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  • Your Brain on Porn - Introduction

  • Welcome

  • to Your Brain on Porn.

  • This is a series

  • for those who are hooked on porn.

  • Only you can decide if you are.

  • So,

  • my wife and I have a website on relationships.

  • It has nothing to do with porn or at least it didn't.

  • However,

  • several articles were there on neuroscience of sex,

  • orgasm and love

  • and evolution in sexuality and even addiction.

  • So about five years ago,

  • porn users began showing up.

  • I guess they found us through Google,

  • and they began telling their stories

  • and blogging and sharing,

  • and more showed up and more showed up.

  • We learnt a lot.

  • Here's a little bit of what we learnt.

  • No. 1:

  • internet porn is not Playboy,

  • but I bet you already knew this.

  • You know the centerfold

  • of all of the magazine

  • gets old pretty quick.

  • Internet porn is really

  • far more stimulating

  • than just images.

  • It's really due to the endless novelty

  • and the ability

  • to click from one image to another.

  • Another reason internet porn is so stimulating

  • is that it can escalate rather quickly

  • to more kinky or more shocking material.

  • No. 2 :

  • addictive personality

  • is not a prerequisite

  • for getting hooked on internet porn.

  • Now,

  • the standard model

  • is that you have to have a predisposition.

  • You have to be genetically inclined

  • to get addicted.

  • Well, this is definitely true.

  • But what we found out

  • is that many of the guys

  • who are showing up on the site

  • had never had any other addiction.

  • They were just a regular guy

  • who started watching and got hooked.

  • And what's interesting

  • is once they get off a porn session

  • they return to theirnormal selves”.

  • No. 3:

  • understanding how heavy porn use

  • affects the brain

  • is very helpful to users.

  • When you understand how the brain works,

  • it really allows you

  • to steer your ship a lot better

  • when you're trying to get off porn.

  • Here are the basics.

  • Porn overstimulated your brain

  • and your brain changed.

  • You see,

  • being hooked on porn

  • is due to the same brain changes

  • that go with all addictions.

  • This brain changes are behind your cravings.

  • This brain changes

  • keep you coming back to porn

  • even if you want to quit.

  • The internet porn

  • is what we called a super stimulus.

  • What that means

  • is that it's way beyond

  • what we've ever encountered

  • during our evolution.

  • Here is the big picture.

  • We're a hunter-gatherer brain

  • living in a modern world.

  • Our environment has drastically changed.

  • I suppose I don't need to tell you that,

  • yet our brains have barely evolved

  • in the last 100,000 years.

  • This means

  • we are not well-suited

  • to many aspects of modern life.

  • From living in isolated boxes

  • to going to work,

  • to working in desk jobs,

  • to worrying about global warming or the economy.

  • We're supposed to be sitting around the camp fire,

  • not sitting in front of the computer

  • watching internet porn for hours a day.

  • Here's another example

  • of environment changing

  • and our brains not quietly catching up.

  • I haven't seen too many pictures

  • of fat hunter-gatherers,

  • have you?

  • And yet,

  • 70% of Americans are overweight.

  • So, what's going on?

  • Our brains are programmed

  • to love high calorie foods,

  • that's necessary for survival.

  • In the old days,

  • it was very rare

  • to find high calorie foods,

  • maybe honey, sweet fruits, nuts.

  • Today,

  • we have refined carbohydrates

  • and high fat junk foods,

  • all of these are highly stimulating.

  • So they're called super normal stimulation,

  • way beyond anything we've ever encountered,

  • just like internet porn.

  • Brain rule #1 says

  • You Must Survive.

  • Which means

  • get calories!

  • For food that means

  • get it while the getting is good

  • because

  • you don't know when something is going to rot,

  • at least in the old days.

  • So,

  • your primitive brain is urging you

  • to binge every opportunity

  • to get as much as you can.

  • This leads to overconsumption.

  • This will also apply

  • to sexual partners.

  • Brain rule #2 :

  • making babies.

  • Well,

  • maybe that's rule #1.

  • See, evolution's top priority

  • is making more gene packets,

  • more copies of you.

  • Here's a question:

  • in the lifetime of a hunter-gatherer,

  • how many potential sexual partners

  • would he or she meet?

  • Not too many, I imagined.

  • How about

  • how many would he have sex with?

  • I'm sure whole lot less.

  • A heavy porn user would view

  • more hot babes,

  • or hot guys,

  • or hot whatever

  • in one session

  • than our ancestors would need

  • several lifetimes

  • to this can be considered

  • another super stimulus.

  • Our brains aren't evolved

  • to handle heavy porn use like this

  • and unlike junk food,

  • you can never get full.

Your Brain on Porn - Introduction

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