Today, I’ve transcribed an insightful clip in which the author details the detrimental effect of pornography on dopamine levels. Pornography stimulates dopamine receptors at extremely levels, which triggers a downgrade response by the brain as it seeks to maintain homeostasis. This can lead to a host of unpleasant symptoms–fatigue, mood swings, social anxiety, and even depression. Perhaps most noteworthy of all, dopamine positively correlates with motivation. Chronically low levels may contribute to underachievement and unfulfilled potential, which is downright tragic.
Check out the complete video and transcript below! For practical resources on how to stop watching porn, read around on the site or visit the complete archive of resources.
The entire time you’re watching porn, you’re bombarding your brain with dopamine levels equivalent to those caused by some hardcore drugs. And of course, when that happens, your brain starts decreasing the dopamine receptors you have. And over the course of years of watching porn, you end up doing serious damage to your dopamine reward circuits.
Improvement Pill
Transcript of NoFap: Scientific Evidence That It Works
I strongly believe that NoFap is the #1 most life-changing change that you can make in your life today. But there is a lot of skepticism behind quitting pornography as our society actually encourages young men and women to watch porn and masturbate. It’s considered “normal.” It’s considered “healthy.” And because of this there’s millions of people on this planet who are not aware of the dangerous side effects of viewing pornography, so today I’m going to convince you to take on the NoFap challenge and quit pornography for good by using scientific evidence to back up my claims.
Now before we even jump into pornography itself, we have to talk about a special little neurotransmitter called dopamine.
What is dopamine? Why is it important?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is responsible for seeking and searching rewards. Dopamine provides us with the motivation and drive to pursue potential rewards for our long-term goals. If you’ve ever craved a dessert, that was all because of dopamine. If you ever spent hours on a video game trying to level up, that was dopamine. If you ever dragged your ass out of bed to go to class in the morning, that was dopamine. Without it, you lose all motivation to go out there and do things.
Dopamine and Rats
Scientists have even conducted experiments where they turned off the dopamine receptors in rats and found that the rats would become so lazy that they’d die of starvation, even though there was food in their cage. They simply had no motivation.
Drugs like cocaine, heroine, and Adderall all work on the dopamine receptors in your brain. They stimulate the dopamine receptors at extremely high levels. Your body is constantly trying to maintain homeostasis, which is a baseline level. So when presented with levels that are not natural, your brain reacts by decreasing your overall number of receptors.
What are the effects of lower amounts of dopamine?
Studies have shown that people with low dopamine receptors have the following side effects: fatigue, lack of motivation, insomnia, mood swings, memory loss, social anxiety, low libido, sugar cravings, inability to connect with others, inability to focus. And there’s also growing evidence that low dopamine is a direct cause of depression.
Your probably thinking, “Well, that’s for hardcore drugs. There’s no way pornography can have a similar effect on my nervous system as cocaine.”
And it’s here where you’re wrong. Sexual stimuli is actually the most stimulating dopamine activity you can naturally partake in. It’s because sex is crucial for the survival for your genes, so your body always rewards you the most for it. It raises your dopamine levels to around 200%, which is the same amount of morphine, and a bit lower than cocaine, which stands at 300%. And unlike cocaine, which peaks at 300% for only a couple of minutes, pornography has the ability to stay above 200% for as long as you like.
The Coolidge Effect
This is due to something called the Coolidge Effect. When scientists put a male mouse in a cage with a female mouse, they observed that the mice will have a ton of sex, but over time the male will get less and less interested. He will have a harder time reaching organism, and eventually he was no longer interested in having sex. This indicated that dopamine levels decreased over time. However, when a new female mouse was introduced, his dopamine levels would spike all the way back up, and he’d be able to go at it again.
In fact, as the scientists continued to introduce new female mice into the cage, he would keep having sex until he physically could not move. This same effect is 100% present in humans. This means while watching pornography, you can consistently keep your dopamine levels high by watching different videos. Every new video. Every new clip you watch is like taking another little bump of cocaine.
Unlike cocaine, which is something you can only do so much of because of its high cost, difficulty to get, and risk of overdose, it’s entirely possible for you to watch porn for hours and hours.
And remember, for the entire time you’re watching porn, you’re bombarding your brain with dopamine levels equivalent to those caused by some hardcore drugs. And of course, when that happens, your brain starts decreasing the dopamine receptors you have. And over the course of years of watching porn, you end up doing serious damage to your dopamine reward circuits.
This is a large reason why so many men out there have mental disorders such as social anxiety, depression, and lack of motivation. It’s because they’re constantly screwing with their dopamine, and the worst part is that society is actually encouraging them to do so.
It’s to no surprise that people who take on the NoFap challenge and quit pornography for good have reported things like more motivation, more libido, less anxiety, an increase in social skills, a feeling of being alive again. It’s because when they finally stop watching porn, their dopamine levels start returning to normal.
