Like the post before, I wanted to look at another idea, urban myth, or old wive’s tale. This one is about the connection between stunted growth and stunted growth.
I remember finding on many Yahoo Questions like Here, Here, Here, Here, and many many other internet boards and forums where one person asks this question and the others often ridicule, joke, and say something.
It seems that the general arguement made by anyone who really does believe this idea is that through masturbation, assuming a person is a teenage or adolescent male, it will lead them to ejaculate and lose semen, which contains hormones, specifically testosterone which is something you need to grow taller.
As we know from past research, having some relatively high level of testosterone is a good thing since testosterone will eventually aromatize into estrogen, which will be what causes the initial step in the endocrine system process which starts puberty and causes the “growth spurt” so many guys and girls experience around the 10-13 year range.
There is some evidence to show that good testosterone levels may have some positive correlation to being taller than average. If we remember from basic evolution, there are alpha males, and there are beta males. Alpha males are usually bigger, taller, and more aggressive than beta males. Alpha males also tend to have more sexual partners than beta males, and be more dominant and be leaders. They also have higher levels of testosterone.
However we also know that estrogen is also what will cause the eventual depletion of chondrocytes in the resting zone of the growth plate. The reason the growth plates really close is because at the end of puberty, there is a sort of 2nd wave of higher level of estrogen release into the body causing the last remaining chondrocytes to go through apoptosis and get the rest of the hyaline cartilage matrix to calcify and convert to bone matrix. From the PubMed study “Normal bone growth requires optimal estrogen levels: negative effects of both high and low dose estrogen on the number of growth plate chondrocytes.” I had porposed in a previous post “Alpha, Above Average Testosterone Males Are More Likely To Be Taller, An Endocrine Explanation” a hypothesis that the short stature male syndrome commonly called “Napoleon Complex” could be from a male who has too much testosterone in his system, with all the testosterone converting to estrogen and ending the growth process earlier than other men.
From this quick hormonal explanation, we can see that the scientific theory on the idea that masturbation would cause testosterone level to drop would not make any sense. What I am willing to propose, as a hypothetical is that there is a chance that at least occasional masturbation during the adolescent, teenage, still growing years might be actually beneficial for the growth process.
The first reason is that if the ejaculation process did cause any testosterone level, it would actually help a little in delay the eventual process of growth plate process, and increase the amount of time gor growth. Plus, masturbation does cause the release of good endorphins through the brain by the dopamine during orgasm. From source, “Dopamine-synthesising neurons that originate in the lower brainstem (specifically the ventral tegmental area) are activated during ejaculation in men, as measured by PET imaging (Holstege et al., 2003).”
Also…
Abundant evidence points to dopamine as the key neurotransmitter involved in stimulating orgasm in humans. Thus, administration of the dopamine precursor L-dopa, dopaminergic agonists (e.g. apomorphine), dopamine releasers (e.g. amphetamine), or dopamine reuptake inhibitors (e.g. cocaine or bupropion) facilitate the expression of orgasm in men and women. Conversely, administration of antipsychotics impair orgasm, by blocking postsynaptic dopamine receptors (see Komisaruk et al., 2006).
It would seem that L-Dopa is the precursor to Dopamine. We saw from previous like “Increase Height And Grow Taller Eating Mucuna Pruriens Or Velvet Bean“with L-Dopa, which is Levadopa, that it can cause human growth hormone (hGH) release.
We CAN”T show this process: Masturbation–>Orgasm–>Dopamine–>L-Dopa–>increased hGH released –> increased height
The actual process direction is L-Dopa–>Dopamine.
What we can prove with the research and knowledge we do know that is people who are still growing who go through a lot of stress and anxiety does cause them to develop stunted growth. From PubMed study “Stress response in school-age children who have been growth retarded since early childhood.” there is a weak but positive correlation between stunted growth and psychological issues, although it could be more likely that stunted growth leads to psychological issues, not that psychological issues leads to stunted growth. There are however a few articles that was written in the mid 90s that I’ve found which suggest that extreme stress in the childhood years while still in physical development can lead to development issues not just emotionally and mentally but also physically. There have been quite a times that young adults or teenagers who ask this question of whether their psychological damage from some type of abuse in their childhood can lead to stunted physical growth like HERE. What we know from orginary medical science is that stress does cause the increase in cortisol levels. Cortisol is a steroid hormone, more specifically a glucocorticoid (source is Wikipedia). I have found multiple PubMed studies which show that glucocorticoids in general have been used to even inhibit the growth of exceptionally tall adolescent girls.
From the article “Editorial: Inhibitory Actions of Glucocorticoids on Skeletal Growth. Is Local Insulin-Like Growth Factor I to Blame?“…
Glucocorticoids have profound effects on the skeleton due to their actions on the cells of bone and cartilage. The consequences of these effects have serious clinical implications, and glucocorticoids cause osteoporosis and impaired longitudinal growth.
Unfortunately, most of the skeletal effects following chronic exposure to glucocorticoids result in decreased skeletal mass and short stature (2, 3, 4).
This shows a direct connection between constant high levels of stress and stunted growth and short stature.
If we go back to the issue of masturbation again, we understand that masturbation leads to orgasm, which causes a release of dopamine neurotransmitters to the brain. After most orgasms in general and the release of semen, stress levels in men drop dramatically. This shows that in an indirect way, masturbation can at least lead to reduced levels of stress in young, adolescent males who have high levels of hormones in their bodies driving them crazy, causing possible stress and anxiety.
In conclusion, masturbation will NOT lead to stunted growth. Masturbation may not cause height increase, but it may actually HELP PREVENT stunted growth from the excess increased levels of glucocorticoids caused by stress from the increased hormone levels in young males going through puberty.
Nice.
Actually this masturbation thing is one of the things which I think a lot. There coue ld be a whole blog written around it.
Masturbation is totally healthy from one side. On another side, I realize that when I don’t masturbate for a while, I tend to be more productive, have higher motivation to do achievement oriented things or just approach girls.
So this fact would suggest that it might be wise to “intermittently” do it. Dave Asprey also did a presentation on it, you might have seen it.
Evolutinary speaking, most of the good stuff that evolved on our body was done to reproduce more sufficiently, so dropping down your first seeds may send a signal to your body that you’re “done”, and may stop releasing some chemicals that are responsible for certain things. It might be some stuff that affect your thoughts, and what scientists have not discovered yet. This might be one of the reason of the loss of courage and fearlessness in children as they reach adulthood.
But of course there is no proof for any of these.
Another issue concerning masturbation involves igf-1–the idea being that igf-1 in the body, that would normally be used for growing is used in the production of semen. By masturbating, one needs to produce more semen; hence more igf-1 for semen, less for bones. Any thoughts? ( there are several articles on the web of how masturbation can prevent prostate cancer by lowering igf-1).
Actually, masturbation releases DHT. DHT inhibits IGF1. IGF1 is the greatest determinants of final adult height. Look it up for yourself.
Good colum, This makes me gain confindence to myself. I do not understodo totally though, it is really helpful. Thank you!
Is there any solution to grow height at the age of 17…. i know it is stunted because of excessive masturbation…. please help me..
Kindly let me know that masterbation cause issue to increase height or not ???????
Masturbation is a pathetic way of dealing with sexual problems. I was a professional masturbator in my adolescent years. All it does is take that eager we normally have to keep growing in life. Growing doesn’t just mean physically wise, but it’s also, mentally wise, spiritually wise, economically wise, talented wise, grammatically wise, school wise, in conclusion sex is not the only thing that exists in life. Find something else to do. Practice an instrument, a sport, go hunting, fishing, find a way to get a girlfriend. Nothing in life is just gonna pop out of heaven. You gotta go get it period. Don’t wait for someone to deliver it to your door and say here it is son. 😂 😂 I will personally slap you if you keep thinking like that.
I have done lots of masturbation from 15 age to till 21 age and now my height is 5 feet 5 inch and I want to increase 3 or 4 inch in my height so their is any chances to increase my height or not pllz plzz give me the solution as soon as possible if yes so what I will do to increase my height (at present my age is 21 and a half years).
You’re too late at this point. I know it’s hard to hear but you most likely are. This entire post about masturbation not affecting height is a myth. It’s hypothetical almost.
For me, whenever I masturbate, I get more stressed, anxious, and depressed. This leads to stunted growth due to the increase of cortisol/prolactin that work synergistically (not in a good way) with growth hormone and other hormones. It lowers these hormones.
Not to mention that over ejaculation causes a depletion in IGF-1 levels (one of the main factors in height) due to an increase in DHT. Of course, don’t take my word for it. Research it. From my personal experience, since the time I was hitting growth spurts (I’m 6’2), I know I could’ve been taller.
[Pro tip: If you’re growing, ensure you take adequate protein and vitamins to fuel growth. Never masturbate or do it once a month at maximum. Wet dreams will typically take care of it for you. You will thank me if you follow this. I’m just trying to help others that are suffering as I have.]
You’re not even short if you’re 6’2″. You shouldn’t be on here. If you’re that tall and you feel like you’re not good enough, you should see a psychiatrist and work out your problems.
But I agree that masturbation does lower testosterone and androgen receptors in the brain. People can’t be serious when they say it’s related to semen, can they? It has to do with the body’s ability to utilize testosterone after being flooded with dopamine that causes stunted growth, not in the fluids ejaculated. And like another poster said, all that time teenagers spend masturbating is time taken away from exercising. A kid who wished to be taller could spend 30 minutes sprinting/cycling instead of jerking off.
I started masturbating when I was 12, and I’d do it 10 or more times a day. I’ve been 5’8″ since I was 12. Never grew any taller. It definitely stunts growth in terms of the body’s ability to use testosterone, as well as IGF-1 and other growth-related hormones. The only thing I’ve got going for me at 30 is a nice head of hair, but my father is 6’4″ and still has all his hair at 55. I should be proof enough that masturbation stunts growth.
I’m 15 ,5’8 and I felt like I was hitting a growth spurt over summer I was taller than my 5’9 dad by quite a bit. But I picked back up on my old masturbation habits of 2-3 times a day and now I’m noticeably shorter than my dad and starting to grow hair all over my body including facial hair which I heard is an indication on growth coming to a close. If I stop now do you think I can grow some more?
pls. wat is actually responsible 4 stunted growth cos am Nt actually getting d picture u guys are painting here
I am 14 and l start mastribution at the age of 12 .l have got little beards ,l have heard that mastribution slows growth so l stopped it now but when l was at 12 l used to do mastribution 2 times a day .l want to grow pls help out me to grow
I started masturbation at the age of 14 an it has not affected my growth because I did it once a week