There are multiple reasons why Christians might masturbate. The ones who realize the Biblical innocence of the act [1], even when it is paired with sensual imagery of the opposite gender, might pleasure themselves to explore their minds and sexualities [2], celebrate God's creation of human sexuality, or to express appreciation for the body and for pleasure. It is also one of the most fitting ways to act upon sexual desires and attractions without engaging in promiscuous or otherwise sinful behaviors: the Biblically valid solution to this that many Christians would hesitate to affirm is self-pleasuring.
Masturbation is perhaps the best way to temporarily set sexual desires aside for those who find them distracting in a way that is psychologically or spiritually harmful--something that would only be true of certain people due to the subjectivity of distraction, as sexuality itself is morally positive or neutral on its own. Sexual self-stimulation addresses sexual impulses in a sexual way, which can relieve them for a time in ways that ignoring them or trying to focus on other matters simply cannot necessarily help with. For Christians who feel overwhelmed by sexual desires even though they recognize that sexual desire cannot override rationality and free well--and that it is not a negative force--other strategies can easily prove pointless.
Prudery that has been buried within evangelical theology for decades dissuades many Christians from ever suggesting that Biblically nonsinful sexual acts other than marital intercourse be used to reduce or eliminate sexual impulses until a certain amount of time has passed, which makes masturbation a pleasurable but guilt-inducing experience for some Christians that engage in it. Whatever practical or spiritual benefits they could enjoy without needless emotional obstacles is forfeited, at least in part, for the sake of asinine, legalistic traditions rejected by the Bible itself. Evangelicals are generally conditioned to hesitate to find masturbation non-objectionable even in the context of marriage, although marriage has nothing to do with the morality of masturbation.
No one who practices self-pleasuring needs to justify masturbation by saying they need it on certain occasions to direct their attention to other matters, of course. Masturbation is far more than a practical way to relieve sexual energy for the sake of making someone's life easier; it is a Biblically innocent way to experience the deep introspective potential of sexuality and it is an act that has far more philosophical depth than most Christians would ever realize. There is far more that I have already said about its nonsinful nature, possible relationship to erotic media, nuances when it is carried out if thoughts of other people are involved, and lack of connection to objectification of the opposite gender.
However, the explicitly introspective and abstract ramifications of the fact that masturbation is not sinful do not nullify its practical usefulness for some people. Not everyone considers their sexual desires to be intrusive, overwhelming, or frustrating, and some people may find the experience of constant sexual excitement pleasurable and desirable. For Christians that do want to experience lesser sexual feelings or no sexual feelings at all in select situations, though, self-pleasuring is an avenue for sexual release that does not violate any Biblical obligations whatsoever.
[1]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/07/sexual-self-stimulation.html
[2]. https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2020/05/the-introspective-potential-of.html
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