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Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil, I just caught my husband masturbating. I am shocked. I thought we had a normal sex life, but when I opened the bathroom door unexpectedly, there he was with his pants around his ankles looking at a lingerie catalog. Gross, Why does he need to do that? Is it normal to masturbate even if you have a robust sex life? -Anonymous email fromOprah.com

DR. OZ: Let's just talk about men for a second. We found out that 45 percent of men in this big national survey admitted to masturbating. Now the other 55 percent were just lying. 'Cause I can tell ya... that's what men do. I'm not pointing to Phil, I'm just mentioning, I'm motioning towards Phil. (laughter) Nothing specific. So, here's the deal. Masturbation is actually good for you. It milks the prostate, which has toxins that build up in it. You're supposed to be able to ejaculate - ideally you do it in the midst of a sexual relationship, but once in a while there are very healthy, benign reasons to do it. In terms of the - and I'm still surprised that 50 percent of you thought it ought to be done relatively infrequently. But for me the definition of how much you do is based on how you feel. If you feel energized by your sex life and you masturbate on top of it, and that still makes you feel energized, that's fine. But if you're gettin' back pain from doing it too much, and you feel (laughter) droopy, and sleepy, it's like the Seven Dwarfs, no--

GAYLE KING: Carpal tunnel?

DR. OZ: Carpal tunnel syndrome...you're doin' too much. So that's actually the best way for you to figure out where - But all this guilt stuff that we get into the myths of it, that caused the problem. Now I wanna ask my friend Dr. Phil to help address our writer's question, which is, how she deals with it with her husband.

GAYLE KING: Okay, this, this question also applies to women. How many times a week is it normal...for a woman to masturbate?

DR. OZ: You know, this actually is a big deal for me. Because, uh, there are probably a third of the women, at least in our television audience and maybe in the audience here in the studio, who have trouble having orgasms. And the most important thing I can tell ya is if you don't know how to masturbate, you're gonna have a difficult time having an orgasm. So, you, you better work on that if you really wanna enjoy life to its fullest. I feel the shame that women feel towards their, their reproductive organs...it's essential, and you know, a lotta women and guys, they - you know, they spend a lotta time not talking about this. But we need help. We don't know this stuff. And it is knowable. Listen, there are some things in life that are knowable, other things that are not. This is one of the knowable ones. You can take classes in this. And I don't want you being shy about this. If you don't enjoy intimacy of having orgasms, you are sacrificing years of your life, 'cause there is data there, that how long you live - for men it's linked to how many times you have sex, but for women it's not the amount, it's the quality of that sex.

DR. PHIL: If he's, if he's any kinda doctor, at the end of the show, he'll have a prescription pad, and he'll write out, "Masturbation for you women." He'll sign it you can take it home.



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