What does porn do to your brain?
Once upon a time, masturbation called for a lot of imagination. It was a rehearsal for the real thing: "First I will gently kiss her soft lips…and then brush my fingers over the lace of her bra…." No longer.
Times have changed—and so have porn and the way it is delivered to our brains. Now, you can watch unlimited porn on your screen. There is porn to every single kind of taste. You'll watch a woman who's filtered and customized move her body to please everyone but her.
The best part of using porn...is its benefits: social anxiety, disinterest in sex, desensitized genitals, inability to orgasm during partnered sex, tiredness, and decreased sexual satisfaction.
Our brain didn't evolve to handle today's erotica-at-a-click. Streaming porn, smartphone access and now virtual porn have all made it easier to overstimulate the brain. Whatever scenario you find the most intense, you can watch video after video of it. You can fast-forward to the bits you find hottest or escalate to extreme genres.
And, it's all free, easy to access, available within seconds 24/7, and can be viewed on phones at any age.
Now, Zooming into our brain: Dopamine, or as we call it the "buzz," the "sugar high," or the drive towards orgasm increases during sexual stimuli. Sadly, an abundance of dopamine doesn't equal satisfaction. Too much dopamine numbs the pleasure response of the brain.
You risk suffering from something called Numbed Pleasure Response. When you watch porn, everything loses its innocence. Everything is hyper-sexualized, leading to desensitization. It often manifests as tolerance, the need for a higher dose or greater stimulation to achieve the same response.
Do you ever find that you're spending hours surfing porn sites looking for that one video to get off?
You find the vast majority of images online either dull or disgusting. Only a tiny percentage turn you on, but those are the "jackpot" images that push all your buttons and make the hours of searching "pay off."
Since orgasm is our most powerful natural reinforcer, our brain tries to remember everything associated with this powerful experience. It does this by linking associations to the BIG O. In the case of porn use, it would include: voyeurism, searching/seeking and endless novelty. Today's porn doesn't just meet your needs; it distorts them.
Since your sex life seems to involve many elements of fantasy that resemble the porn mindset, try taking a healthy break from it. You will be amazed at what regular "vanilla" sex is like when your brain is clear of porno images.
Through orgasmic practice, heightening the sensation and natural release of dopamine in our body, and practicing with a trained intimacy coach, you can reclaim this experience - without feeling shame or denying the pleasures of enjoying porn.
Share this with someone, who can benefit from this. Book a pleasure activation call to take a deeper look into your relationship with porn and how to activate more real intimacy and satisfaction in your sex life.