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NoFap got me out of my depression and it cured my anxiety too.
60 days in I got a job promotion and a new girlfriend.
9 months in I felt like Superman!
My clients keep asking themselves “Why am I not experiencing these amazing health benefits of NoFap?”
The truth is, there are plenty of health benefits, but getting into NoFap alone doesn’t get you that new promotion or cure your depression.
Let’s stop sugar-coating stuff with bullshit.
I am a licensed behavioral therapist who specializes in helping men with porn dependency issues.
Here are three proven health benefits to NoFap. 👇🏼
key takeaways
- Your brain reacts the same way to porn as it does to drugs.
- NoFap supercharges your confidence and elevates masculine energy.
- NoFap will give you a clearer mind and laser-focused attention without the porn fog.
What Are The Scientific Health Benefits of Not Fapping?
Good question.
And don’t worry – I am going to answer that pretty soon. But first, I need you to watch this YouTube video from Sean (founder of Menprovement) so you’ll have a good understanding of why this is important
Finished with watching the video?
Let’s get to it!
#1 Dopamine System Regulation
Dopamine is the ‘motivation’ neurotransmitter in your brain. It will literally make you get things done. Around 50% of our dopamine receptors are activated when we’re hungry for food. But guess what? 100% is activated when we want sex.
This research from Medium1 clearly illustrates how each activity affects dopamine
1 Is the baseline (normal) and if we take a look at sex (2) you’ll notice that this is double the amount of the baseline.
Our brain releases dopamine when it really wants us to take action and get something for ourselves – it gives us that extra push.
The same thing happens with porn and sex. As you watch porn more and more, you train your brain into thinking that getting “sex” is easy.
That’s why it releases less and less dopamine every single time you watch porn – in the end leaving you feeling empty and ashamed.
Eventually, you need more novelty each time to get off and you need less dopamine. So whenever you get the desire to approach a girl or initiate sex, you’ll have very little dopamine and basically no incentive to actually do it.
You trained your brain to know it’s easier to get it online. That blows. Literally.
#2 More Time
Let’s be conservative and say you only have a session 3 times per week. According to statistics from PornHub, the average time spent on PornHub2 would be a little over 10 minutes.
With the prep, video searching, clean up and everything else involved it’s around 30 minutes per session.
It rounds up at 78 hours per year. 3.25 Days of non-stop jerking off every single year.
Imagine joining the NoFap community and translating that time into:
Instead of wasting time blowing your dopamine away into thin air, you could take that time to self-develop.
Some men quit other bad habits and addictions, some develop monk-like self-discipline, some pick up new hobbies, and some focus more on their careers.
That kind of change can make one feel like they fully transformed their life, but at the end of the day it wasn’t only the magic of NoFap – it was their own hard work, discipline, and dedication.
Read More >>> The Complete NoFap Timeline (With infographic).
#3 Mental Health Benefits
One study took over 450 people and asked them some questions about their porn-watching frequency and mental health.3
About 3 out of every 10 people watch porn 3-5 times a week. Around 1 out of every 4 people watch it every day.
When researchers checked how sad or depressed these folks were, they found something surprising. The people who watched porn this often scored 18 on a
“how depressed are you?”
Test.
But the average person, who might not watch porn as much, only scored 6.5 on the same test.
This means the regular porn watchers were three times more depressed than the average person.
Now the question is…
I think they’re cyclical and they affect each other. Essentially, this study showed that the more you view porn, the more isolated you feel and the more depressed you get.
Porn Will Mess with Your Self-Esteem
Another study showed that porn directly relates to your self-esteem, especially in bed.4
When people watch a lot of porn, they might start feeling bad about how their own private parts look. They might also begin to expect too much from real-life sex, thinking it should be like in the movies.
This can make them and their partner feel stressed or let down when things aren’t like what they saw on screen.
If you think that you watch porn just because you’re “bored” – think again…
Boredom is often a reflection of things you’re trying to avoid in life. When you’re bored you’re lacking meaning, and when we lack meaning in life – we go towards pleasure.
For some, the root cause is stress, frustration, and feelings of disappointment. For others, the root is way deeper and harder for the individual to recognize. In that case, I always recommend therapy.
If these problems are affecting you in your day-to-day life then you know you need freedom from this habit. Some of the things that could help are:
The Shocking Similarities Between Porn And Drug Use
For this section, I’m going to assume that when you’re fapping you’re not doing so for the sensual feel of your hand while harnesting your energy for multi-orgasmic practices.
Here’s a fun fact: Porn affects your brain in the exact same way an addictive drug does. In a study done at Cambridge University.5
If you are looking for a synopsis you can better understand check out Your Brain On Porn.6
It was discovered that the brain reacts to porn in the EXACT same way it reacts to drugs when you’re addicted to them.
In other words, you react to porn the same exact way a heroin addict responds to heroin. And on top of that, compulsive fappers craved porn (greater wanting) but did not have a higher sexual desire (liking) than the group who didn’t watch porn.
Essentially you seek porn because you want it, not because you like it. It is the same for drug addicts, which is why so many want to quit – but cannot.
The brain scan showed that during orgasm the porn users’ brains lit up the same pathways that the brains of drug addicts lit up when they shot up.
The control group orgasmed from having sex, and the brain lit up completely different, healthy pathways.
The last major finding in this study was that 50% of the subjects (average age 25) had difficulty achieving an erection with real partners, yet they had no issues achieving erections with porn.
Let me just pause for a second…
There is no time to waste. But if you’re still unsure, or interested in learning why you react this way to fapping and porn, then read on.
What Happens When Your Brain Is On Porn?
Again, for this part of the article, we are assuming that you are jacking off to porn since this will relate to 99.99% of readers.
There is plenty of evidence that porn addiction and jerking off, in general, is harmful to the human brain.
It’s like we’ve been part of a big 15-year experiment, and now all the test subjects are experiencing the negative side effects from extended use. So what’s important to understand when it comes to porn and the human brain?
Let’s start at the very beginning.
The Evolution
Internet porn is a superstimulus like nothing our brains have ever seen before.
Our brains, which are the same as they have been for thousands of years, have never been exposed to the stimulating effect of internet porn, or anything else like it. It is only 15 years old, after millions of years of evolution.
When you see a girl, your primal brain is programmed to want to reproduce.
Naked woman in sight? Reproduce.
The brain doesn’t know you’re looking at a computer.
It sees boobs, it wants to reproduce. And the catch is, there is no off-button. This is known as the Coolidge effect.
The Coolidge Effect:
The Coolidge Effect
Fast forward a couple billion years and and a scientist called Frank A. Beach discovered that men are biologically unable to have sex with a female after they have just ejaculated This cooldown period is what we call the refracturay period.7
BUT, when you have sex with a new female, the refracturay period is much shorter than when you have sex with the one you already had sex with.
That’s all great Josh, but what does this have to do with porn?
Well, an Australian experiment shows that it’s not the mere nudity that gets people aroused.
Instead, it is the “unending novelty” of endless browsing and scroling…
When men were viewing porn, the switch in porn videos was what created a HUGE spike in sexual arousal and erection circumference.
This can also be seen in a study done on male rats. Drop a male rat in with a female and he will mate with her, then he will lose interest.
Drop another female in, and he will liven up and mate with her, then go uninterested. Drop another female in, and he’s up again for more.
This will continue for as long as the mouse can last and in some cases, the mouse even dies of exhaustion.
Here is one of the video’s I usually show my clients whenever I explain this to them. 👇🏼
Like the rat, this is your natural programming, which is why many people see marriage as unnatural, but I’m not going near that subject.
Rats mating with the same female also takes much longer to ejaculate than with they are with multiple females. This is called The Coolidge effect.
Essentially, the Coolidge effect causes declined sexual interest in the same sexual partner and increased sexual desire with multiple sexual partners. It also overrides ejaculation (semen retention) every time you get yourself a new partner.
Related >>> 7+ Unbelievable Health Benefits of Semen Retention.
There is no escaping it and this is why jerking off feels so good and many guys have a porn addiction.
Unending Novelty
While watching porn, your primal brain (the limbic brain8) gets more and more and more and more sexual partners in only 10 minutes than it ever should. New videos, new girls, new scenes, and endless fapping.
The brain will never get enough and the only thing that stops it is ejaculation. (like the lucky lab rat above). This is insanely pleasurable, we all know it.
But you can’t have this synthetic pleasure without a downfall.
The Limbic Brain
The limbic brain is the primal part of your brain (the emotional instinctive brain). It’s where the sexual desires and The Coolidge effect come from.
And it is the origin of all addictions. While the pre-fontal cortex controls our thought and understands the consequences of actions, the limbic brain does not.
The limbic brain is all about avoiding pain and feeling pleasure. Boiling water? bad. Porn? good.
Inside the limbic brain, you will find the reward center or circuit.
When you are addicted to something, like porn, masturbation, or even compulsive sexual behavior – this is where it all starts.9 👇🏼
The rule of the brain is when you do something, you must be rewarded. It wants you to seek reward and simple pleasures, to eat, bond, fall in love, and things like this.
Enter dopamine
Dopamine is a feel-good neurotransmitter. You get it when you eat, when you see a hot girl, and yes, when you watch porn.
Dopamine is the gas that turns the reward circuitry on. And at the core level, you don’t crave the food or porn but you crave the dopamine spike that it produces. It’s behind all motivation to do anything.
Novelty is dopamine’s best friend. (The newest movie, overeating and never-ending porn scenes). Dopamine is the whole driving force for The Coolidge effect.
In the rats, the reward circuits were stimulated more and more with each new partner. And they don’t have a pre-fontal cortex to stop it.
With each new video you watch, a new boost in dopamine is excreted.
Like a never-ending source of free drugs in your hands, it causes intense overindulgence in the form of jacking off.
t’s your brain’s primary instinct to do so…
“Porn isn’t just risky business; it’s a killer for your mental health too.”
– Harry Fisch, MD10 | Clinical professor of urology and reproductive medicine at Cornell University.
Not to mention that Porn also keeps your dopamine elevated at this higher level for much longer than sex ever could. See the image below.
Highly Stimulating + Novelty + Unlimited Supply + Ignorant Fapping = Porn Addiction
The Result: Desensitization
As men become sensitized to porn and multiple partners on the screen, men become disinterested in real-life sex with a woman.
This leads to to the need for more. Better porn, more scenes, more girls, kinky shit & more (some of my clients even turned to gay porn)!
And eventually, without it:
Watching Online Porn And Erectile Dysfunction
Watching too much porn can affect how your brain responds to real-life situations.
In one study from Cambridge University, 50% of the guys who regular watch porn could easily get sexual aroused watching porn, but couldn’t get an erection when having sex with a REAL woman.11
The effects aren’t just with sexual dysfunction in the bedroom.
Daily life can start to feel boring and joyless because the brain’s pleasure sensors get worn out. This is also why some people lack motivation and enthusiasm.
Many men say that when they stop watching porn, they regain a great enthusiasm for life. This is because the brain starts to heal and return to its natural state, which is often called “rebooting”.
This is why so many porn users experience depression and anxiety. And not realizing what the real problem is, they go on dangerous medications that mess them up even more.
It’s a disaster.
And until the dopamine receptors bounce back after a period of healing or withdrawal, the pleasure will not return. And the earlier you start watching, the worse it is.
If you start at 14, you will have chemical imbalances in your brain at 22. And according to Canadian researcher Simon Lajeunesse Ph.D., most boys start viewing porn and masturbating around the age of 10! How this will affect you is all based on the individual.12
For many, it results in anxiety disorders and depression.
This results in more fapping, completing the vicious cycle. If you’re feeling guilty for watching porn, don’t.
Scientists in Montreal tried to launch a study, but first, they needed to find men in their 20’s who never watched porn. The problem was, they couldn’t find any.13 Almost everyone watches porn and jerks off. So don’t let this get you down. Let this be your greatest advantage.
The Best Resources to Help You Stop Jacking Off
Yes, we have one of the best resources for helping guys stop jacking off. But it costs $29.95 and a lot of guys don’t like that.
Of course, if you are part of Menprovement X this program and any other program we have is at no cost to you.
If you want to go the free route, there are some awesome resources to help guys stop fapping out there. 👇🏼
#1 YourBrainonPorn
Probably the best and most informative website on porn addiction and quitting porn. I learned all I know from these guys.
They have a community and pretty much anything that is out there about porn can be found on this website.
#2 Reddit NoFAP
A huge community of like-minded “no fappers” who will support you and answer any questions you have. You can read some inspiring stuff on here.
#3 FightTheNewDrug
Another website for fighting the new drug, porn. These guys are committed to educating guys about the dangers of porn addiction.
They have some stellar resources.
When Masturbating Can be Healthy
I get a lot of guys who tell me that this is nonsense because doctors show that masturbation can be healthy, so let me cover this quickly before we close off.
Masturbating is not what is healthy. Ejaculation is what is healthy for your body.
#1 There is fapping
Which can be described as furiously jerking off to internet porn.
#2 Next up we have masturbating
That you do lying in bed thinking about the neighbor’s daughter (much better but still not ideal).
#3 Then there is self-cultivation
The only form of masturbation that can make you a better man.
It’s used in practice to become a multi-orgasmic man (which is awesome BTW) where you self cultivates or touch yourself to really connect with your sexual energy and master it.
You can progress this to orgasmic meditation and tantric sex.14 Self-cultivation is all about being present and one with your body, not playing fantasies in your head. It is about going slow and feeling only.
#4 And then of course there is sex
Which is what you should replace fapping with. Healthy, passionate sex. Not sex where you are with your wife and fantasizing about porn just to come.
And not sex where you’re watching porn on your phone behind her back
But natural, beautiful sex where you are present in your body and connected with the other person. Just accomplishing this will make you a better lover than 99% of men. Then you won’t need porn, women will be lining up at the door for your goods. 👌🏻
Wrapping Up
No longer should this be a joke amongst friends who laugh about how many times they beat their meat on a daily basis. I was like this, and life may seem all fine and dandy, but let me tell you, that you are missing out on a whole lot.
And there will be guys who read this and give up porn, masturbating and fapping altogether.
These men will change and start living the life they deserve to live. And that only leaves the guys who read this and don’t change even farther behind.
Which guy do you want to be?
