Nofap: My Top 5 benefits

Intro

Nofap is a key habit and one that I believe is fundamental to thrive in the modern world. Particularly as a man.

It’s also one of my beliefs that quitting porn and masturbation is a modern-day rite of passage for men.

This article will explore why I believe that is the case and list what I personally think are the most powerful but often overlooked benefits of committing to abstainence from PMO.

By leaving one of the most alluring, seemingly innocent and pleasurable habits behind, men often are blown away by the impact that it has on their lives moving forward.

For some it can drastic, as if they were living in shades of monochrome grey, and suddenly they’ve been upgraded to seeing in vibrant colour…

Or like they’ve been living their life in a dark cave… having only just stumbled out into the light, and are feeling the beaming warm sunshine on their face for the first time.

Here are my top 5 benefits of nofap.

(PMO = Porn, masturbation, orgasm)

5. You take off the porn-toggles

A porn addict will often see the world through a twisted lens of over-sexualisation.

It’s common for addicts to be lost daydreaming in fantasy at the sight of a beautiful woman.

The problem is that they’ve unintentionally conditioned their brains to see women as objects of sexual gratification, not for the person they are.

When porn is abstained from, women are seen from a much healthier perspective and on equally footing to everyone else.

It can take months to fully return to normal, but as you get the urges under control and the memories of porn you’ve watched begin to fade – everything will begin to normalise.

4. Dopamine re-sensitivity

PMO is the most pleasurable activity you can engaged in outside of something like hard drugs.

What’s more insidious is that it’s so widely available to anyone, at any age with a smartphone and an internet connection.

It’s the equivalent of a drug dealer always living in your pocket… not to mention porn is FREE!

As a result of continued, habitual and often escalating porn use – our brains dopamine receptors begin to shut down in response to the bombardment of supernormal amounts of dopamine being blasted into the receptor sites, the result? Everything else in life becomes boring and dull in comparison to the highs of PMO.

The animation below encapsulates it perfectly.

This has a devastating impact on motivation, which is largely driven by a health dopaminergic system. This can unintentionally lead to a life of seeking comfort and pleasure over activities that will actually move your life forward in a meaningful and fulfilling direction.

For more check out the porn section of my dopamine detox guide and check out Gary Wilsons (RIP) work, https://www.yourbrainonporn.com/

3. Less feelings of shame and guilt

I’m a fan of David R. Hawkins and his studies of higher and lower emotional states of consciousness.

Ask yourself this question… how do you feel after a PMO relapse, once the short lived high has dissipated?

Do you feel pure love, joy and the courage and willingness to tackle all your goals and pursue your dreams?

Probably not.

What’s mostly likely is that you’ll feel shame and guilt, knowing that you’ve sabotaged yourself once again and given in to lust, short-term pleasure and instant gratification.

For more information check out this post – Shame – Why you need to stop watching porn right now!

How feelings of shame and guilt manifest in our daily lives

When someone feels shame and guilt, they want to hide from the world.

It’s as if they have a horrible, disgusting secret that no one can ever know.

If it’s true that are feelings become our thoughts, and our thoughts become our actions. Then it becomes obvious to me why men who practice abstinence from PMO commonly report big reductions in social anxiety, have improved eye contact and generally feel much lighter and at ease in social interactions.

2. Nofap creates a snowball effect for other positive habits

For a lot of guys, nofap can be the catalyst for greater change and self-improvement.

It’s very common to report much more energy during a nofap streak without PMO. I personally believe there’s something to semen retention and life force energy.

Great athletes like Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson would abstain from sex leading up to a fight because they felt it sapped their energy, focus and will.

It’s very common that on a significant nofap streak, guys can find themselves wanting to improve their fitness by joining a gym and improving their diets.

As well as broadening their horizons by learning new skills or working towards improving their social lives and charisma.

Why does this happen?

I believe there’s two main reasons for this.

One being neurochemical, due to regaining sensitivity to dopamine talked about above.

Two being a higher self-esteem. This is due to lessening feelings of shame and guilt. They no longer have something they’re not proud of and it’s common for thoughts like… ‘what else can I achieve or improve’ naturally making them want to strive for more.

1. Forces you to confront underlying issues

I think this is the #1 benefit of nofap.

Many guys use PMO to escape negative emotions whether they want to admit it or not.

For many it will be loneliness, doubt, fear, certain anxieties and hopelessness.

Porn is basically like a feel good button you can push at any point whenever you feel slight discomfort.

It’s that discomfort and really sitting in those negative emotions that act as the necessary catalyst to bring about change. Porn takes advantage of the fact that as a species, we gravitate towards comfort as opposed to what’s challenging and stretches our comfort zone.

As abstinence from PMO progresses, those feelings you’ve been hiding from will arise and you’ll be given a great opportunity to confront them and get to the root cause. Instead of defaulting back to brushing them under the rug with porn use.

Conclusion

These are my personal top benefits but there’s plenty more.

They’re likely to be different for others, and to varying magnitudes.

I believe that anyone with moderate porn usage can benefit from a period of abstinence.

If you’re skeptical like I was, then I encourage you to give it a go for at least 30 days before you write off Nofap as nonsense because your results might just shock you and change your life for the better.

Check out the countless success stories found on https://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/