NoFap and REM sleep

Recently I started reading "Why we sleep" by Matthew Walker. I have yet to finish the book but yesterday I came across the chapter about REM sleep. After reading this chapter it all clicked all of a sudden, how porn affects the abillity to get a good amount of REM sleep and how that in turn affects our lives.

What is REM sleep?

REM sleep or Rapid Eye Movement sleep is the state in which people dream. REM sleep has plenty more benefits but this is how people can recognize it. This is the state in which all muscles are completly relaxed and you start having dreams.

During this state of the sleep cycle, the neurons in our brains fire rapidely, almost at the same speed as we are awake and try to comprehend what is happening in our surroundings.

Start of REM sleep

According to Matthew Walker, REM sleep is the biggest contributor to modern human life. Our ancestors were used to sleeping in trees to elevate them from predators, insects, bugs and such. Due to this one half of the brain continously needed to be awake (for muscle activity) so that we didn't fall out of the trees. As a result we could not have had any REM sleep, because it requires both brain halves to be at 'sleep'.

The Homo Erectus discovered fire which allowed them to sleep on the ground level. The fire protected from big predators and the smoke that arose from it was a good reppelent against mosquitos and such. Because the homo erectus could sleep on the floor, no muscle activity was needed. This resulted in the start of the REM sleep for humans and ever since the human race dominated all species across the globe.

What does REM sleep do?

REM sleep is responsible for dreaming but also for the development of emotional IQ and the processing of long term memories.

The reason why your neuros fire so rapidly during this fase of sleep is because they are analyzing all the information of the day and selecting which is important or not. The important information gets stored in the brain and links are being made with older data. This allows use to come up with creative new ideas and/or solutions.

Furthermore it interpretates feelings and emotions that people have during the day, allowing them to gain more control over them.

REM sleep and PMO

A person who PMO's allot and becomes addicted, is marked by an apparent suppression of SWS and a complete suppression of REM sleep. Treatment with D2 (but not D1 ) dopamine receptor agonists recovers REM sleep in mice." While low D2 receptor density (common in addictions, including PMO) messes with slow-wave sleep a little, it has a MASSIVE impact on REM sleep. Low D2 receptor density in the brain=suppressed REM sleep=decreased dreaming, and less vivid dreaming, and less dream recall.

YBOP has postulated that a clean reboot will ultimately upregulate D2 receptors in the brain. This probably at least partially explains a large portion of common nofap benefits (more energy, motivation, emotion, love, social skills, focus, etc) and DEFINITELY explains why nofappers commonly get to a point in their reboot where markedly vivid dreams begin to occur. And these vivid dreams often occur during or shortly before other major changes occur: a return of morning wood, end of flatline, end of PIED, superpowers, etc.

Research that has been conducted show how important REM sleep is for people. In experiments scientists blocked the REM sleep of mice and what they found is that they were socially not engaging. This can also be found with baby's where the mother consumes alcohol during the pregnancy.

Summary

For me this explains why people that are addicted to PMO have social anxiety, brain fog and bad school results. Because the lack of REM sleep they decrease their emotional IQ and decrease their ability to process new information and link it to 'old' data.

So keep on sleeping guys and when you start to have vivid dreams, know that benefits are just around the corner