Study finds self-pleasure as a valuable care strategy for managing menopause symptoms

A new study from the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University, published in journal Menopause, finds self-pleasure is a valuable care strategy for managing menopause symptoms, especially mood and sleep changes. Most women are open to trying it, yet few say their doctors have ever mentioned it.

Researchers surveyed a demographically representative sample of 1,178 women ages 40 to 65 in the United States about their experiences with menopause and the effectiveness of their current symptom management strategies including hormone therapy, supplements, lifestyle factors, and sexual pleasure, among others. 

Almost 14% of perimenopausal women reported using regular masturbation as a symptom management strategy. Overall, participants were more likely to report using strategies such as exercise (25%), relaxation (24%), diet (21%), and supplements (19%) with few (4%) reporting using prescribed hormone therapy. Approximately a third reported no symptom management.

Compared to other approaches, self-pleasure was rated among the most effective strategies for symptom relief on a 5-point scale, scoring 4.35 versus 3.89-4.06 for various lifestyle changes. The effectiveness of hormone therapy also ranked highly at 4.2, despite having one of the lowest utilization rates.

When asked about how masturbation affects specific menopause symptoms, 46% of perimenopausal survey participants reported an improvement of at least one menopause symptom, including improved mood (43%), enhanced feelings of sexual desire and pleasure (13%), improved sleep (13%), improved vaginal lubrication (11%), pain relief (8%), reduction in hot flashes (3%), and other positive impacts (10%).

Importantly, a majority of perimenopausal women (66%) reported they would masturbate more if they knew it could positively impact their symptoms and more than half (57%) indicated they would be open to trying masturbation for symptom relief if their health provider recommended it, underscoring the importance of open, evidence-based conversations between patients and providers about sexual health. Perimenopausal women were significantly more likely than postmenopausal women to report that their doctor had talked to them about menopause (54% vs 46%), yet both reported low rates of receiving guidance from their doctor about masturbation (7% vs 4%).

Conversations about menopause often focus on hormone therapy or lifestyle changes, but self-pleasure remains overlooked. Our findings suggest masturbation may play a meaningful role in symptom management."

Dr. Cynthia Graham, Senior Scientist at the Kinsey Institute

Researchers also uncovered a potential generational shift in views toward self-pleasure, with perimenopausal women significantly more likely than postmenopausal women to report that they had masturbated in the past year and that they had masturbated more often. Perimenopausal women were also significantly more open to self-pleasure for symptom relief compared with postmenopausal women. At the same time, not all women will be open to the idea of masturbation, regardless of whether it might help with symptom relief; one in five women surveyed reported having never masturbated in their lifetime.

This study, funded by sexual wellness company Womanizer, adds to a growing body of research emphasizing the connections between sexual wellbeing and menopause care. While effective menopause management requires a solution tailored to the individual, a combination of management strategies-including self-pleasure-is likely to yield the most positive health outcomes.