Research presented at the American Urological Association’s 2015 Annual Meeting found that ejaculating more frequently could lower a man’s risk of prostate cancer. And, the magic number is…
21!
The prostate is a walnut-shaped gland located below the bladder. It wraps around the urethra and it’s primary function is to make the seminal fluid that when mixed with sperm becomes semen.
With this positioning of the prostate around the urethra, some of the most notable symptoms of prostate cancer include:
- The need to urinate frequently,
- An intense urgency to urinate,
- Difficulty starting or stopping urination,
- Weak urine stream,
- Interrupted urine stream,
- Burning or pain during urination,
- The feeling that the bladder was not completely emptied after urination,
- Blood in the urine or semen, and
- Painful ejaculation
Click on the thumbnail image below to check out a very informative infographic about prostate cancer:
The study, authored by Jennifer Rider, an epidemiologist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, gives strong evidence in support of the ejaculation frequency reducing prostate cancer theory.
Study participants were asked to report their number of monthly ejaculations. The findings were pretty dramatic.
- Men who ejaculated at least 21 times per month had a 20% lower risk of prostate cancer than those who only ejaculated 4 to 7 times per month.
However, the men aged 40 to 49 most often (38%) reported only ejaculating 8 to 12 ejaculations per month, with less than 9% of men in this age group reporting ejaculating at least 21 times per month.
You can learn more about penile anatomy here:
The Penis: The Definitive Guide to Man’s Most Prized Organ