in 2019 pornhub reported 115
million visits per day a new survey of
people aged 15 to 29 found that 82
percent of women and 100 of men viewed
porn due to easy access on phones porn
consumption has increased rapidly in
recent years it was only in the early
90s that people were just relying on
static images in magazines i mean
embarrassing a new survey found that 82
percent of people failed when trying to
quit pornography so today we are going
to explain exactly what happens to your
brain and body when you try to quit porn
on day one of quitting pornography you
likely won't notice much within the
first 24 hours most men and women had
overall good moods and were excited by
the task trying to not look at porn
maybe they had some extra time to read a
book cook a new meal stare at a wall
it's on day two of quitting porn when
physiological symptoms started to appear
you may be asking how much porn do you
have to be watching to have
physiological symptoms when trying to
quit and this is a nuanced question most
academic studies on the neurophysiology
of pornography use involve people who
self-identify as having ppu problematic
porn use this is not directly related to
how much you consume but whether you
feel porn is negatively affecting your
life in 2011 13 of men were viewing porn
every day now the number seems to be
closer to 39
but the change in self-diagnosed ppu
patients hasn't changed as drastically
as you'd think right now studies say
around six percent of people admit that
they have problematic porn use again
this is people self-identifying as
having a problem with porn and then
seeking out help either way studying
people with ppu is currently the only
way that we can study how porn affects
all of us on day two of quitting is when
people with ppu reported increased
anxiety inability to sleep inability to
concentrate and wanting porn more than
three times per day this is because
problematic porn use does change your
brain it affects the noggin your brain
has neuroplasticity meaning it
physically changes and responds to your
behavior the change happens here in the
gray matter of your brain which
physically changes due to porn use an
example of how gray matter changes
involves juggling a group of 24
non-jugglers had their brains scanned
they were divided into two groups one
group practiced juggling for three
months the other didn't after three
months they had their brains scanned
again and the jugglers had significant
changes in gray matter associated with
processing and storage of complex visual
motion using fmri brain scans of 28 men
with ppu and 24 men without it was found
that there was a physical change in the
ventral striatum of men with ppu this is
the part of the brain linked to wanting
and involves dopamine dopamine
is a neurotransmitter directly linked to
our evolution and survival has a big
impact on our behavior and if you've
been watching asap science for the past
10 years we talk about it a lot and it's
because it makes us crave the things we
need to survive like food love
friendship but also two things related
to porn which are novelty and sex
surfing porn keeping a bunch of tabs
open figuring out the right one for you
keeps dopamine levels in your brain high
for long periods of time and this can
physically change your ventral striatum
and it's the reason why on the second
day of quitting porn you might actually
physically struggle on day four to seven
is when most people go back to viewing
porn a big reason for returning was
anxiety one study found that people with
ppu exhibited higher traits of anxiety
than controls even though both groups
didn't have a diagnosed anxiety disorder
people with problematic porn use were
using porn to alleviate their anxiety
but most people said it actually didn't
help interestingly a lot of the
neurological studies found that people
with problematic porn use want porn more
but don't like it any more than control
groups this wanting is because porn
affects your reward systems your
dopamine levels by being a super normal
stimulus a super normal stimulus is a
term coined by nicholas tinberg is
something with exaggerated versions of
normal stimuli that amplify the
qualities that make it more compelling
than the real thing studies with bird
show adding a fake super normal vividly
spotted plaster egg to a nest makes a
mother rather sit on it than a real more
pale colored eggs or male jewel beetles
will rather copulate with a beer bottle
cap as the dimpled bottoms are more
intriguing than a real bottle that's
right beetles are out here banging beer
bottle caps for humans a super normal
stimulus can be junk food a soft drink
is a lot more compelling than the equal
calories of radishes or porn enhanced
novel sexual situations with easy access
can be more compelling than real sex
it's for this reason that many people
cannot last longer than four to seven
days without watching porn a survey
found that on day 14 of no porn is when
watching porn starts to feel like an
intense novel experience again the
effects that porn have on dopamine
levels can make it harder to delay
rewards in all aspects of your life and
on day 14 is also when the survey found
that people could do challenging tasks
for longer times and delay gratification
better essentially watching porn on your
phone is a quick fix and i notice when
i'm doing it a lot i do have a harder
time like sitting down and reading a
book or working on work for long periods
of time so they say it takes two weeks
to start to feel like you can delay
gratification better after watching too
much porn on your phone on day 30 is
when you will notice a change in
concentration and have clearer thoughts
one study had people abstain from junk
food and another group abstained from
porn and found the people who abstained
from porn were better at delaying
gratification and had less brain fog
than those who abstained from junk food
after three months if we go back to the
jugglers is when they noticed gray
matter returned to baseline they asked
both groups the ones that could not
juggle and the ones that couldn't to
stop practicing juggling for three
months and this is how long it took the
gray matter to go back to quote unquote
normal so after three months of no porn
you can expect gray matter changes in
your brain in relation to the lack of
porn use when it comes to advice for
quitting anything it's really
challenging to figure out what works for
you i personally think knowledge is
power and just understanding what i've
taught you could maybe help you at least
realize the impacts that these things
can have on you physically some studies
suggest mindfulness and meditation to
kind of slow down the stimulus that is
life other studies recommend replacing
porn use with other novel experiences
trying a new meal to cook going and
having a drink with a new friend
maybe try masturbating without porn that
might be interesting i also think it's
important to acknowledge that a lot of
these studies are rooted in homophobia
and transphobia and queer phobia it's
very weird these studies seem to start
by saying you might have an issue if
you're looking at gay porn or lesbian
porn or trans porn before even getting
into any of the science which is a red
flag for me i think why don't you
explain the science first before you
start to explain what you think is
non-normal porn news i just think it's
important that people know this because
i think this information is important
sexual health is important we need to
talk about it porn use is insane now
because of the internet we need to talk
about it and it's just sad that it's
been co-opted by these misogynist
homophobic and queerphobic people also
according to google trends porn use has
increased in the pandemic especially in
countries where there were stay-at-home
orders so yes i think now more than ever
it's important for us to
learn about problematic porn use and go
forth in the world as sexually healthy
animals this is an interesting video
leave comments below about your
relationships to porn i'll be responding
to them maybe being a little bit more
truthful in the comments make sure you
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to see us answer here on asap science
and we'll see you next week for a new
science video