’t ejaculate testosterone out of your body,” says Dubin.
The Bottom Line
There’s no magic number when it comes to how often a man should release sperm. If you’re actively trying to have children, sex every day or every other day can maximize fertility. Otherwise, fire away on your own schedule—regularly ejaculating may help reduce your prostate cancer risk and improve heart health.
Can you run out of sperm?
Men continuously produce sperm throughout their entire life, Dubin says. “Sperm quality may decrease with age, but you will always produce sperm,” he says.
Although men make millions of new sperm every day, the quality of sperm may see a significant decline between 40 and 80 years old.
What happens to unejaculated sperm?
Unejaculated sperm is reabsorbed by your body, Dubin says.
References
1. Kaur, B.; et al. (2020). Role of daily ejaculation for four consecutive days in improving sperm DNA fragmentation index.
2. Rider, J.; et al. (2016). Ejaculation Frequency and Risk of Prostate Cancer: Updated Results with an Additional decade of Follow-up.
3. Hall, S.; et al. (2010). Sexual Activity, Erectile Dysfunction, and Incident Cardiovascular Events.
4. Ayad Bashir M. et al (2017). Revisiting The Relationship between The Ejaculatory Abstinence Period and Semen Characteristics.
5. Dubin, J.; et al. (2022). The broad reach and inaccuracy of men’s health information on social media: analysis of TikTok and Instagram.
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