How Watching Porn Causes Changes To Your Brain And Can Kill Your Natural Ability To Orgasm
Watching porn is a widespread habit among men and women but very extremely few people understand how the guilty pleasure may be rewiring their sexuality and causing damage to their natural senses.
Watching pornography can actually make you develop erectile dysfunction, rewire your brain to start functioning like that of a child and lead ultimately to mental breakdown, a study has revealed. Porn can actually kill your ability to get erection or orgasm with real life partner! These are some of the findings of a neuroscience PhD student and researcher at Canada’s Université Laval, Rachel Anne Barr, who warns that people who regularly watch adult entertainment — a.k.a, pornography — often develop damage to the brain region (prefrontal cortex) that controls morality, willpower and impulse.
The prefrontal cortex region is, crucially, one that does not fully develop until adulthood, she notes. According to the researcher, watching porn not only erodes that important region of the brain, it also rewires it into a childish state.
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In the report published in The Conversation, Barr says research suggests that pornography could cause consumers to struggle with their emotions and impulses, possibly leading to compulsive behaviour and poor judgment. Speaking on her research findings, Barr notes,
“It’s somewhat paradoxical that adult entertainment may revert our brain wiring to a more juvenile state.
“The much greater irony is that while porn promises to satisfy and provide sexual gratification, it delivers the opposite.
“Science is only just beginning to reveal the neurological repercussions of porn consumption.
“It is already clear that the mental health and sex lives of its widespread audience are suffering catastrophic effects.”
Continuing, the researcher warns,
“From depression to erectile dysfunction, porn appears to be hijacking our neural wiring with dire consequences.”
The properties of video porn make it a particularly powerful trigger for plasticity, the brain’s ability to change and adapt as a result of experience.
“Combined with the accessibility and anonymity of online porn consumption, we are more vulnerable than ever to its hyper-stimulating effects.
“In the long term, pornography seems to create sexual dysfunctions, especially the inability to achieve erection or orgasm with a real life partner.
‘Marital quality and commitment to one’s romantic partner also appear to be compromised.’
Barr says it can be likened to drug-taking: when a person uses cocaine, their brains give off a rush of dopamine, the ‘feel-good’ hormone.
The same happens with sex and arousal, but beyond simply dealing with excitement, that same neurotransmitter also controls memories. Overusing that neurotransmitter can wear down your natural reflexes and habits, leaving the body unsure how to satisfy its needs.
Drug users, for example, can lose appetite, turning to more drugs. Porn users, Barr says, may start to see porn as a quick fix for their sexual needs, rather than a person.
‘The desensitization of our reward circuitry sets the stage for sexual dysfunctions to develop, but the repercussions don’t end there,’
Barr says.
‘Studies show that changes in the transmission of dopamine can facilitate depression and anxiety. In agreement with this observation, porn consumers report greater depressive symptoms, lower quality of life and poorer mental health compared to those who don’t watch porn.’
Barr adds:
‘The other compelling finding in this study is that compulsive porn consumers find themselves wanting and needing more porn, even though they don’t necessarily like it. This disconnect between wanting and liking is a hallmark feature of reward circuitry dysregulation.’