All about Dopamine and PMO!

Hi fellow fapstronauts.

Here's a bit about myself: I recently joined NoFap and I'm on day 10 hard mode, on my way to a reboot of 90 days. I think I have made a meaningful connection between a few things. I'll also talk about the habits that are helping me in this journey.

I'm making this post about my opinion and experience on how dopamine and PMO affect us.

For those who don't know what dopamine is, it's one of the hormones our body generates as part of the reward system. In simple terms, if you feel satisfied/very happy, it's because of the dopamine release in our body. Dopamine is generated whenever we finish any pending tasks, workout, smoke a cigarette, kiss someone, or orgasm. You see a pattern? It's all about those bursts of happiness.

When we PMO regularly, our body keeps on generating dopamine, and after a while, since it gets used to PMO it generates a smaller amount as time goes on. Now we like this happy feeling, and we always want more (seems like addiction??). So that's why many of us face the irresistible urge for masturbation.

As we are used to getting this dopamine every day (or several times a day), it's really difficult to let go of orgasms. This is also one of the reasons quitting smoking is difficult. Normally we should be rewarded (with dopamine) when we do some task and are successful, but with easy access to porn, we are hacking ourselves to get that dose of happy hormone without having to work for it. I'm sure many of you might have also felt a bit of shame after orgasm, and I think it's because of that. Now let me tell you where I'm going with this.

If we want to successfully quit PMO, we have to replace that dopamine triggering act with something else (if that makes sense). One of the best things to do (which is healthy too) is doing some form of exercise. For most people, starting the exercise is the most difficult part; and almost everyone feels much better after a workout even if it's a 5 minute one. That sense of accomplishment gives us the necessary happy feeling and we're less likely to resort to masturbation.

I hoped you liked my reasoning and explanation. I am currently on day 10 hard mode. Let me tell you the habits that keep me off PMO. I am waking up a little bit earlier than I used to and actually getting a bit of work done in the morning. I do little 5-20 min workouts every day and I can see my body changing. I am a bit more conscious about what I eat (I already was) and I'm eating a tiny bit more healthy. When put together, all these things make me really happy, and I don't feel that compulsive urge to masturbate. I believe that if I continued living the way I was (lazy, procrastinating the tiniest task, and unmotivated in life), I wouldn't have been able to stay off porn for even 2 days.

Cheers,
msfreedom

 

I do not know how long it will take. I believe it'll take at least 3 weeks for one to take control.
And as Address007 said, it's also about dopamine receptor sensitivity. It'll take a bit of time and effort, but it's definitely achievable.

 

I think I've seen some video similar to that. The general idea is that it resembles the brain activity of an addict.
There are many resources online which talk about these things, and I just made this post about what I experienced. A lot of things are obviously interrelated, such as PMO, working out, dopamine, eating better, better habits, procrastination, etc. I could talk for hours about it )

 

I think I used the wrong term there. Hard mode means in addition to PMO, you don't have intercourse with a sexual partner. I meant PMO.

 

Thank you!

And yeah maybe it'll take more time, but you need to start somewhere.. so I am going for 90 days. I have realized the changes that I want to see in myself, and it'll take some time to rewire the brain.. but I think I can do it

 

Wow, thanks!

 

Congrats on making it so far! What are the most drastic changes you can see in yourself?