Vivid dreams

Alyx87 · May 12, 2017

There have been a number of threads (pretty old) about vivid dreams while on nofap.

Care to share your experiences? This is a post from Reddit. What do you think about the explanation behind this phenomena?

Personally I've found this to be the #1 cause of relapses in the past weeks. I have very bad dreams related to my ex and I just can't handle them. I'm currently taking a deliberate break from nofap for this reason.

I didn't have any or very few dreams for years. That's from smoking weed (been clean for over half a year now) but as it turns out also from fapping. Now every single night I get more than one. They are semi-lucid. Tonight for instance I had a conversation with a guy and carefully worded my responses, controlling the conversation and not just answering every question straight. I also recalled certain situations from my life and brought them up, and I was able to walk around the venue where we were chatting to look around.

I've noticed a lot of people here include "vivid dreams" or "I'm dreaming again" in their benefits or effects of nofap. This is good news, because the evidence is conclusive: dreaming is a product of the reward pathways of your brain (ie the ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens) firing up, which is driven by dopamine transmission. while PMO and excessive O likely do not cause problems with dopamine itself, it has been shown fairly conclusively to downregulate D2 receptors and it might also mess with dopamine transporters, both of which do not allow you to feel dopamine's effects as easily.

When vivid dreams starts, its a good sign: you are re-sensitizing your desensitized reward circuits. Down the line this should lead to an increase in libido, a lift from depression and anhedonia, focus and motivation issues, etc etc.

This information is readily available through a simple google search, but if you'd like, here is a nice summary from wikipedia:

"Two main frontal areas have been implicated in the dream process. The first involves the deep white matter of the frontal lobes (just above the eyes). The main systems at work here involve the mesolimbic and mesocortical dopaminergic pathways. There are connecting fibres that run between frontal and limbic structures. A dopaminergic pathway runs from the ventral tegmental area, ascends through the lateral hypothalamus, various basal forebrain areas (nucleus basalis, stria terminalis, shell of nucleus accumbens) and terminates in the amygdala, anterior cingulate gyrus and frontal cortex. Damage to the dopaminergic pathway results in a loss of dreaming. Furthermore, chemical stimulation of the pathway (with L-DOPA for example) increases the frequency and vividness of dreams without affecting REM sleep.[10] It is interesting to note that the mesolimbic and mesocortical pathways are considered the seeking areas or the motivational command centers of the brain. Damage not only results in the loss of dreams but also of motivated behaviour.[6] Transection or inhibition of the dopamine pathway also reduces some positive symptoms of schizophrenia, many of which have been likened to dream-like states. Drugs that block the system have anti-psychotic effects but also reduce excessive and vivid dreaming.[10] Further evidence that dreaming can occur independently of REM sleep is found in the occurrence of nocturnal seizures during NREM that often present themselves as nightmares. Activation here is seen in the temporal lobe, again a forebrain area.[6][10]"
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Deleted Account · May 12, 2017

I literally just woke up from one. Now let me start off by saying I have absolutely no idea. But listen to this.

You know how you would smoke weed and not really have vivid dreams that much? And then you stop for a period of time and vivid dreams come back. What if this correlates w PMO. If both releases dopamine in your brain, MAYBE that's why there's no vivid dreams. The dopamine has been released in an unnatural way, not saying this is a bad thing idk. You could also argue that Mary Jane and MO (not P) IS natural.

orison · May 12, 2017

when u stop masturbating you start dreaming again, dreaming is good it helps you become aware of what your struggling with ur unconscious desires, your deceptive heart, that you need to fix.

i suffered with a breakup for along while too,
losing one's idol put's us in pieces,
what i would suggest is reconnecting with god,
and only god can heal the heart,
the more you run from your demons the more they chase you,
face them with gods help your healed

dreams express our desires and are a means of coping with reality,
find out in your what your hiding in the depths of your heart, what is bothering your about ur ex.
usually it's an unfulfilled desire, attachment, a "hope" of getting back together, you haven't let go completely yet, and you should if you want to heal.
what i would suggest is taking procedural steps to assure you will never be together again,
eliminating that false hope completely

do not stop nofap it's great, fapping is self emasculation will make you feel miserable ,
one of the benefits of non masturbation dreaming again your just viewing it from a negative perspective

peace brother

Deleted Account · May 12, 2017

Yeah sleep with her mom to burn your bridges with her. Works every time

Here2learn17 · May 28, 2018

6 weeks in with no relapse and just started having Vivid dreams. Could also be due to not smoking weed for the past couple of weeks. Makes me want to also take a break from smoking for a while.

My dream was about a porn star I frequently looked at seducing me and another similar looking lady (both Latina) giving me her number. Good to know this is a common side effect. I felt like I was going crazy.

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Vivid dreams

Alyx87 Fapstronaut

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