Every guy knows that you must use it or lose it. It appears that this advice applies to the prostate gland as well. Researchers from the Cancer Council of Victoria in Australia found that men who masturbated five times a week or more decreased their risk of prostate cancer by 33 percent.

They compared the sexual habits of 1,000 men with prostate cancer against 1,250 healthy men who did not have the disease. The researchers speculated that frequent masturbation flushes out cancer-causing toxins that promote the disease.

Frequent sexual intercourse did not have the same effect on the disease, possibly because of the increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases that promote the risk of prostate cancer.

Also, prostate cancer was not linked to the number of sexual partners or the average number of ejaculations in 24 hours. As Woody Allen said, “Don’t knock masturbation; it’s sex with someone I love.” [sources: British Journal of Urology International, Fitness RX]