Having trouble getting to sleep? Is stress keeping you awake at night? Have melatonin gummies and magnesium supplements failed you? According to new research published in the journal Sexuality & Culture, a classic stress-relieving technique might lead to better sleep. The researchers, needing to maintain an air of respectability, call it “self-pleasure.” You know him better as jerking it, cranking it, beating off, flogging the dolphin, flicking the bean, and whatever other creative way you have of describing masturbation.

Researchers at Central Queensland University in Australia surveyed 301 adults about their nighttime habits, sleep quality, emotional well-being, and dream content. Their goal, specifically, was to study how masturbating affects a person’s sense of relaxation, their emotional comfort, their imagination, and their level of intimacy with their own bodies.

They found that people who masturbated before going to bed reported having fallen asleep faster, slept a little longer, and overall had a better night’s sleep compared to those who didn’t. The biggest difference was in sleep latency, the time it takes to fall asleep. People who jerked it before bed fell asleep about nine minutes sooner than those who didn’t.

Does Jerking Off Before You Go to Bed Make You Fall Asleep Faster?

Jerking it before bed also had some interesting, if not exactly surprising, effects on participants’ emotions. Some of them reported feeling more positive in the immediate orgasmic afterglow, with an elevated mood that lingered through the following morning. Researchers also noticed a decline in reported alertness before sleep, suggesting that jerking it may have helped participants transition more easily from wakefulness to sleep.  

When it came to post-jerk-off sleep dreams, the researchers found that participants’ dreams remained consistent with a psychological concept called the “continuity hypothesis,” the idea that your life experiences influence the contents of your dreams. Participants who masturbated before bed were slightly more inclined to report erotic dreams.

Of course, there are caveats, as there are in any study. All of the data were self-reported, so the researchers couldn’t fully establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship, as none of this occurred in a strict laboratory setting. There are also a ton of other factors that could influence the results, like a participant’s stress levels, mental health, and relationship status.  

Regardless, it’s just another study to add to the growing pile that suggests sex, in all its forms, whether with one partner, multiple, or all alone, has benefits beyond the singular sensation of an orgasm. It can also help you get a good night’s rest.