It is estimated one in ten people will have kidney stones at least once in their lifetime. One of the tried and tested advice given to people with this condition is to drink more water. However, a group of doctors has found that the release that one gets from having sex or masturbating could help with kidney stones, DailyMail reports.
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Kidney stones treatment
People above the age of 30 are most vulnerable to developing kidney stones which can cause severe pain if left to get too big. At that point surgery is required to get rid of it. For those who suffer from small stones, they are encouraged to drink tons of water and other liquids along with certain prescribed drugs in order for their bodies to dissolve the stones and pass them out easily.
Now, research done by a team of doctors in Indonesia found that bladder neck contraction and relaxation — which happens during orgasm and ejaculation — could also help pass kidney stones. Writing in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, the team set out to:
Evaluate the efficacy of sexual acts, including sexual intercourse and masturbation, to promote distal ureteral stones (kidney stones) expulsion.
Sex as medicine
The researchers looked at five studies on the topic and included 406 participants that were told to have sex or masturbate three or four per week or abstain from either activity. They then examined how sexual acts affected how many kidney stones were removed in each group and how long it took.
Data from the experiment showed that the expulsion rate was 5.7 times higher in the sexual activity group. Also, they were able to establish that stones were urinated out faster among those who had sex or masturbated. They concluded that:
Performing sexual intercourse or masturbation for three to four times a week is beneficial for promoting spontaneous expulsion of distal ureteral stones.
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