Too few “what has changed since I started” threads and a lot of placebo for sure. I was not a porn addict and only masturbated once a day at most, nor did I ever feel guilty or disgusted by masturbation. It is completely in the open and accepted where I live. For this reason I got none of the “I beat an addiction and am finally in control of my body” and “I no longer feel disgusted with myself” positives that others talk about.
I did this because I had a theory it lowered my sex drive and interest in girls significantly. I was extremely right on that last part.
A lot of my bulletpoints are probably placebo and a result of other things, but this is the biggest changes I’ve noticed. Keep in mind I assumed none of this shit would matter and believed not masturbating was a complete joke because I have never really encountered a scientific article talking about the benefits of not masturbating.
The effects aren’t groundbreaking, but enough to alter my personality and life significantly, take that as you will.
- Much more energetic, feel restless. Good thing if you got stuff to do, bad thing if you don’t
- Sexually frustrated. Speaks for itself. If I think about sex I don’t immediately get an erection, my heart skips a beat and then starts pumping rapidly. At the same time my stomach sinks. I no longer look at sex in a “porn way”, and feel like anything less than physical intimate sex is shitty and cheap.
- Procrastination is gone. Doing nothing sucks and doing stuff that used to be boring is not as boring anymore. Like lifting, jogging.
- Dopamine-producing activities are much more enjoyable. It seems my brain is starting to adjust to a lower level of dopamine, giving higher rewards for smaller amounts of dopamine. Listening to music is almost orgasmic and I can listen to almost anything and enjoy it.
- I need less sleep. Inclined to believe this is placebo, but I usually sleep for a large amount of time on my freedays. I can wake up after 7-8 hours of sleep, and feel energetic by the time my alarm is off (I have an alarm that I have to solve a math puzzle to turn off, called alarmy.)
- My thoughts are more chaotic. I don’t have a plan before I speak to make a point and that often leads to awkward dead ends thinking I had a point when I started, surprised how often this is happening. Mindfulness is key to solve this I think, it’s probably a result of restlessness.
- Anxiety is not gone. Yes I am more bold, but I still worry if I do or say the right thing the way I used to do before. Like when I’m talking to a cute girl that shows interest I still want to make an amazing impression and if I fail I get depressed. Guess this is instinctual.
Generally I will probably never break this streak. Masturbation is gone from my life as the positives are just too interesting to get rid of for 20 seconds of orgasm. It’s sex or nothing from here on out.
tl;dr
- More interested in girls.
- Energetic and restless, negative and positive sides to it. Starting to think workaholics never masturbate.
- Enjoy stuff like music and events more.
- Care less about other people and more about myself. Less likely to just take shit from people. Don’t fuck with a sexually frustrated person.
So yeah good luck, sorry if I didn’t sugarcoat the effects of nofap but I don’t think lying is productive either. Most of the effects are probably from sexual frustration and body being less tolerant of dopamine, but that’s a good thing. We feel those feelings for a good reason, they’re there to motivate us.
I’ve tried on and off a few times over a few years and never felt motivated to go beyond a few days to a week because I didn’t see the point.
A recent experience made me realize my sexuality was broken and that the likely cause was masturbation – in my case I was right. It acted like a sedative for my sexuality and productiveness. Numbing me like morphine, removing stress when I was SUPPOSED to feel stress, rewarding me when I was not supposed to be rewarded, and killing an important part of my body and personality; my sexuality.
In my case I lost my conditioning to porn and sexual fantasies so its actually harder for me to get turned on by porn and much easier to get turned on by an actual woman. I’m still not perfectly cured of my conditioning but its getting better every day.
Also don’t worry about your erections, it fucks you up. If you’re young, its almost guaranteed to only be a mental problem. Not masturbating doesn’t work like viagra for everyone, but you don’t see celebates walking around with erections constantly so its natural.
LINK – My NoFap experience after a month (benefits, some downsides)
By Towerss
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