So what’s up with #NoNutNovember anyway!? Not only is No Not November (NNN) unrealistic, but it can actually be detrimental to a man’s health!! We know that a regular sex life is a pillar of overall wellness. However, did you know that one of the most compelling, and most researched, examples of sexual health is the relationship between regular ejaculation and prostate health?
What is No Nut November?
No Nut November or NNN is the viral challenge in which men abstain from orgasm and ejaculation for the entire month of November. The trend traces back to around 2011, when it first appeared on social media and slang glossary sites. NNN turns an ordinary month into a test of willpower. If you’re weighing whether to participate, know this: there’s NO scientific evidence that a month of abstinence benefits your health. The research shows that regular ejaculation is the habit actually associated with prostate protection. Surveys suggest the vast majority of men masturbate regularly, so there’s no shame in sitting this one out. Your prostate, for what it’s worth, votes for business as usual.
Why the Prostate Matters
The prostate’s day job is producing a significant portion of seminal fluid. It’s a working part of the ejaculatory process and because the prostate is a reproductive organ that produces fluid for the ejaculate, researchers have long wondered whether sexual factors influence prostate cancer risk. You may know that prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men, which makes any modifiable risk factor worth knowing about. The encouraging news is that the largest studies on this question point in a distinctly sex-positive direction.
More Orgasms, Lower Prostate Cancer Risk
The strongest evidence comes from the Harvard-based Health Professionals Follow-up Study, a massive long-term research project. The updated analysis followed 31,925 men who reported their average monthly ejaculation frequency from 1992 to 2010. The average monthly ejaculation frequency was assessed at three time points: age 20-29 yr, age 40-49 yr, and the year before questionnaire distribution.
The findings were striking. Men aged 20–29 who ejaculated 21 or more times per month were 19 percent less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer than those who ejaculated four to seven times a month, and men aged 40–49 at that frequency reduced their risk by 22 percent. The reduction in risk for high-frequency ejaculators held across all three time periods studied, leading the researchers to describe their work as some of the strongest evidence to date for ejaculation’s role in cancer prevention.
And it’s not an all-or-nothing threshold. The study showed a dose-dependent relationship, meaning risk decreased as frequency increased. This means that even a few more orgasms per month may bring some benefit. An earlier analysis of the same cohort found something similar: for each increment of three ejaculations per week across a lifetime, prostate cancer risk dropped by about 15 percent.
This isn’t just one study, either. An Australian study of 2,338 men found that those who ejaculated most frequently also enjoyed a reduced risk of prostate cancer, with the effect strongest for ejaculation frequency in young adulthood, even though cancer wasn’t diagnosed until decades later. Other studies have concluded that low ejaculation frequency could be associated with higher prostate cancer risk, with men reporting zero to three ejaculations per month alongside moderate urinary symptoms showing the highest risk.
How Might Orgasms Protect the Prostate?
Science hasn’t fully nailed down the mechanism yet, but the leading theories are intuitive. One longstanding hypothesis holds that infrequent ejaculation may increase prostate cancer risk because potentially carcinogenic secretions are retained in the prostatic acini — essentially, fluid sitting around when it could be flushed out. Study author Jennifer Rider suggested that more frequent clearing of the prostate through ejaculation could reduce the chance that tumor-triggering infections develop there. Researchers have also proposed that regular ejaculation may help flush out potentially harmful or inflammatory substances, reduce chronic inflammation — which is linked to prostate problems — and support healthy blood flow in pelvic tissues.
Think of it as the “use it” principle: the prostate is a gland built to produce and release fluid, and regular release appears to keep that system running the way it was designed to.
Your Prostate Doesn’t Check for a Partner
Solo orgasms count! These benefits are tied to ejaculation, not to partnered intercourse specifically. The advantages were seen regardless of whether men were having intercourse or masturbating. The research counted all routes to orgasm, including sex, masturbation, and even nocturnal emissions.
That’s a meaningful point for anyone who’s single, partnered with someone whose libido doesn’t match theirs, in a long-distance relationship, or simply enjoys solo play. As we covered in the previous article, self-pleasure is a complete and legitimate form of sexual wellness — and when it comes to prostate health specifically, your body makes no distinction. Every orgasm, however you arrive at it, appears to contribute.
It is important to be clear about the limits of this evidence. First, these are observational studies. They show association, not proven cause and effect, and researchers are still working to confirm the underlying mechanism. Second, the protective link isn’t uniform across all forms of the disease.
Also, 21 times a month is a data point, not a prescription. There’s no evidence that you must hit any particular number, and turning pleasure into a chore defeats the purpose. Regular sexual release appears to be good for your prostate, whatever “regular” means for your body, your libido, and your life.
Few health recommendations are this enjoyable to follow, so enjoy it! The best available research suggests that regular ejaculation, whether partnered or solo, is associated with a meaningfully lower risk of prostate cancer and may support prostate health through better fluid clearance, reduced inflammation, and improved pelvic circulation. In a medical landscape where ejaculation frequency represents one of the few potentially modifiable risk factors for prostate cancer, that’s worth celebrating!
So, the best way to think about all of this is that prioritizing your orgasms isn’t indulgent…it’s preventive healthcare! NoNutNovember is not a healthy option. Sara Loverays recommends we all go for #NutForMeNovember instead!
