Health : Watching Porn Changes Your Brain

Pornography physically changes the brain. Porn is like other addictive substances that flood the brain with the chemical dopamine, and when this dopamine “rush” happens often (when you watch porn over and over again) it changes the entire makeup of the brain as the chemicals rewire the brain’s so called “reward pathway.” This can result in even more appetite for porn (porn addiction), which leads to several other related intellectual problems.

In the last two decades, one of the most interesting developments in the science of the brain is that scientists have discovered “Neuroplasticity”—the idea that our brain works much like an endless game of Tetris. It constantly lays down new “pathways” based on our everyday experiences. (Neuroplasticity comes from the words “neuro” (brain) and “plasticity” (ability to change).)

To explain further, brain scientists coined the statement “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” It simply means that when our brain cells (neurons) get activated simultaneously by something that you “sense” or experience, they release certain chemicals that further strengthen the connection between them. For instance, your brain releases the “feel-good chemical” dopamine when you eat something delectable, or oxytocin whenever you hold hands with a person you care about, helping you bond.

Here’s another example: You would most probably start feeling great about your uncle if every time you went to visit him he would give you a bear hug then take you out for some ice cream. This is because when positive things like this happen, your brain is building brain “reward pathways” connecting your thoughts about your uncle with feelings of being loved or being happy.

We have different pathways for these kinds of “good” experiences like riding a bike, playing with a dog, etc. When you look at porn, your brain also builds pathways for that. The only caveat is that the “good feeling” from porn can be dangerously addictive.

Like other addictive substances, dopamine floods the brain whenever you look at porn, and with constant use of porn, the overload of chemicals overwhelms the brain so much the brain responds by taking away some of its receptors for the chemical dopamine. (It “deafens” the message of the dopamine.)

With fewer receptors now, the result is that you almost no longer feel the effect of the dopamine even if your brain is receiving the same amount of dopamine whenever you watch porn. This is the main reason why the usual porn you used to enjoy doesn’t seem as exciting or arousing anymore. Many porn users start learning to hunt for other porn, or more hardcore porn, wanting to get the same level of effect they used to get from their earlier porn use.

At the same time frequent porn use can also leave one feeling down, desperate, or uneasy for more porn, most especially when they don’t go looking at porn for a while—they start craving the old feeling—thus, the reason why porn can be so addictive. And once addiction for porn sets in, you get a whole new set of brain-related problems.

For more than a decade, studies suggest that drug addiction can cause our brain’s frontal lobes to shrink (the “frontal lobe” is basically that part of our brain that controls decision making and logical problem solving). And recent studies show that it is not just drug substances that can actually cause this kind of “brain damage”—the same effect shows up with other types of addictions such as Internet addiction, overeating, and sexual urges.

Addiction can damage the brain’s limit-setting system, that part of our brain which helps us process thought properly so we can make sound decisions. And the scarier part?—the more porn you watch, the more severe the damage to your brain gets and the more difficult it is for you to break free from the addiction and its damaging effects. That is according to Neuroplasticity.

However the good news is that: Neuroplasticity also works two ways(!) It means you can undo the damage to your brain when you get away from the unhealthy habit and replace it with good ones.

Reference:

“Porn Changes the Brain” Fight The New Drug. n.p., 8 Aug 2014. Web. 1 Aug 2016.