Your Brain on Porn

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Start here for a brief overview of concepts & science

This article is a short synopsis of some key concepts. For the science behind it, please follow all the links and read this page. Some links go to our articles, which in turn link to studies. For a more in-depth understanding and further evidence see The Research Page. For specific content explore Porn FAQs.

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What happens when you drop a male rat into a cage with a receptive female rat? First, you see a frenzy of copulation. Then, progressively, the male tires of that particular female. Even if she wants more, he has had enough. However, replace the original female with a fresh one, and the male immediately revives and gallantly struggles to fertilize her. You can repeat this process with fresh females until he is completely wiped out.

This is called the Coolidge effect—the automatic response to novel mates. Interestingly, men ejaculate more motile sperm and they do it more quickly when they view a novel porn star. This powerful automatic response to erotic novelty is what started you down the road to getting hooked on internet porn.

Studies linking porn use or porn/sex addiction to sexual dysfunctions, lower brain activation to sexual stimuli, and lower sexual satisfaction

Reality Check - Regardless of what you may read in some journalistic accounts, multiple studies reveal a link between porn use and sexual performance problems, relationship and sexual dissatisfaction, and reduced brain activation to sexual stimuli.

Let's start with sexual dysfunctions. Studies assessing young male sexuality since 2010 report historic levels of sexual dysfunctions, and startling rates of a new scourge: low libido. Documented in this article.

Brain Studies on Porn Users

This page lists all the studies assessing the brain structure and functioning of Internet porn users. To date every study offers support for the porn addiction model. The results of these 26 studies (and upcoming studies) are consistent with 170+ Internet addiction brain studies, many of which also include internet porn use. All support the premise that internet porn use can cause addiction-related brain changes, as do 10 recent neuroscience-based reviews of the literature:

Gary's TEDx talk - "The Great Porn Experiment"

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Success too late or is it never too late?

Ok guys I just wanted to tell you the same old super powers: got up crack ass of dawn, ran 4 miles and I am on vacation! Also noticed my voice is seems to have deepened even more this round. it’s been about a week since I have had sex with the wifey. We don’t have period sex at the end of each month so this is my peak time of my natural testosterone boost.

Age 24 - all my previous fetishes seem to be things of a very distant past

I was somehow good at doing this nofap thing (I was so convinced about the effects of PMO that I rarely ran out of motivation) as I was able to go for 40 days on my first try, then 40 again, and then I relapsed for a while but soon I said 'Enough' and I meant it. So now I have been exactly 250 days of no porn with one MO at day 236.

Age 19 - Today was the first time I had sex with her without using Viagra and stayed hard. I didn't think this would work

September 2 was the last time I masturbated. Though only 41 days in, holy shit do the benefits come. I didn't think they would but believe me please...they do. I masturbated compulsively since I was 13. I am 19 now.

Age 23 - No brain fog, Shyness fading, More motivation & creativity, Feeling connected to other people again, Drive to leave comfort zone

I'm 23 and I’ve been a passionate fapper for...9 years? At the moment I'm 60 days clean of Porn and Masturbation. Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it was harder. I never thought porn and masturbation made me suffer. No, I thought every man needs it to function, when not having real sex. Oh yeah, stupid society. And I was part of it.