internet porn acts as a "supernormal stimulus", like cocaine to a rat's brain. It floods your reward system with dopamine hits that nature never intended 2/

your brain wasn't designed for endless novelty. Ancestral men might encounter a few sexual partners in their lifetime. Now you see thousands of women in an hour 3/

here's what happens inside your skull: chronic porn use down-regulates dopamine D2 receptors in your striatum. Your brain literally shrinks its ability to feel pleasure 4/

brain scans prove this. Men with higher weekly porn hours show reduced gray matter volume in the right caudate nucleus. Less gray matter = less response to real women 5/

the fucked up part: your brain starts craving more extreme content just to feel normal. Real intimacy becomes boring. Your girlfriend can't compete with pixels 6/

this is incentive sensitization, you want porn more but enjoy it less. Classic addiction pattern. You're chasing a high that keeps getting harder to reach 7/

at the molecular level, a protein called δfosb accumulates in your brain's reward center. It acts like a molecular switch that stays flipped for weeks after you stop 8/

this means even when you quit, your brain stays "primed" for artificial arousal. The cravings don't just disappear. Your neurons are still wired for the fake stuff 9/

jacobs et al tracked 21.5% ED rates in young men, directly correlated with problematic porn use. Your generation is sexually broken by design 10/

the prefrontal cortex, your brain's CEO for self-control, also gets damaged. Fmri shows weaker connections between reward centers and impulse control 11/

you literally lose sovereignty over your own biology. Your "brakes" weaken while your cravings strengthen. You become a slave to pixels 12/

some studies find no direct link between porn and ED. But for many men, the connection is undeniable. Individual vulnerability varies based on anxiety and guilt 13/

the antidote: 90 days of complete abstinence from pornography. No pixels, no substitutes, no "just checking" 14/

expect a "flatline" period around weeks 2-4. Zero libido, mood drops, everything feels gray. This is your brain recalibrating as δfosb decays and receptors heal 15/

during recovery, practice sensate focus with a real partner. Non-sexual touch that gradually builds intimacy. Retrain your brain to find pleasure in human connection 16/

this rebuilds your oxytocin and vasopressin systems, the bonding chemicals that porn destroys. Real intimacy starts feeling good again 17/

for more: https://open.substack.com/pub/...

@IterIntellectus Interesting but in the end it is mostly about the interplay of your cardio and nervous system. Vitality = blood flow - stimuli

@Rafa_Schwinger yeah

@IterIntellectus lift heavy things, eat real food (a lot of eggs), don't watch porn, get bigger bryan johnsons, in that order

@SagevsBabylon yup

@IterIntellectus It's a symptom of being a low T, overweight, slop bucket. Everything else is secondary to your lifestyle choices. Drugs, alcohol, that gf you're not even really attracted to. These are symptoms. Fix the cause.

@IterIntellectus As if porn wasn't around 20 years ago FFS. Are you sure it's not 23% buy Viagra? That doesn't mean you have erectioe disfunction.

@IterIntellectus It is wifi signals, mobile signals, hot weather, single mothers(missing role models), monster chix, not enough good meat(hormones everywhere). lack of physical excercise and so on. The list is waaay too long bro. Porn? LOL. Who paid for these studies? The Church? :D

@IterIntellectus This thread drags a bit (why didn't U do it all in 1 or 2 posts, you have premium!) But anyway, it's otherwise true & accurate. Porn has also gotten steadily more explicit & diversified (addictive) over ~30 yrs, those of us who remember well 90s & 2000s internet will confirm.

@IterIntellectus It’s the dwindling testosterone in the West.

@IterIntellectus Angion method 2.0 You are welcome men.

@IterIntellectus so i choke the chicken a TON, but I hate ads so rarely watch porn. How much of this is associated with the act of actually watching pornography versus a good old fashioned rooster wrestlin' session?

@IterIntellectus No, it's not that, they just jerk off much more with all the alone time increasing significantly. Porn or no porn, if you so it twice a day, when you get a chance at sex it will be hard to get hard (pun not intended). If you stop masturbating for a couple weeks, it goes away

@IterIntellectus No, it’s obesity

@IterIntellectus No, it's hypertension. Can't get an erection if your blood pressure is too high.

@IterIntellectus Higher BMI. Lack of vigorous physical activity. SSRIs. Low T. Porn is way downstream from this.

@IterIntellectus Women being fat doesn't help. Single dudes don't have ED.

@IterIntellectus You know, I was there 22 years ago, when the strength of men failed... https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

@IterIntellectus It’s true, I once saw a guy look at some pron, dick fell right off. 😔

@IterIntellectus @BowTiedIguana Porn, bad diet, lack of movement, too much indoors