It has been months that we have been staying in our houses to help curb the coronavirus pandemic. This period has taught us a lot of things and according to a new study, self-love too. Initially, it was quite frustrating but people are slowly understanding the beauty of staying by themselves with minimum required resources. While this lockdown may have distanced people from their romantic and sexual partners but it has taught people to have good sex with their safest partners currently-themselves. More and more people are resorting to masturbation during the lockdown, a new survey. It says that people are masturbating more frequently in lockdown than they were before. Coronavirus Baby Boom: Condom Shortage During the COVID-19 Social Distancing May Cause a Baby Boom in Future. 

People are opting to explore masturbation better during the lockdown and as per the survey of 2,000 UK adults aged 18 and over by the sex toy brand LELO, over half (56%) have been masturbating once a day in lockdown. Lockdown has also increased the sales of sex toys as they see an increase of 28% saying they’ve definitely noticed an increase in their masturbation habits. According to the survey, about 27% are masturbating twice a day and 18% doing it three or more times a day. Isn't that a real eye-opener? When you leave people by themselves, away from their sexual partner, people resort to even masturbating more than three times a day.

LELO say they’ve seen a rise in the sales of sex toys to about 73% since lockdown began. May was also Masturbation Month and this month kind of sees a spike even normally with so much talks about this form of self-love. The survey also found that while our sex drives may have not spiked, couples who are living together during lockdown are experimenting and testing out new positions, sex toys, role play, dirty talk, watching porn together, BDSM, etc.

In the month of March, the NY Department of Health issued guidance, a sex and coronavirus memo on how to have sex during the COVID-19 outbreak. One of the highlights of the memo was that "self love" aka masturbation is the best bet as it is the least dangerous. "You are your safest sex partner," the document reads. "Masturbation will not spread COVID-19, especially if you wash your hands (and any sex toys) with soap and water for at least 20 seconds before and after."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 03, 2020 10:25 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).