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  • Harvard Scientist Explains what Porn does to your Brain.

  • It's kind of scary.

  • It's difficult to get consistent answers on the alleged dangers of pornography.

  • Scientific research on the subject varies widely.

  • It's safe to say that Kevin Majeres, a psychiatrist specializing in

  • cognitive-behavioral therapy and a faculty member of Harvard Medical School,

  • is among those who view pornography as harmful.

  • Writing on the blog Purity is Possible, Majeres explains how the brain works

  • and what happens to the brain during repeated exposure to pornography.

  • He begins with mating patterns discovered in rats:

  • Scientists have discovered that if you place a male rat in a cage

  • with a receptive female, they will mate;

  • but once done, the male rat will not mate more times, even if

  • the female is still receptive.

  • He loses all sexual interest.

  • But if, right after he finishes with the first female, you put

  • in a second receptive female,

  • he will immediately mate again; and again a third, and so on,

  • until he nearly dies.

  • This effect has been found in every animal studied.

  • This is called the Coolidge effect.

  • Okay.

  • The stuff about the rats having sex is disgusting

  • and a little creepy.

  • But what does that have to do with us - the humans?

  • Pornography's power comes from the way it tricks the man's

  • lower brain; one of the drawbacks of this region is that it can't tell

  • the difference between an image and reality.

  • Pornography offers a man an unlimited number of seemingly willing females;

  • every time he sees the new partner, with each click, it gears up

  • his sex drive again.

  • The brain hack thing is definitely creepy, still not

  • exactly terrifying though.

  • But take a look at Majeres has to say about dopamine.

  • Dopamine is the drug of desirewhen you see something desirable,

  • your brain pours out dopamine, sayingGo for it!

  • Do whatever it takes!”

  • Dopamine fixes your attention on that desirable object,

  • giving you your power of concentration...

  • So when someone clicks and sees a new pornographic image,

  • his lower brain thinks this is the real thing,

  • this is the lady he must win over with all his might, and so he gets

  • an enormous dopamine flood in his upper brain, causing a

  • wild amount of electrical energy.

  • This first exposure to a new female who is a potential mate

  • wasn't something that happened a lot to our ancestors;

  • maybe only once in their lives; so the brain thinks

  • this is a big deal.

  • It doesn't know that now the game has completely changed:

  • it doesn't understand that these are virtual females only;

  • so with each new one it causes another flood of dopamine,

  • time after time, click after click, as long as he continues.

  • It's a dopamine binge.

  • Majeres continues: This is why pornography

  • causes a vicious circle.

  • When someone views pornography, he gets overstimulated by dopamine;

  • so his brain destroys some dopamine receptors.

  • This makes him feel depleted, so he goes back to pornography,

  • but, having fewer dopamine receptors, this time it requires more

  • to get the same dopamine thrill;

  • but this causes his brain to destroy more receptors;

  • so he feels an even greater need for pornography to stimulate him.

  • So as guys keep gaming the dopamine system,

  • they start to find that they have to use pornography

  • for longer and longer periods to have the same effect, and

  • they have to visit more sites.

  • But even more porn sites eventually don't cut it.

  • What then?

  • You have to stimulate another emotion: fear or disgust

  • or shock or surprise.

  • For porn use, you need to start moving to kinkier things,

  • things that make you afraid or make you feel a bit sick;

  • and so you start experimenting with various perversions.

  • The science may yet be unclear on the physical side effects of porn,

  • but we have a strong case, at the very least,

  • that pornography is 1) highly addictive

  • 2) harmful to relationships.

  • Regardless of how one feels on the morality of pornography,

  • those reasons aloneif one values self-control and

  • healthy relationshipsshould cause alarm.

  • Interestingly, meditation helps to increase dopamine

  • levels in your brain safely

  • without any harm.

  • Visit SimplifiedKundaliniYoga.com and Meditate on your own Life Force today

  • Be blessed by the divine, Krish Murali Eswar.

Harvard Scientist Explains what Porn does to your Brain.

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