How The Death Grip Can Affect A Man's Sexual Health
Masturbation can be a useful (and pleasurable) means of sexual release. If you're looking to relieve some stress, improve your quality of sleep, better your mood, enhance your sex life, and even boost your focus, masturbation can help in those departments.
However, just like other weird things that happen to men during sex, masturbating the wrong way can become a concern. Sometimes, doing too much, too hard, and for too long can cause problems with a man's sexual health. We're talking, of course, of the non-medical yet googleable term "death grip syndrome." It refers to having too firm a grip while masturbating which can lead to desensitization of your penis. The expression itself seems to have originated from a sex columnist named Dan Savage in the 2000s, although there's no way to know for sure.
If you were to google "death grip syndrome," however, you'd be disappointed, especially if you're looking for scientific studies backing this apparently non-medical problem. But just because there is no dedicated research, that doesn't mean the death grip isn't real. In fact, per Ayurvedic doctor and sexologist Dr. Vikas Nagi (via Lybrate), you can cause damage to the sensitive nerves in your penis because of a less-than-desirable grip and this can lead to problems in a man's sexual health.
How to know if you have death grip syndrome
A good clue that you may have death grip syndrome is if you're not deriving as much pleasure during partnered sexual activity as you are during masturbation, meaning, you're having trouble orgasming during regular penetrative intercourse but you are able to orgasm during your regular tight-gripped and aggressive form of self-pleasure. Delayed ejaculation and erectile problems are other clues.
According to urologist and sexual health expert Dr. Rena Malik, habituation brought on by death grip can make partnered sexual activity far less pleasurable. "When you are exposing your body to the same thing over and over again, the same exact way, particularly something like death grip, it can lead to habituation. Your hand can create a lot more force and pressure than, potentially, a vagina can, depending on how firm you're gripping it," shared the doctor. Not deriving the same stimulation during partnered sexual activity could mean that you don't orgasm as quickly or don't derive pleasure from sex anymore. This can cause relational issues too.
A lot of things can influence whether you're experiencing death grip syndrome. The frequency, technique, duration, and intensity of masturbation can all come into play, per Malik. Someone who derives more pleasure from masturbation than sex could also form such deep-rooted self-pleasure techniques.
What to do about death grip syndrome
Most experts would tell you that the first course of action is to go easy, if not halt, masturbation for a while to give your penis a break.
Next, it's important to take your time and ease back into self-pleasure, taking care not to revert to your former habit of aggressive gripping. Instead, try different moves. Pay attention to how your grip and speed could potentially lead to desensitization of your penis, shared Dr. Vikas Nagi (via Lybrate). "Masturbating too fast will stress out the nerves. It also won't help if it's raw and painful. Go back and forth between different speeds, and take your time," added the sexologist.
Also, use lubrication. Lubrication has a way of naturally reducing your grip, according to Dr. Rena Malik.
If you're in a relationship and the death grip syndrome is affecting things, try having an open and honest conversation with your significant other. Better yet, ask your partner if they'd be willing to experiment by alternating between masturbation and penetrative sex to climax, just so you can learn to orgasm during sex again. It's almost like relearning orgasm and reteaching your penis to enjoy both kinds of pleasure.
Speaking of what men can do, sometimes unknowingly, that can affect their sexual health, here's what happens when men have sex on an empty stomach.