The Three Benefits Of Getting To Know Your Body

Learning what you like – and how you like it – is an important part of building your sexual confidence and awareness. It allows you to find out what turns you on, and the confidence this gives helps you have great sex.

Where do you start? We’re all different, so the best advice is to try a variety of things, and when you find something you like, keep practicing until you’ve honed your skills to perfection. Whether you’re using your hand or a toy (or both!) give yourself time to experiment. Lube and pleasure gels can be great additions to a solo sex session, as they allow you to experience different sensations and ramp up your excitement.

Masturbation can help men to combat premature ejaculation. By training yourself to last longer when you’re pleasuring yourself, you'll last longer with a partner, too. Try to push yourself slightly more each time – if you last one minute, try to raise this by 10 seconds the next time and see how far you get. Premature ejaculation is more likely if there’s a longer gap between orgasms, so think of it as a training schedule to push yourself to the limits!

In women, masturbation increases the amount of lubrication and leads to more blood flow into the pubic area. This adds up to better sex which you can’t get enough of!

If you and your partner masturbate together, it can give you a fantastic insight into what really good sex looks like for both of you. Watch each other as you do your thing (the intense eye contact alone can drive you wild) and you’ll soon learn a lot of things about each other. It’s often easier to show your partner what you like than to explain it, and once they see you lose yourself, they will love to do the same for you. Watching each other can give you a deeper connection and a feeling of greater intimacy, and that translates to hotter sex.