93 days and counting. My reflections and March 2022 report.

N

nonfap

Fapstronaut
Day 93:

April 2-0/2, 100%

Now that I've had no PMO, MO, O or binges/edging for a while, I'm reflecting on March 2022 and also where I'm at now. (Also, see my last 2 monthly reports for some ideas of how I got here, the link is in my signature).

(NOTE: For a quick good tip this month, skip to #5 at the bottom)

Somehow I'm here at 93 days and they haven't been perfect but I've definitely made progress and rebooted to a certain degree. I've had no PMO or MO or O.

I have definitely broken the cycle of PMO to a certain degree.

I remember, not too long ago, I would fail after a few days or a week or a few weeks. Failing with full PMO and binges/ edging.

I know I've had urges and desires in March and there have been P subs. But right now, I really feel a few desires but PMO and P and MO are not one of them.

I do feel a strong desire for a real woman and sex. But not only sex but even just a quality relationship and quality time together. That desire is strong within me.

I also feel desires to work on projects and get things done. I also feel a desire to just rest and relax.

As I think about PMO addiction and my 20+ years of past trouble with it. I'm amazed that I do not desire it.

The thought of opening up a browser and finding P and then edging/binging and MO seems strange and distant to me at this time. I really have no desire for it right now.

I want to just rest much more. I really don't desire PMO etc. at all right now.

This amazes me because I'm at home alone right now.

What I can highlight and note is that the desire for PMO etc, may be there more when I'm under a lot of stress. Currently my life is largely stress free from many major stresses in life (although not 100%).

Only when I've felt under the highest levels of stress recently, is when I've had the urges for MO.

Here are some key factors that come to mind now...

1. I believe MO, PMO etc is no longer my systems default stress relief method. I believe O is a powerful stress relief source due to the flood of dopamine. When obtained with MO and PMO, this can easily lead to a strong cycle of addiction.

2. I also believe my progress/success is tied to the healthy dopamine sources I've tried to focus on.

3. My new tracking system seems to be going well so far this year. I also believe consistent tracking is key.

4. No doubt my the participation in the NoFap forums and in my accountability group here has helped with consistency, encouragement and motivation. I can't thank God enough for my accountability group and the NoFap forums.

5. My diet (which hasn't been perfect) has been focusing on increasing omega 3 and reducing omega 6. The theory I heard is that we need both omega 3 and omega 6, but omega 6 cancels out omega 3 and the modern diet (largely vegetable oils) has tons and tons of omega 6. The only thing that has lots of omega 3 (and virtually no omega 6) is fish and fish oils, (salmon and mackerel being highest in omega 3). Omega 3 is what our brains are made out of and helps brain cell production, but in the modern diet full of vegetable oils, we get little omega 3. My theory is that increasing omega 3 and reducing omega 6 helps with overall brain health and especially during a reboot when we are trying to rewire our brains. The rewiring process probably is helped by increased omega 3 to utilize in the process. This is my theory but I believe it has helped as I have started eating more fish for about 4 or 5 months (going for 1 can of sardines in water per day). And in the month of March I've increased fish even more and tried to reduce vegetable oils and omega 6 overall.

6. Continuing to go to the gym regularly. Maybe 2 or 3 times per week on average.

7. Prayer and help from God to equip me with the strength in times of weakness and to discover the knowledge and practice needed to quit.

In conclusion.
Over the years I've taken in a lot of info about quitting PMO. I've had success off and on. My best streaks were not perfect but I've had maybe 2 or 3 over 100+ days, in the 5+ years I've been on the NoFap forums. This would be one more time when I get past 100 days. But this time has been overall much easier and smoother somehow. I think I'm using all the info I've taken in and everything I'm trying is adding up to produce results. I believe my reboot is firmly in place and continuing. I have no desire for PMO etc, at this time. While I have had a strong desire and longing for a quality relationship with a woman, I haven't felt a strong desire for PMO etc and I don't feel any desire for it at all at this moment. In fact the thought of it doesn't sound tempting or appealing to me at all at this moment.
 
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Thanks for sharing your experience. I got very interested in your use of healthy dopamine sources. Sometimes I feel that in my streaks I'm passively carried by motivation (which runs out quickly) or habit (which takes time to kick in, and can be broken easily), so I would like to also have more active tools to rely on.

So, please, give us more details about how do you use the healthy dopamine sources in practice. For example:

  1. Do you use it in a preventive or responsive protocol? I mean, do you use it when you feel a stress pressure/urges, or do you have it in your routine by default?
  2. In your first report, you mention some healthy dopamine sources. Please, tell us which are you using now, and which you found of little use.
  3. What's your current opinion about the use of P subs as a source of dopamine? I have a P sub source that allows me to fulfil my women beauty appreciation desire, without the problems of social media compulsive use, but I don't know if it will end up making things even more difficult.
 
FantasticReport said:
Thanks for sharing your experience. I got very interested in your use of healthy dopamine sources. Sometimes I feel that in my streaks I'm passively carried by motivation (which runs out quickly) or habit (which takes time to kick in, and can be broken easily), so I would like to also have more active tools to rely on.

So, please, give us more details about how do you use the healthy dopamine sources in practice. For example:

  1. Do you use it in a preventive or responsive protocol? I mean, do you use it when you feel a stress pressure/urges, or do you have it in your routine by default?
  2. In your first report, you mention some healthy dopamine sources. Please, tell us which are you using now, and which you found of little use.
  3. What's your current opinion about the use of P subs as a source of dopamine? I have a P sub source that allows me to fulfil my women beauty appreciation desire, without the problems of social media compulsive use, but I don't know if it will end up making things even more difficult.
Click to expand...

You're welcome @FantasticReport . I'm glad to give more details...

1. I would say both but mainly preventative with the goal of keeping my dopamine levels high all day from alternative healthy dopamine sources (I consider P, PMO, binging, edging and drugs and maybe too many video games as unhealthy dopamine source). I haven't had to use many reactive but the main reactive that comes to mind is taking a nap when I'm tired (I believe provides a little dopamine). Also maybe shopping or window shopping or searching for something maybe when in need reactive (I hear dopamine is connected to the searching/finding reward system in the brain). Although, it seems the preventative goes a long way. I'll talk more about that in my the next answer.

2. There are many dopamine sources. But I believe the dietary and exercise sources provide the most and it's overall healthy. A lot of this for me has been learning how to eat healthy for a long life (I recommend listening to the Lifespan podcast for this).

I don't know where this video got it's data about dopamine but I think it's accurate and I recommend watching it for ideas of healthy dopamine sources (although not all sources mentioned in the video are healthy)


Here are more details about my main healthy dopamine sources ...

a. Loose leaf (first flush) green tea (Gyokuro & Kabusecha are best or also Sencha). I drink green tea every morning brewed 1 teaspoon for about 1-3 minutes at ~160-175 degrees F. Then I will do a second and third brew with the same leafs. The second and third brew I started doing with hotter water about ~200F and longer times. Also add monkfruit sweetener (no sugar) and sometimes lemon and/or apple cider vinegar (these help with absorption). I drink green tea because there are studies that link green tea to providing dopamine and dopamine precursor molecules . (Here's just one article). I've been very consistent with this for many months and I believe it does have an impact.

b. Exercising at the gym about 2 to 4 times per week on average. I believe this also has a significant impact. My body has changed. I've become leaner and certainly more healthy. On my own, I don't have the motivation for this. But I'm fortunate to have a good friend who has been going to the gym every day for over 10 years and I can go with him any day. I just do what he does. I rarely try to lift heavy. But getting body, blood and muscles moving on a regular basis provides a lot of health and other benefits.

c. I have been learning about healthy eating for lifespan and overall and the factor 5 in the first post on this thread about omega 3 and omega 6 is significant I believe. I also observe this because I've been eating more fish and a can of sardines almost every day for about 6+ months now. I believe this has had an impact. Here is another article about raising dopamine naturally (but it does mention vegetable oils as a source of omega 3 which is true but they also have tons of omega 6 which cancels the omega 3 so I'd avoid the vegetable oils).

d. For me learning new things is a significant source of dopamine. I have so many interests and I really enjoy taking in new information and learning new things and how to do things and how things are made. I believe this provides a consistent (but fairly random) source of dopamine that has been significant for me. I've learned about healthy diet, lifespan and dopamine because of this.

e. I think those are the main ones. I'll try to post more if I find or remember other significant sources. Some things like taking a shower, or going for walk can provide a very small amount of dopamine. It's a small amount but I believe every little bit of healthy dopamine adds up.

I believe all these things together are producing higher levels of dopamine and overall better health and brain health. I believe this significantly helps the reboot (rewire of the brain) process away from PMO/binging/edging. I believe the reboot process would take longer and be more difficult without these . I believe this combined with no MO or O this year has helped a lot (because O and MO are large sources of dopamine). All this with the no MO or O may have made the difference for me during these 90+ days now.

3. I've allowed P subs with no MO or O for me this year and it seems to be going well, but I'd like to avoid P subs too in the future. This may be working well for me because I'm older now (40s). I don't know. Also, a number of years back I was able to stay away from P by just allowing P subs and MO. I did this for a while but I don't remember how long. So it may be easier for me to not cross the boundary past P subs and into P because to this in my past. Even this year I've had glimpses of P but I have always looked away immediately and I haven't given in to a relapse and P and PMO binging edging.

My take on the P subs has been that they will be impossible to avoid totally. I would consider some women swimming, at the gym or even walking down the street P subs. It's difficult to tell if it will help you or the opposite. I believe P subs for me has been less and less each month, but maybe only a little less each month.

I need to try to avoid P sub binges, which I've had. But if I do come across a P sub without looking for them, I am currently taking a look or two. For me, this will lead to a binge if I'm having urges or a difficult time. But the binges with P subs do seem to burn off after a while and then eventually (maybe a few days) I will get back to a completely normal state with no urges.

Like right now I don't have many urges, but I am tired and I was having minor urges before. I believe my urges have gone due partially to the dopamine from writing this post and participating on the NoFap forums. I'll take a nap soon too and that should give me more dopamine.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you find any sources of dopamine that you believe are working and significant for you.
 
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Also, I was reviewing this video on dopamine again and I recommend viewing it.


Here are the things he mentions that I believe are working/helping for me.

L Theonine and Tyrosine - I believe the green tea has a lot of this

Vitamin B6 and B5 - I've been having spring mix salads with quality olive oil (olive oil is actually not vegetable oil), balsamic vinegar and a serving of non fortified nutritional yeast (15g) which looks like a lot of nutritional yeast. The nutritional yeast has a lot of B vitamins and lately it seems like I can feel a good feeling it provides as my system digests it. I believe this is providing some dopamine also.

Vinegar - Apple cider and balsamic - This makes you more acidy and helps your system digest/break down and absorb nutrients overall.

Exercise - Going to the gym like I mentioned

Vitamin D - I haven't focused much of this but plan to start trying more by getting more sun on my skin, for a short time only to avoid burn. I also may be getting more in my diet through fish (cod liver in a can).

Reduction of stress - I try to avoid stress. Not the physical workout stress but just the everyday stress that happens in life. Especially in the beginning of this year I tried not to take on too many tasks on my plate and just focus on freedom from PMO/edging/binging.

After learning about dopamine, I see it as a key factor in probably many addictions. I recommend learning more about dopamine.
 
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nonfap said:
You're welcome @FantasticReport . I'm glad to give more details...

1. I would say both but mainly preventative with the goal of keeping my dopamine levels high all day from alternative healthy dopamine sources (I consider P, PMO, binging, edging and drugs and maybe too many video games as unhealthy dopamine source). I haven't had to use many reactive but the main reactive that comes to mind is taking a nap when I'm tired (I believe provides a little dopamine). Also maybe shopping or window shopping or searching for something maybe when in need reactive (I hear dopamine is connected to the searching/finding reward system in the brain). Although, it seems the preventative goes a long way. I'll talk more about that in my the next answer.

2. There are many dopamine sources. But I believe the dietary and exercise sources provide the most and it's overall healthy. A lot of this for me has been learning how to eat healthy for a long life (I recommend listening to the Lifespan podcast for this).

I don't know where this video got it's data about dopamine but I think it's accurate and I recommend watching it for ideas of healthy dopamine sources (although not all sources mentioned in the video are healthy)


Here are more details about my main healthy dopamine sources ...

a. Loose leaf (first flush) green tea (Gyokuro & Kabusecha are best or also Sencha). I drink green tea every morning brewed 1 teaspoon for about 1-3 minutes at ~160-175 degrees F. Then I will do a second and third brew with the same leafs. The second and third brew I started doing with hotter water about ~200F and longer times. Also add monkfruit sweetener (no sugar) and sometimes lemon and/or apple cider vinegar (these help with absorption). I drink green tea because there are studies that link green tea to providing dopamine and dopamine precursor molecules . (Here's just one article). I've been very consistent with this for many months and I believe it does have an impact.

b. Exercising at the gym about 2 to 4 times per week on average. I believe this also has a significant impact. My body has changed. I've become leaner and certainly more healthy. On my own, I don't have the motivation for this. But I'm fortunate to have a good friend who has been going to the gym every day for over 10 years and I can go with him any day. I just do what he does. I rarely try to lift heavy. But getting body, blood and muscles moving on a regular basis provides a lot of health and other benefits.

c. I have been learning about healthy eating for lifespan and overall and the factor 5 in the first post on this thread about omega 3 and omega 6 is significant I believe. I also observe this because I've been eating more fish and a can of sardines almost every day for about 6+ months now. I believe this has had an impact. Here is another article about raising dopamine naturally (but it does mention vegetable oils as a source of omega 3 which is true but they also have tons of omega 6 which cancels the omega 3 so I'd avoid the vegetable oils).

d. For me learning new things is a significant source of dopamine. I have so many interests and I really enjoy taking in new information and learning new things and how to do things and how things are made. I believe this provides a consistent (but fairly random) source of dopamine that has been significant for me. I've learned about healthy diet, lifespan and dopamine because of this.

e. I think those are the main ones. I'll try to post more if I find or remember other significant sources. Some things like taking a shower, or going for walk can provide a very small amount of dopamine. It's a small amount but I believe every little bit of healthy dopamine adds up.

I believe all these things together are producing higher levels of dopamine and overall better health and brain health. I believe this significantly helps the reboot (rewire of the brain) process away from PMO/binging/edging. I believe the reboot process would take longer and be more difficult without these . I believe this combined with no MO or O this year has helped a lot (because O and MO are large sources of dopamine). All this with the no MO or O may have made the difference for me during these 90+ days now.

3. I've allowed P subs with no MO or O for me this year and it seems to be going well, but I'd like to avoid P subs too in the future. This may be working well for me because I'm older now (40s). I don't know. Also, a number of years back I was able to stay away from P by just allowing P subs and MO. I did this for a while but I don't remember how long. So it may be easier for me to not cross the boundary past P subs and into P because to this in my past. Even this year I've had glimpses of P but I have always looked away immediately and I haven't given in to a relapse and P and PMO binging edging.

My take on the P subs has been that they will be impossible to avoid totally. I would consider some women swimming, at the gym or even walking down the street P subs. It's difficult to say if it will help you the opposite. I believe P subs for me has been less and less each month, but maybe only a little less each month.

I need to try to avoid P sub binges, which I've had. But if I do come across a P sub without looking for them, I am currently taking a look or two. For me, this will lead to a binge if I'm having urges or a difficult time. But the binges with P subs do seem to burn off after a while and then eventually (maybe a few days) I will get back to a completely normal state with no urges.

Like right now I don't have many urges, but I am tired and I was having minor urges before. I believe my urges have gone due partially to the dopamine from writing this post and participating on the NoFap forums. I'll take a nap soon too and that should give me more dopamine.

I hope this helps. Please let me know if you find any sources of dopamine that you believe are working and significant for you.
Click to expand...
thanks a ton for making these posts, man! Lot of useful info in them.......especially about natural dopamine sources and about omega-3. Keep it going, man! I look forward to 150 days post from you!
 
Asgardian36 said:
thanks a ton for making these posts, man! Lot of useful info in them.......especially about natural dopamine sources and about omega-3. Keep it going, man! I look forward to 150 days post from you!
Click to expand...

You're welcome and thanks for your encouragement. I believe I can make it to 150 days but I still need to take it one day at a time. I'll be so glad when I pass 100 days (I believe I will achieve it).
 
Interesting information. Thanks!

I will consider eating more sardines, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I drink the green tea and yeast every day, in the form of kombucha and kefir(although there are still not many studies about them).

Something that I recently started taking seriously is my sunlight exposure. I added 2 hours of sunbath as soon as I wake up. Direct sunlight (not through the window glass), without sunglasses. I feel this elevates my mood during the day. Besides the dopamine gains that comes with it, getting sunlight exposure as early as possible is also important to regulate the circadian cycle, as Huberman explains in his podcast (this segment). This has been working very well for my, also because I can them stay away from the PC, and use my phone with everything blocked except my study app. So, I end up having 2 productive hours, first thing in the morning.

In the above-mentioned episode, Huberman also explains that watching the sunset is also useful (this segment). So, I eat my evening snack or dinner by the window, watching the sunset. I think this is a pleasurable experience that also helps with the dopamine.

It's good to mention music, too. For example, music brings me up towards the end of the working day, when I'm tired. At those moments, I go with Classical Music, because lyrics can make me distracted.
 
FantasticReport said:
Interesting information. Thanks!

I will consider eating more sardines, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I drink the green tea and yeast every day, in the form of kombucha and kefir(although there are still not many studies about them).

Something that I recently started taking seriously is my sunlight exposure. I added 2 hours of sunbath as soon as I wake up. Direct sunlight (not through the window glass), without sunglasses. I feel this elevates my mood during the day. Besides the dopamine gains that comes with it, getting sunlight exposure as early as possible is also important to regulate the circadian cycle, as Huberman explains in his podcast (this segment). This has been working very well for my, also because I can them stay away from the PC, and use my phone with everything blocked except my study app. So, I end up having 2 productive hours, first thing in the morning.

In the above-mentioned episode, Huberman also explains that watching the sunset is also useful (this segment). So, I eat my evening snack or dinner by the window, watching the sunset. I think this is a pleasurable experience that also helps with the dopamine.

It's good to mention music, too. For example, music brings me up towards the end of the working day, when I'm tired. At those moments, I go with Classical Music, because lyrics can make me distracted.
Click to expand...

Yes I find this all very interesting. I have more comments on it...

After reflecting more... I just wrote this in my journal ...

"On the side of O and MO, it needs to be disassociated with P during a reboot. It's called the Pavlov response I believe. His experiment, when the dog hears the bell, it starts to salivate because it associates the bell with food. In the case of PMO, O is a source of a lot of dopamine. When we see P and then MO every time, the P gets associated with M and O. For a long time, my previous attempts at reboot were wrong. I would notice that if I saw P and didn't MO I would continue to have a lot of trouble until I PMO. So I would just PMO to reset completely and try to start over. This whole PMO was essentially a simulated form of sex which is very powerful and even worse with binging / edging. So my brain associated P with O or MO or PMO. And so it was like a whole package. If I MO without P, something is missing. I thought to try this only allowing P subs and no MO or O at all. MO and O provides much more dopamine that P subs or even P. So I needed to quit MO completely. I have no woman in my life so there is no O also. Maybe no O is better for reboot of 90 days or more. At some point, O with the woman in my life would have to be brought back in, but still no MO (or PMO). I would need to only let O be associated with the woman in my life.
This disassociation of P and MO and O, I believe is one of the keys to my success this year. When the sexual dopamine of O is decreased or gone during reboot and replaced with healthy dopamine (mostly diet/exercise based), this produced my results this year, I believe."

I believe this is big for me this year.

I'm not sure if or not the kombucha would have as much of the dopamine related compounds as fresh brewed green tea. And the Gyokuro and Kabusecha are shaded green teas that are supposed to have much more of the good stuff. Also in regards to green tea, the best is the freshest from the same years harvest. With black tea, it can be old and it's ok, maybe even better.

I've also been drinking a serving of kefir most days recently and I wonder if it is working well with the nutritional yeast also.

In regards to light and sleep, I forgot to mention that exercise and sleep go together and good sleep in important. I heard and I've mostly practiced for a few months, taking a walk outside at 10 am every day. And looking at bright things. I think I've found it helps with my sleep.

Also, I had my nutritional yeast salad yesterday in the evening and I did seem to notice I had above average motivation in the morning. I may try to keep this up.

I will also try what you mentioned about the sunset and listening to music in the evening. That sounds like it should be good. I need to get a good evening routine focused on dopamine. I've really only done things in the morning so far to increase preventative dopamine.

And WOW.. I just heard this after starting to listen to the link you posted ... How many times have I had a binge late at night looking at a screen. The PMO binge is giving me dopamine and the late night screen is decreasing dopamine and increasing disappointment and depression. Then this further reinforces the PMO dopamine addiction cycle. That's a good link and speaker. I'll look into him more. Thanks.

UPDATE: Oh wow, his most watched is Controlling Your Dopamine For Motivation, Focus & Satisfaction ... this should be good.
 
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One more interesting dopamine source: laughing. Some days ago, I was having urges, but, by chance, I watched a funny video that made me laugh, and left that good body sensation. After this, I noticed that the sexual thoughts, for some hours, seemed way less interesting than before. So, I think I will use humor as a healthy reward to be used in some situations. Some time ago I heard a fellow explaining that he collects jokes and funny things to uses to bring his mood up.

nonfap said:
UPDATE: Oh wow, his most watched is Controlling Your Dopamine For Motivation, Focus & Satisfaction ... this should be good.
Click to expand...

I'm still listening to that episode that you pointed out, but I see that he talks (this section) about something that I have already seen him mentioning before: randomization of the reward. So, I think I will create a list of sources of dopamine that are optional to my activities (I mean, some activities, like exercise, are not optional), so these sources are used randomly. For example:
  • listening to music
  • rewarding with humor (as mentioned above)
  • rewarding with tasty food
On a side note, it's interesting to see that Huberman is not a denier of the porn related problems (this section).
 
@FantasticReport I watched some sections of that video and it was insightful and consistent with other things I've heard about dopamine.

It sounds to me like many many things give us dopamine. I heard ( and I think he said) that we get dopamine from the pursuit and anticipation of the reward and we also get dopamine if we achieve the goal (we also get other brain rewards when we achieve the goal).

I think of this funny illustration. I believe if I am out somewhere and I need to use the bathroom very bad. There is a stress, so I search for a bathroom. I get a little dopamine just from the search. Then I see a bathroom, and I get more dopamine because I believe I'm almost achieving the goal of relief. Then if the bathroom is out of order, I get stressed again and begin the search again and the cycle starts again. But if the bathroom is in order, and I use it and get relief, I'm getting the most dopamine for achieving the goal of relief.

From my understanding there is also the "baseline" or I imagine it as an average level of dopamine constantly flowing (similar to blood). If that dopamine flow level gets low, we crave more dopamine to increase it back to average. If it gets too high we might feel a come down affect. I believe our bodies want to keep the dopamine flow level consistent and close to the average. When we have wild swings it can contribute to addiction. (I've heard similar things about blood sugar/glucose recently, our bodies want to maintain a consistent blood glucose level, but we keep flooding it with sugar drinks and sugar foods and lots of carbs, making the body work unnecessarily to keep consistent blood glucose. That's the theory I heard anyway).

I'm also thinking we have different dopamine "profiles" or "channels" I'll call them. I mean for me the PMO addiction is one channel. If I find myself too low on dopamine, my body knows it can switch to that channel and I'll have cravings for O, MO, PMO and binging edging to get a lot of dopamine. Right now during reboot I'm both establishing and switching over to another dopamine profile/channel . I say switching over because I believe the channel may have been somewhat established in my brain before due to previous reboot attempts and successes. (My progress was not lost).

Another notable thing he mentioned was that people with fairly healthy and stable dopamine profiles even tend to get burnt out after years of doing the same routine. I believe for me this ties in to learning new things, going new places, meeting new people. All of those give dopamine and I think there is a lot or the most dopamine from a source when it is new.

Anyway, I could probably go on and on here as dopamine is a fascinating topic as well as the brain and body.

I'm just so glad I believe I'm on the right track and I believe I have the knowledge of how to continue down the path of reboot and complete recovery from PMO addiction after all these years.
 
Thank you very much for sharing your success story. It is stories like these that can help inspire new members here. To new members, read some of the old success stories. NoFap was in its peak years ago, so it's important to check out those stories including the new ones as a lot of people like this man here have changed their lives. I believe there is a success story for each one of us as each journey is different. Find one that resonates with you.
 
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