Analysis of the harms of "holding back ejaculation" and factors affecting libido

Can "holding back ejaculation" replenish yin and yang?

Let's look at a case. Mr. Wang, 40 years old this year, is the owner of a private enterprise. After years of hard work, he has achieved considerable success in his career and has an enviable family. However, due to long-term hard work, over the years, his hair has turned gray, thinned, his energy has decreased, and he feels listless. Especially after having sex with his wife, he always feels "willing but unable," so he has been looking for a way to maintain his health. Once, after drinking, he heard a friend who was quite knowledgeable about health preservation say that there is a concept in Chinese health preservation called "strengthening essence, improving health, and even achieving longevity." The ancients believed that essence is the foundation of a person, and when essence is exhausted, a person dies. Sexual intercourse between men and women will eventually lead to the leakage of male essence, which contains substances that are extremely beneficial to human life (vital energy or essence). "Ten drops of blood equal one drop of essence," so the leakage of essence will damage vital energy, which is extremely harmful to men. If a man in middle age does not ejaculate during intercourse, that is, "receives without releasing," he can use the woman's yin energy to replenish his yang energy. This is called "absorbing yin to supplement yang," which can enhance male sexual ability and strengthen the body. His eyes lit up upon hearing this, as if he had found a treasure, and he slowly explained it to his wife. His wife also found it very reasonable and agreed to his request not to ejaculate during intercourse. Afterwards, whenever Mr. Wang had intercourse with his wife, he would immediately stop and forcefully hold back ejaculation just before climax. He felt no significant impact on his health and even noticed an increase in his libido. However, one night when Mr. Wang wanted to have intercourse with his wife, he suddenly experienced erectile dysfunction. He was shocked and didn't know what was wrong with him. Without hesitation, Mr. Wang went to the hospital for a checkup. After taking his medical history and conducting relevant examinations, the doctor told him that this was erectile dysfunction caused by the practice of holding back ejaculation.

We know that ejaculation is a very natural physiological phenomenon during sexual intercourse. During intercourse, the penis is repeatedly stimulated by friction, accumulating excitement until orgasm is reached. At this time, the muscles of the vas deferens, seminal vesicles, prostate, and urethra contract rhythmically, and semen is ejaculated. Men experience intense pleasure during ejaculation. Because male orgasm is manifested through ejaculation, most men consider ejaculation the goal of sexual activity. However, some men, especially middle-aged and older men, often suppress ejaculation during sexual intercourse out of fear of harming their health. This is largely related to misunderstandings about sex among Chinese people.

Traditional Chinese health preservation one-sidedly emphasizes the importance of not easily losing one's vital essence (yuanjing), not only absolutely prohibiting masturbation but also advising against ejaculation during regular sexual activity. It even believes that certain "bedroom techniques" can allow men to "replenish yang with yin and nourish the brain" by retaining their semen during intercourse, thereby strengthening the body. Influenced by this view, some people cherish their semen as if it were their lifeblood in pursuit of health and longevity. However, from a modern scientific perspective, semen is composed of over 90% water, with the remainder consisting of small amounts of proteins and other biological macromolecules and trace elements. The average adult ejaculates between 2 and 5 milliliters each time. Even if sperm are not ejaculated, they will age, die, and eventually be digested by enzymes. This so-called concept of retaining semen and nourishing the brain is completely wrong. It easily creates psychological fear and increases mental stress, which can cause serious damage to the body in the long run.

During male sexual intercourse, the sexual response is controlled by the ejaculation center in the cerebral cortex and lumbosacral region of the spinal cord. Psychological and physiological stimulation during intercourse triggers a series of nerve reflexes, such as increased tension, heart rate, and blood pressure, while the sexual organs become erect due to engorgement. After normal sexual intercourse, the sexual organs begin to soften, and blood flow within them quickly returns to normal. This is a natural process. If intercourse is abruptly interrupted just before orgasm, the "mechanical" action of intercourse is stopped, but the recovery of blood flow in the sexual organs is slowed and does not subside immediately. As a result, the sexual organs remain in a state of engorgement and swelling for an extended period. This not only increases the burden on the sexual nervous system and sexual organs but also disrupts their normal responsiveness and has a negative impact on sexual psychology. Over time, this can easily lead to erectile dysfunction, prostatitis, and other diseases. Furthermore, consistently and forcibly interrupting intercourse can impair nerve function, affecting ejaculation and causing problems such as delayed ejaculation, unsatisfactory ejaculation, or even anejaculation. Furthermore, because of the forced suppression of ejaculation, the semen accumulated during sexual arousal has "nowhere to go." However, "when the urethra is full, it overflows," and if ejaculation is delayed, the semen, having nowhere to go, will be expelled through nocturnal emission. Some men also forcibly pinch their urethra to prevent semen from being expelled. In reality, after semen is expelled, it has two paths: one downwards to the urethra, and the other upwards to the bladder. During a normal male orgasm, due to nerve reflexes, the bladder entrance closes due to local muscle contraction and vascular congestion. If the urethra is forcibly pinched, semen often breaks through the bladder opening and enters the bladder, forming "retrograde ejaculation."

Holding back ejaculation can also induce hematospermia (blood in semen). Normal semen is milky white or milky yellow. Hematospermia, as the name suggests, is semen containing blood, appearing as pink, red, or brownish-red semen, or even containing blood streaks or clots. Holding back ejaculation prolongs the congestion time of the sexual organs, and the seminal vesicles and prostate remain congested and swollen. This blood stasis and heat can cause the capillaries in the walls of the seminal vesicles and prostate to dilate and rupture, resulting in bleeding and thus hematospermia.

The man's refusal to ejaculate can also be very harmful to the woman. Ejaculation is a normal physiological process that brings sexual pleasure and satisfaction to both partners, making life more enjoyable. However, if the woman hasn't achieved sexual satisfaction when intercourse is about to reach orgasm, and the man forcibly interrupts intercourse, physically, the woman's engorged genitals cannot relax, which can easily lead to pelvic congestion over time, causing symptoms such as lower abdominal pain and backache. Psychologically, because the woman has entered a state of arousal, the sudden withdrawal of the penis interrupts intercourse, preventing her from reaching orgasm and satisfaction. This causes her sexual excitement to plummet, her intense sexual desire to be quickly shattered, and results in unspeakable disappointment and pain. If this harm occurs repeatedly, it can cause irreparable and incurable psychological trauma, leading to frigidity, sexual numbness, and even aversion to intercourse.

In fact, a decline in sexual ability in middle age is a normal physiological phenomenon. Scientific health maintenance and following nature are the correct approaches. The practice of suppressing ejaculation is harmful and useless, and lacks scientific basis. On the surface, interrupting ejaculation may seem to preserve sexual ability, but in reality, it causes significant damage to sexual function.

Similarly, some young couples use the "withdrawal method" for contraception during intercourse. This involves the man immediately withdrawing his penis from the vagina just before ejaculation, allowing the semen to escape outside the body. While this method seems economical and avoids the side effects of common contraceptive methods, it actually carries a higher risk of contraceptive failure, in addition to the risks mentioned above. This is because during intercourse, a small amount of semen leaks into the vagina due to the contraction of the vas deferens during male arousal. Although the amount is small, the sperm count is high and their motility is good, making it easier for the woman to conceive. If the woman becomes pregnant as a result, the man may mistakenly believe she is unfaithful, leading to estrangement and casting a shadow over the couple's relationship.

What factors influence libido?

Sexual desire refers to the desire for sexual arousal and intercourse under the stimulation of a specific time, place, and object. It is an instinctive requirement that inevitably emerges after human maturity, innate and lifelong. Biologically speaking, in animals, sexual desire is only related to the continuation of the species, while in humans, in addition to the purpose of reproduction, the pursuit of sexual pleasure is more significant, making sexual enjoyment the direct goal of intercourse. Foreign scholar Moore divides sexual desire into the desire for contact and the desire for relief. The desire for contact refers to the desire of both men and women for physical closeness, contact, mutual caressing, and stimulation of the sexual organs; the desire for relief refers to the physiological need, under the influence of sex hormones after sexual maturity, to expel sperm, vaginal secretions, and vaginal fluid produced by the body, or the psychological need to release accumulated sexual energy.

Sexual desire is a fundamental human desire, serving as a physiological need, psychological satisfaction, spiritual comfort, and a guarantee of health. However, the intensity of sexual desire varies from person to person. Many scholars, through long-term investigation and research, believe that the following nine factors significantly influence human sexual desire.

(1) Race and genetic factors: Due to the influence of race and genetic factors, the strength of human sexual desire is naturally different, and there are different individual differences.

(2) Age factor: Generally speaking, men's libido is at its peak between the ages of 18 and 25, while women's libido is strongest between the ages of 35 and 40. From this perspective, it is more reasonable for older wives to have younger husbands. As people age, the decrease in male hormones, the sluggishness of skin reactions, the poor blood circulation of sexual organs, and life stress all contribute to a decline in libido.

(3) Hormone levels: Studies have confirmed that the strength of male and female libido mainly depends on the level of androgens in the body. Androgens have the greatest impact on libido. If the level of androgens in the body is low, libido will decrease in both men and women; if the level of androgens is high, it will manifest as hypersexuality. In obese men, due to increased body fat, more androgens are converted into estrogens, and the concentration of estrogen in the blood can increase by more than 100%, which can inhibit the secretion of pituitary gonadotropins, leading to varying degrees of decreased sexual function. The decreased sexual function of severely obese men not only includes low libido, but also erectile dysfunction, intercourse, ejaculation, and orgasm.

(4) Health Status: Only a healthy body can maintain normal libido. Illnesses such as endocrine disorders, reproductive system diseases, and other debilitating diseases, such as Parkinson's syndrome, hypertension, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and Pick's disease, can significantly impact libido. Men with chronic renal insufficiency experience a marked decrease in libido after diagnosis, along with a decline in the frequency of intercourse and satisfaction with sexual life. Male patients with spinal cord injuries often exhibit low libido. Patients with hyperthyroidism often exhibit hypersexuality.

(5) Mental state and psychological factors: Negative emotions such as worry, fear, anger, pessimism, tension, and depression inhibit libido, while optimism is conducive to normal libido. Harmonious marital relationships and pleasant sexual experiences make it easier to arouse libido and make sexual life harmonious. Various bad memories, concepts, visual and auditory images, and other sensations can cause negative emotions, which can reduce sexual arousal, leading to frigidity or even sexual aversion. It should be noted that circumcision does not directly affect the sexual function of men; the decreased libido in some individuals is purely due to psychological factors.