It’s something that we see often in the movies, in the Rocky montages and in The Wolf of Wall Street to name a few… but if you’re a worker at one Spanish company, then you might be a little more familiar with a certain half-hour ‘masturbation break’.
Yes, the modern workforce has a lot going for it – the days of working long hours in the mines are far gone, and instead many firms offer their employees the luxury of working from the comforts of their own home.
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Tissues at work might not just be used in the conventional manner, after a Spanish firm employed a policy which lets staff take a half-hour to masturbate (Getty Stock Image)
She runs an adult entertainment company in Barcelona, Spain, and has come up with a tried-and-tested method to help her workers relieve ‘stress’ and ‘agitation’ by banishing what would normally be considered NSFW.
The organization grants its staff 30 minutes of private time for ‘self pleasure‘ in a dedicated ‘masturbation station’ room, and it even got written into company policy in 2022 after completing a successful trial run during lockdown.
Speaking about why she gives her employees the option of a half-hour ‘masturbation break’ during work hours, Lust explained: “The truth is masturbation can help people manage stress, regulate their sleep, and connect with their body and sexual desires, among other advantages.”
In staff feedback from the unusual initiative, many admitted they felt ‘less aggression’ and were ‘more productive’.
Erika Lust has rolled out the policy for her workers (Pedro Gonzalez Castillo/Getty Images)
Research has long revealed that masturbation and physical intimacy are linked to an abundance of health benefits, including helping to reduce blood pressure – and putting it off could even prove harmful.
The ‘Queen of ethical porn’, from Sweden, told The News Movement: “They get masturbation breaks. In case you need one, you’re always invited to do it. It gets rid of anxiety.”
Lust said it’s a similar idea to ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ mantra.
She added: “With the pandemic and the huge shift in how we live our lives, I began to notice that my employees had become somewhat agitated and were performing with less energy than before.”
Lust said the most harmful thing to a work environment is stress, and established the ‘masturbation station’ to provide workers with a ‘safe, comfortable space for their masturbation break’.
“But the masturbation break wasn’t only about trying to help my employees feel better in these trying times,” she explained. “I also wanted to do something to normalise masturbation on a broader scale.”
Lust, who is also on a mission to ‘reinvent’ ethical porn, added: “Sexual wellbeing is deeply intertwined with your overall mental health and physical health and should be treated with the same respect and resources.”
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/thenewsmovement
Topics: Mental Health, Spain, Life, Community, Jobs, Sex and Relationships
A doctor has listed the side effects of masturbating too much, as another expert revealed how to know when you’re at your limit.
Dr Surya Bhagwati, the chief in-house practitioner at Dr Vaidya’s, in India, has debunked some myths about what can happen to your body if you ‘beat the meat’ too often.
Taking to a blog, she wrote: “Masturbation itself is not bad. It is perfectly innocuous and has many positive effects in moderation, for example, reducing stress or helping one get a good night’s sleep.”
However, the medic went on to note that ‘sometimes some amount of masturbation can cause problems’ before listing some of the potential side effects.
It comes as intimacy educator Leeza Mangaldas shared how much is too much when it comes to self-stimulation.
Mangaldas said in part on her YouTube channel: “There is no single one-size-fits-all answer for this, you get to decide.”
How much is too much? (Getty Stock Image)
Side effects of excessive masturbation
Feelings of guilt
According to Dr Bhagwati, ‘excessive masturbation may bring feelings of guilt, often socially, culturally, or even personally’.
Though the expert noted: “For whatever reason, no one by nature really has to feel ashamed, but people do tend to feel guilty if their habits interfere with other things in life.”
Lower self-esteem
The chief in-house practitioner added: “A person, if being uncomfortable about his masturbation practices, might start to beat himself for it or lose self-esteem.”
If you feel this may be an issue, then she advised speaking ‘with a mental health professional’ to ‘help in lose such feelings’.
Lack of focus
“One of the harmful effects of masturbation is that it can affect the degree of concentration and productivity because it acts as an obstruction between work, study, or personal activities and has to be regulated by setting personal boundaries for focus,” Dr Bhagwati noted.
Fatigue
She also described how too much masturbation can lead to fatigue if it keeps you up late at night and robs you of sleep.
Dr Bhagwati added: “It can also become tiring when done excessively without recovery time. Generally, it varies with rest and moderation.”
Excessive masturbation can cause various side effects (Getty Stock Image)
Social awkwardness
“Some people who experience over masturbation side effects become extremely shy in social communities due to reasons of potentially feeling guilty or ashamed about their actions,” the doctor said, before noting this could eventually lead to someone ‘having low self-confidence and self-esteem’.
Impact on personal life
Dr Bhagwati mentioned that if masturbation interferes with your ‘everyday responsibilities, relationships, or personal’ then it can ‘affect the quality of one’s life’ – something that Mangaldas also referenced in her video.
Speaking on her channel, she said that ‘as long as it’s not getting in the way of any activities, like school or work, or your family obligations’, it should be fine.
Swollen genitals
Writing in the blog, Dr Bhagwati explained: “Excessive masturbation might sometimes cause temporary swelling of the genital area because of the increased blood supply to that region.”
However, she said this is ‘harmless’ and usually ‘resolves on its own’.
Decreased sexual sensitivity
“Overstimulation through too much masturbation can sometimes reduce the sensitivity, and it becomes difficult to enjoy the pleasure in actual sexual intercourse,” the expert said. “This is a temporary phenomenon that can be lessened through control over frequency and by changing habits.”
Pleasuring yourself too frequently can actually lead to swollen genitals (Getty Stock Image)
Premature ejaculation
Dr Bhagwati explained that some people may experience premature ejaculation as a side effect ‘because the routine may perpetuate speedy arousal and ejaculation patterns that may spill over to a relationship‘.
Debunking myths about masturbating
Dr Bhagwati also mentioned a few myths surrounding masturbation and explained they have no scientific evidence to support them.
These are that excessive masturbating leads to hair loss, penis shrinkage, low sperm count, lower back pain and prostate cancer.
Speaking of the latter, the doctor wrote: “There are no clear conclusions involving masturbation and the risks of prostate cancer. On the contrary, increased frequency of ejaculation – be it from masturbation or any sexual activity-is believed to offer protection by helping flush out unhealthy substances in the prostate.”
While also highlighting that lower back pain is likely due to bad posture, although it is possible that someone could develop it from carrying out the act in a position that is not good for their back.
“One should know what side effects of excessive masturbation can do to you. It’s good to make informed choices about your sexual health and overall well-being,” Dr Bhagwati concluded.
“You can also try natural remedies for erectile dysfunction, but always remember that moderation is the key.”
So, as we’re probably all already aware by now – everything in moderation!
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
Topics: Mental Health, Sex and Relationships
Madison dated Hefner from 2001 to 2008, and was even named as his ‘number one girlfriend’ on reality TV show The Girls Next Door.
However, since the Playboy publisher passed away in 2017 at the age of 91, Madison – among other Playmates – have come forward to reveal certain realities of what he was like alongside what it was like living in the infamous Playboy Mansion.
Madison has previously reflected on the difficulties of living life in the ‘fast lane’ alongside why the mansion felt like a ‘cult’ and lifted the lid on her and Hefner’s sexual relationships, including certain ‘disgusting’ elements but also one stereotype she often found discussed online which was far from the truth.
However, she’s since opened up about not just the physical aspects of her relationship with Hefner, but mental too, realizing with hindsight she ‘thought’ she was ‘connecting’ with him but actually ‘didn’t know him well’.
The 45-year-old told the New York Post: “I had this mindset of being in love, and it was kind of tinged with a little bit of Stockholm syndrome.
“I thought I was connecting with [Hefner], when really I was just somebody who had trouble connecting with people my whole life. And I’d met somebody who was like a master manipulator.”
Looking back, Madison sees herself as ‘somebody who was young and impressionable and just kind of in a fog almost’.
And even further than being in a ‘fog’, Madison notes she now thinks her mindset at the time of her relationship with Hefner was actually ‘warped’ and she was exhibiting ‘cognitive dissonance’.
Holly Madison said she needed perspective (Mark Sullivan/WireImage)
Madison explained she may’ve initially thought she was ‘in love’ but did soon realize she ‘made a bad decision’ but ultimately was so ‘in over [her] head’ she just had to try and ‘justify’ it.
She also reflected on how being at the Playboy Mansion affected not only ‘part’ of her life but also her ‘reputation’ which meant she then had to figure out how to ‘make it okay’ once on the outside of it all.
Though Madison noted that she was ‘lucky’ to be able to ‘turn lemons into lemonade, with things like the reality show, and other side hustles’.
She resolved: “You know, when you’re in the goldfish bowl, everything looks all blurry and distorted. And you don’t see things clearly until you’re outside of the goldfish bowl.”
Featured Image Credit: Mathew Imaging/FilmMagic via Getty Images
Topics: Celebrity, Hugh Hefner, Mental Health, Sex and Relationships
A sexual health expert says there’s no safe way’ to perform an increasingly ‘normalised’ sexual act, warning it’s way more ‘problematic’ than people are perceiving.
Statistics state that 69 percent of American men and 40 percent of American women view pornography online, with 61.3 percent of people admitting in another survey that they’d seen the act of sexual choking being depicted in adult videos.
Sexual asphyxiation, defined by Web MD experts as ‘the act of choking someone else or yourself for sexual pleasure’, falls under the umbrella of breath play.
This erotic act is prevalent in pornography, and it’s apparently spilling over into real-life sexual encounters, too.
Today (July 7), The Guardian published an article that stated strangulation during sex had become ‘normalised’ to the point among young people that it’s no longer being viewed as ‘problematic’.
Speaking about the common sex trend that has the potential to cause brain damage and strokes, Jane Meyrick, a chartered health psychologist who leads work on sexual health at the University of the West of England, told the publication: “There’s no safe way to do it.
A sexual health expert has explained how sexual choking has become so normalised its no longer considered ‘problematic’ (Getty Stock Image)
“No safe quantity of blood or oxygen you can cut off from her brain for fun.”
Last year, Meyrick said she went to a sexual health conference where scientific data was presented on how harmful sexual strangulation can be.
“Usually, at those conferences, people will be talking about the extremes of what everyone is getting up to in a very sex-positive way,” she recounted.
“When this was presented, you could feel the tension, the internal conflict, in the room, with professionals being unable to reconcile the gap between what they were hearing and their usual sex-positivity.”
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Sexual choking can cause depression, memory problems, and in severe cases, death (Getty Stock Image)
According to a survey conducted by the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, established with Home Office funding in 2022 after strangulation became a standalone offence, over one third of 16 to 34-year-olds have experienced sexual strangulation.
This is compared to the 16 percent of 35 to 54-year-olds who have admitted to indulging in the practise, and the 3 of those 55 and above.
“Larger academic studies of college students in the US and Australia put it at much higher,” explained Meyrick.
“It has become normalised practice among younger people and not viewed as problematic and most older people have no idea.”
Sexual choking can have minor health risks such as broken blood vessels in your face, a hoarse voice, or trouble swallowing, according to Web MD.
However, other more serious health risks include depression, PTSD and even memory problems.
Death can also occur when there is too much pressure on your carotid arteries – those are the two large blood vessels in your neck that supply blood to your brain.
It’s advised that you seek emergency help if someone partaking in sexual asphyxiation loses consciousness, can’t breathe or can’t speak.
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
Topics: Health, Science, Sex and Relationships, Community, Mental Health
As many of you will know, wearing anything metal during an MRI scan is a huge no go.
Healthcare professionals will typically check a person for anything metal beforehand, such as a necklace or a watch.
But some metal items might be internal too and people are urged to inform technologists about things like heart valves, IUDs, and metal plates in their body.
Speaking about the precautions that are carried out before an MRI scan, Benjamin Navot, MD, assistant professor of radiology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, shared: “Before your appointment, we’re going to ask you to leave anything metal at home, and that includes jewelry, watches, or clothes with metal hooks.”
People having MRI scans aren’t allowed to be wearing any metal (Getty Stock Image)
“Even a small metal object can fly into the scanner or interfere with the image,” he added.
But this woman seemingly forgot to inform technologists about one metal item that she had inside her – that being a butt plug.
The woman, said to have been 22 at the time, had the MRI scan as planned, but when it ended she reportedly started to ‘scream’ in pain.
It’s believed this particular sex toy was silicone with a metallic core.
As per an FDA report into the matter that was published in April 2023, the patient said ‘she felt nauseous, was in pain, and felt like she was going to pass out’ following the scan.
MRIs provide detailed imaging of internal organs, bones, and joints (Getty Stock Image)
The report continued: “An ambulance was called for this patient and she was sent to the hospital. The patient was checked out by the radiologist at the site before transport to ensure the patient was doing okay.”
Apparently, the FDA tried to contact the 22-year-old to check up on her afterwards but she failed to return their calls.
An image was shared on Reddit of the woman’s alleged scan, but it has not been confirmed that this picture is in relation to this particular incident.
A medical expert has previously weighed in on the reported ordeal and refuted the claims that the butt plug could have left her body ‘at the speed of sound’, as per the MailOnline.
A scan showing someone with a butt plug inside them (Reddit)
Speaking to the outlet, Professor Adam Taylor, an expert in human anatomy at Lancaster University, explained: “The speed at which ferromagnetic materials move in an MRI field is proportional to the mass of the object and how far away from the magnetic field it is.
“Things such as paper clips or hairpins would easily reach 40mph if within the field.
“As this ‘toy’ was predominantly silicone with a metallic core, there is potential that it moved at speed but not close to the speed of sound.”
Whether it could have been the ‘speed of sound’ or not, it would have been a very uncomfortable experience.
Featured Image Credit: Reddit
Topics: Health, Life, Sex and Relationships