Compared with male masturbation, female masturbation is considerably less common. According to the National Health and Social Life Survey, 39 percent of American women ages 18 to 60 reported masturbating during the previous year, compared with 61 percent of American men. There are many benefits linked to female masturbation, however, and practicing masturbation techniques appears to be particularly helpful for older women.

Benefits of Female Masturbation

As you age, your body undergoes normal physical changes that may affect your sex life. The good news is that all these changes aren’t bad: Aging can have positive effects on sexuality. Some women, for instance, report feeling the freedom to enjoy sex more as they get older and don’t have birth control issues to contend with. Other women, however, experience emotional or physical changes that can make sex less enjoyable.

One common problem that older women experience is physical changes in the vagina. As a woman ages, her vagina becomes shorter and more narrow. In addition, without regular supplies of estrogen, the walls of the vagina can become thin and stiff. For this reason, it is common to experience vaginal dryness, or a lack of natural vaginal lubrication (wetness), as you get older.

Practicing masturbation techniques can help remedy some of these problems by stimulating the brain to produce physical changes in the vagina. "Masturbation, which may include stimulation of the clitoris, urethra, and vagina, activates various neural pathways responsible for clitoral swelling, vaginal congestion, lengthening of the vagina, and lubrication," says Cathy K. Naughton, MD, director of the Metropolitan Urological Specialists' Center for Sexual Health in St. Louis.