Q: Do I masturbate too much?

A: This question gets asked in a million different ways by a million different men nearly every day. Do I masturbate too much? Is masturbating XX times a day normal? Is this hurting me, or could it hurt me? And on and on ...

The odds are, the answer is no. Most likely you're just fine. Masturbation—even frequent masturbation—is a very common behavior for guys. Particular younger or single guys, though even older and married men masturbate plenty, too. As a teenager I once masturbated to orgasm three times in less than half an hour, and in college on at least one occasion I masturbated five times in a single day. From stories I've heard, other guys have done it more frequently and more consistently than that. Masturbating a lot really is common.

There are basically two ways in which you might be masturbating too much. These are:

1. Masturbating is preventing you from enjoying good social relationships with other people, either because you're always inside or because it excludes you from being interested in or approaching women. (Simply being single or lonely doesn't count—I'm talking a situation where given the choice betwen talking to an interesting woman or masturbating, you'd walk away to be someplace private.)
2. You masturbate so often that it's causing physical damage, such as chafing or soreness, or worse. In this case, just cut back on the frequency for a while until things heal, or experiment with different techniques that cause less damage (try lubrication, for instance, or get better lube if what you've got isn't working).