“Chaser” is the term often used to describe intense cravings that follow orgasm, perhaps immediately or perhaps the following day. They likely arise from neurochemical changes naturally triggered by climax. Men often report that the chaser eases over time as the brain finds a new balance during rebooting.
For more, read Do You Need a Chaser After Sex? For a thorough discussion of neurochemical events related to ejaculation see Men: Does Frequent Ejaculation Cause A Hangover? The “chaser effect” has not been formally studied yet, but it’s quite common.
Here are typical self-reports with evidence of a “chaser” (more self-reports can be found in Do You Need a Chaser After Sex?):
No fap with a relationship may look easy from the outside as guys probably think you can substitute fapping with sex and while that is true sex causes the “Chaser Effect” which is when you have severe urges 1 to 3 days after sex. Every time I relapsed in the past it was with a couple days of sex.
At the end of the 7 day mark, I could clearly tell significant changes! My concentration was clearer, my self-confidence was considerably higher, and my productivity had far improved. I was in “La La Land” in all respects. In fact, I have come to enjoy the “mental buzz” of NoFap a whole lot more than the “bliss” of orgasm via fapping. Out of sheer curiosity, I choose to relapse out of my own accord and see whether these new “superpowers” of sorts would diminish or not. I loaded an array of porn websites and completed the deed in my usual fashion.
Within seconds after cumming, the phase shift in mental acuity that I felt was simply astounding. It felt as though a fresh layer of fog had been draped over my mind. Almost immediately, I felt an overwhelming sense of apprehension, uneasiness, and dissatisfaction. After my experimental relapse, I tried to return back to my homework and found that it was nearly impossible to stay on task.
I suddenly felt the urge to fap again, browse Imgur, check Facebook, clean my apartment, do the dishes, and basically every action except finishing the studies at hand. I went to my college campus later in the day to meet up with some friends. By then my sense of confidence had also stooped considerably. So I was significantly more hesitant to converse with other girls. In fact, projecting my usual upbeat attitude required a concerted effort that made me feel uncomfortable in my own skin. self-report
The chaser effect can be really horrible. At the moment though I have had basically no cravings. My interpretation is that there is really a huge difference between M and PMO. M is a release that leaves you a little drained of energy for a while. PMO though, is the devil, it’s heroin that really fucks with your brain and makes you crave for worse. Thus, the chaser effect is really more connected with PMO than M, in my experience. However, trying to just stick to M in the past has led me start using pics and movies again together with the M, so I’m definitely going to be extra careful.
I guess the difference this time with my new “game plan” is that I have a new goal after the reboot has finished. After my last reboot I just thought that I could M whenever I wanted to, but that is not a good strategy for a pmo-addict. If you start masturbating whenever you want to, after a while it will become boring and you will want more stimuli to enhance the experience.
One thing that has been killing me though is the ‘chaser effect’. That is, the huge urges you get the, in my case, the 12-24 hours after O. I’d tried a few streaks off PMO in the past and this had always been my downfall. But I believe the way you get past this is recognising the signs. I now make sure that every time I have an O, I follow it up by a busy day of being out of the house and being around people, as opposed to lying in my bed hungover and aimlessly browsing the internet, and so far it has worked a treat.
Today I see the urges from a mile away. Now I welcome them. I can see what my little brain chimp is trying to do. I believe this journey would maybe be easier if I was going full PMO and avoiding the chaser effect, but that’s my useful tip for others like me. Since stopping, I look at myself from far away, and I’m the guy I want to be, the guy I’ve been at times in the past. https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/age-22-proactive-social-energetic-confident-all-my-friends-co-workers-have-noticed
Beware: The Chaser Effect is real people. I had her over again yesterday, got some more RL action, but over the past 3 days my cravings have increased ten fold. Or, more likely, my willpower to resist has declined a ton. http://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/comments/2rooc0/beware_the_chaser_effect/
Then we head to bed. I start tearing clothes off and I’M HARD STRAIGHT AWAY (woohoo!) We have sex for about 2 and a half hours, which HAS to be a record for me by a long shot. She is really freaky, but really open and honest. I don’t orgasm until the end (I must admit that is probably due to not being fully rebooted). However I have such an intense orgasm which is purely based on sensation and the moment. It was SUCH a great experience. Especially because the last girl I brought home (pre nofap) was so upset when I couldn’t get it up and she left in a hurry. Not a great experience! self-report
Anyway, I have experience the dreaded chaser effect. I’m so horny the next morning I jerk off when she is in the shower. Also, my brain must have released so much dopamine that evening that I’m really depressed the next day. I masturbate quite a few times (no porn despite massive temptation, and I just think of the experience and the sensation). I’ve reset my counter (it’s all about hard mode right?!) but I’ll keep a seperate counter for myself. It’s good learning for the future. I’ve kept my hands off it today!
Being that we just made the sweet loves last night, my wife decided to tip toe down the hall, and see what I was looking at this morning. (She knows about the chaser effect. She checked my windows: Facebook, angry Birds/ Reddit No fap/ Golf instructor for my daughter. So I did as any No Fap warrior would do. I showed her exactly what the chaser effect really is! And I chased her into the bedroom, And showed her I only chase her affections now! GO ME GO ME GO ME! And now Im late leaving for work…Worth it!
I now call it the Chase~her effect because she makes me want her over and over. I chase her around all day, lol.
Yesterday, I had date #2 with this gorgeous redhead. We went to a movie and afterwards I suggested we go to my place. One thing led to another, and there were orgasms for us both. Really great.Today though, I’ve had a sudden intense desires to fap. And I realized I’m having the chaser effect from having an orgasm yesterday. NoFap typically puts my body into a “healing mode”. My energy feels frustrated and my libido seems slowed down – almost like sleep mode in a computer.
I can almost feel my brain’s dopamine receptors returning to normal (not comfortable btw). But the orgasm yesterday sort of caused it to wind back up again. The natural go-to for this release has always been PMO. Suddenly my urges have returned. All this to say, it’s good to know that the chaser effect is a real thing. And to identify its arrival. Beware the Chaser — First hand testimony
I remember reading about the “chaser effect” 90 days ago and not thinking it would happen to me. How wrong I was! The chaser effect is a powerful thing.
HINTS FROM RESEARCH
While we aren’t aware of any research on the chaser itself, evidence of the effect might be present in the results of these studies:
Do Cyber Pornography Use Inventory-9 Scores Reflect Actual Compulsivity in Internet Pornography Use? Exploring the Role of Abstinence Effort (2017). In men who tried to give up viewing internet porn for 14 days, but were permitted to engage in other “alternative sexual activity” (masturbation, partnered sex and viewing non-internet porn), there was a surprisingly high correlation between engaging in alternative sexual activity and internet porn viewing (“failed abstinence”). In other words, “other sexual activity” did not make it easier to abstain from internet porn. From the paper:
[Tips for understanding the numbers in the table: zero means no correlation between two variables; 1.00 means a complete correlation between two variables. The bigger the number the stronger the correlation between the 2 variables. If a number has a minus sign, it means there’s a negative correlation between two things. (For example, there’s a negative correlation between exercise and heart disease. Thus, in normal language, exercise reduces the chances of heart disease. On the other hand, obesity has a positive correlation with heart disease.]
Daily Sexual Desire and Its Impact on Next-Day Desire and Behavior in Mixed Sex Couples
Excerpt:
Findings indicated that daily sexual desire fuels sexual desire on the following day. This is particularly for men, regardless of whether sexual behavior was engaged in. Additionally, sexual desire on one day impacts next-day desire for partners, particularly on days when sexual behavior occurred.
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