We are now five days into the viral challenge

Brenna Cooper

Experts have revealed there could actually be some health benefits to taking part in No Nut November even just for a bit, as the viral challenge nears the end of its first week.

Unless this is your first day using the internet you're probably familiar with the term No Nut November (NNN).

An online sex trend which has found itself somewhat in the mainstream over the past couple of decades, NNN encourages men to abstain from sex and masturbation for the entire month by promising benefits such as improved mental health and a higher sperm count.

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But before you put away the tissues, you might want to know if there are actually any benefits to partaking in the challenge.

What happens to the body after a week of no sex?

There is currently no overwhelming consensus on whether or not NNN is beneficial to your health, with various sex and relationship experts arguing both for and against the practice.

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If spending a whole 30 days without doing the one handed dance sounds like too much of a challenge you could always abstain for a single week, which may come with health benefits.

According to a study of 28 male volunteers published in 2003, abstaining from ejaculation for a total of seven days revealed a 145.7 percent increase of testosterone above base levels. Known benefits of increased testosterone include improved mood, sexual function and muscle mass.

This article was later retracted in 2021, however this was due to similarities with a piece published in 2002 in Chinese.

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Short periods of abstinence may also improve sperm count, with a 2019 study revealing that refraining having some one-on-one enjoyment for between one to four days can lead to an improvement in sperm movement, volume and count.

What happens to the body after 30 days of no sex?

Now you may think these benefits would only increase as the days turn into weeks – however that's not quite the case.

Urologist Dr Rena Malik explained that abstaining for the whole month could have negative impacts on an individual's relationships as well as mental and physical health – which includes the dreaded 'blue balls'.

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Sex educator and sex worker activist Reed Amber also explained during an interview with HuffPost that a 'normal' amount of masturbation varied from person to person.

"Some people need to masturbate once a month, and other people need to masturbate six times a day," she explained.

"And both those versions can be healthy, it just depends on where your mind is, and why you are masturbating."

Topics: Community, News, Sex and Relationships, Health

Brenna Cooper is a journalist at LADbible. She graduated from the University of Sheffield with a degree in History, followed by an NCTJ accredited masters in Journalism. She began her career as a freelance writer for Digital Spy, where she wrote about all things TV, film and showbiz. Her favourite topics to cover are music, travel and any bizarre pop culture.

@_brencoco