NoFap And Concentration
Can NoFap give you better concentration?
Can it even give you this laser like focus that nothing can shatter, not even a 7.2 earthquake?
Well, the short answer is, yes, NoFap can really give you better concentration, but don't count on that earthquake thing.
Fapping To P*rn Can Reduce Your Ability To Concentrate
Many guys do see a pretty big improvement in their ability to concentrate when going on a NoFap journey.
There might be a couple of reasons for this, but the biggest one is without a doubt that overconsumption of online adult sites can actually cause a disrupted dopamine system in your brain.
And so, when a person stops playing with his weiner, he most often also stops using adult sites and thus the disrupted dopamine system slowly starts to heal and as a result he will experience an increase in his ability to concentrate.
Here are the biggest symptoms of a disrupted dopamine system. Pay attention to the second point…
- Low motivation and drive
- Poor concentration and focus
- Poor short term memory
- Low libido, weak erections
- Depression or even anhedonia
- Anxiety, restlessness
As you can see, having a poor functioning dopamine system comes with a host of negative consequences. There are more than those, but those are the most common ones.
Related post: NoFap supplements – For concentration, anxiety and libido
The reversal of the disrupted dopamine system explains most NoFap benefits…
So whenever you are googling for things like, does NoFap improve “insert you favorite symptom here”, keep in mind that whatever you find on that page, in terms of curability. can probably be explained by the reversal of the disrupted dopamine system and not by some mysterious force surrounding the whole NoFap phenomenon…
…for the most part!
There are still mysterious things going on though…
I said “for the most part”, because, there are still positive benefits of NoFap that science seems to have a hard time explaining, that I personally find both interesting and alluring.
That does not mean there are no logical explanations for them, as it could just mean that we still don't know why or how they are happening.
NoFap and woman attraction; for example, the whole thing about NoFap and woman attraction, is indeed pretty mysterious, although there are a few biological explanations that can be made, but here there seem to be more going one beyond what biology and science can explain.
Personally I was very skeptical to it when starting my own NoFap journey many years ago, but I have since then seen so many strange things regarding how women sometimes seem to react to men who are riding on a good NoFap streak that, well, something has to be going on there.
NoFap and concentration, is indeed another one that seems to fall under that category. Sure the reversal of a poorly functioning dopamine system is the most common reason in today's men, but here we should NOT forget two important factors…
- Increased concentration has been reported by guys that never really used adult sites that much in the first place.
- Increased concentration from doing semen retention has also been reported by men discovering it long before there was any internet.
Let's take a closer look at those two…
Does NoFap Itself Improve Concentration – Without Considering The Dopamine System?
Throughout history men have sworn by the enhanced sharpness that semen retention seem to give.
For example in the book “Think and grow rich”, (check price on Amazon), there is a whole chapter on sexual transmutation and how Napolen Hill is absolutely certain that men who are careful about wasting their “male energy” get an edge over men that do. And that book was published in 1937…
…way before there was such a thing as the internet.
Other historical people who practiced semen retention…
Some other well known people who felt they were sharper and performed better by practicing semen retention…
- Steve Jobs
- Muhammad Ali
- Nicolai Tesla
- David Haye
- Kanye West
- Stephen T. Chang
- Leonardo Da Vinci
- Ludwig van Beethoven
- Orville and Wilbur Wright
- Al Pacino
- Sigmund Freud
- Dalai Lama
- Mike Tyson
- Socrates
Those were just some examples.
It doesn't work for everyone…
The increased focus and mental clarity on NoFap doesn't seem to work for everyone, though, as we should not forget that there are also a lot of men who report feeling absolutely no different whatsoever when doing NoFap. This is not that strange per se, as everyone is different and it's the same with, well…
….pretty much anything in life!
Keep in mind though, that men who have developed addiction related brain changes from years of fapping to p*rn, do experience improvement when they stay away from it for an extended amount of time. Every single one of them. This is exactly because time away from the super stimulating adult sites heal their dopamine system.
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NoFap And ADHD
When it comes to ADHD and whether or not NoFap can help with that, then we absolutely have to consider the dopamine system again because no amount of “NoFapping” or semen retention can help you with ADHD, unless it was p*rn that cause your ADHD in the first place…
…which, unfortunately, p*orn is fully capable of doing.
But here there are no “mysterious” benefits, in and of them selves, that could magically make you ADHD go away.
Again, a disrupted dopamine system can actually cause ADHD due to messing with your dopamine system and causing your attention span to become worse than that of a goldfish with a hangover, but again, keep in mind…
…not everything in life is caused by fapping to p*rn.
If your ADHD is caused by something else, which is highly likely since there are literally hundreds of reasons behind ADHD then, unfortunately, no amount of NoFap will ever be able to help you here.
Social Media In General Shortens Your Concentration Span
It is not just p*rn that causes a decrease in your attention span.
Social media in general is really making today's people lose their ability to focus on one thing for a long time.
Scrolling, constant clicks and chasing the new best things is training your brain to lose focus…
If you think about how the social media platform is set up you'll quickly see that they are a sea of endless novelty, making you constantly chase the “new best thing” and you hardly never read a full post or watch a full video there…
…no, instead you are probably watching a video for 5 seconds, then clicking to someone's status update, not even reading it fully before clicking to a cool picture you see somewhere else, after which you are instantly drawn to a notification about something else, and on and on it goes. Think about it, this is literally TRAINING you to NOT be able to keep your focus on one thing for a long time. Thus, social media is almost an ADHD creating machine.
Now, I'm not saying everyone should stop using social media, but it would be wise to limit the amount o time you spend on it in your day to day life.
Porn is even worse…
Of course, with porn this constant clicking to the “next better thing” is also happening. I mean, come one, let's face it, we never watch a video longer than for at most 30 seconds, right? No, we are clicking from video to video and scene to scene, chasing the perfect clip to take us to nirvana…
…now, the perfect clip does not exist, but that does not stop us from thinking it's out there, and that we will find it with the next click of the mouse.
This is even worse than the social media platforms, as during porn surfing the dopamine levels are much higher. This is because sex spikes our dopamine to the highest levels they can possible reach, without us using chemicals, and dopamine is actually the motivation and “learning” neurotransmitter. This means that, when dopamine is high our brains are making sure it learns faster. This results in porn surfing making us “learn” to lose focus, even faster than what “normal” social media does.
As if that wasn't bad enough we have the additional “bonus” of desensitization and a disrupted dopamine system that can happen to people using a lot of it, as I have been mentioning a couple of times in this article already, and that's even worse in terms of negative symptoms…
…and it is also worse in terms of how long it takes to reverse it as well.
What Others Are Saying About NoFap And Concentration
Let's take a look at what a few guys have noticed when it comes to NoFap and concentration during their NoFap journey…
Guy number 1
“My concentration and ability to focus is so much better now. It's day 72 since I stopped using porn and I feel so much better. Mentally, physically and spiritually, but I would say that the mental clarity is my favorite benefit…so far.”
Guy number 2
“During my first two weeks my brain fog and inability to focus got even worse. Then I flatlined for a few weeks and pretty much everything sucked but so in the third month I started to see improvements. Today I'm on day 104 and it is like I have new brain. I'm coming up with things to say without effort and I can keep my focus for very long periods of time.”
Guy number 3
“I wasn't addicted to porn so I didn't expect to see a whole lot of benefits, but I still wanted to try NoFap as a challenge…and I'm glad I did. I have more energy, more motivation and my brain just seems to work on a higher level in general. I know I will keep doing this, maybe on and off, for the rest of my life.”
Some Other Things You Can do To REALLY Boost Your Concentration…
Let's take a look at a few other things that you can do to increase your concentration.
Perhaps NoFap doesn't really give you that super sharp brain that you wish for, or perhaps you would like to combine something with NoFap to bring your concentration up to even higher levels…
…you know, to “Limitless”, À la Bradley Cooper levels!
Well here are three powerful ways…
A Ketogenic Diet
Now, since so many people get all up in arms about things related to diet, let me first start by saying, this is not a recommendation either for or against animal products…
…or whether or not being a vegan is a good idea.
No!
It is simply stating the fact, because it is truly a fact, that most people notice an increase in focus and concentration when doing a ketogenic diet. And as far as animal products go, it is indeed possible to do the keto diet both with OR without meat…
…whatever floats your boat, man.
The brain loves ketones…
When you go on a low carb high fat diet your liver will start producing ketones for your body and brain to run on instead of glucose, which is what most people run on.
Well, did you know that the brain loves those small ketones?
They are a cleaner fuel source than carbohydrates, they have anti inflammatory properties, and it has been shown in studies that they increase mental clarity as a result. This is why so many chess players, professional poker players and memory master are on a keto diet, because those guys really need to stay on top of their game.
I'm not going to give you an exact program on how to start doing it, as you will find thousands upon thousands of them on YouTube or by doing 5 seconds of googling, however, I can say that I personally do this very diet (but in cycles) and I can vouch for it's ability to increase concentration.
Let's move on to the next one, which is pretty damn impressive, to say the least…
The “BrainPill”
The BrainPill is a natural cognitive enhancer that works surprisingly well. It significantly increases your ability to focus and concentrate and it also helps your learning ability.
When I first tried this supplement, a few years back, I was highly sceptical, but after taking it for a few days I noticed the following….
- I had a much easier time to think on the fly and come up with well formulated sentences in conversations. (probably due to the supplement helping with rapid recall)
- I had better short term memory. (As in, did I already put sugar in my coffee? or, did I already take my creatine today?)
- I was able to focus for a long time when writing or reading.
- I had better control over my thoughts and thus also my emotions.
- I became less stressed. (probably due to better self-talk from better control over my thoughts)
I still have it in my kitchen drawer, but I no longer use it on a daily basis because it is pretty expensive.
Nowadays, I only use it if I have a big project I'm working on and I need to be extra “sharp” and on top of my game, you know, kind of like, Ken Jennings, who holds the record for the longest winning streak on the show Jeopardy! with 74 wins, who is also using the BrainPill in his competitions to help him get an extra edge.
If interested, you can click here to check current pricing and read other real user reviews, over t the vendor page.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting can be a SUPER powerful tool for mental clarity.
However, it comes with a few drawbacks and limitations…
- You need to be used to it, in order to be able to take advantage of increased clarity.
- It's a bit tricky to “time” the benefits for optimal performance on an important event.
- It has limitations, as in you can't go without food ALL the time.
Works a bit like the keto diet…
Intermittent fasting works a bit like the keto diet, in that fasting also promotes the liver to start producing ketones. As you learned earlier, these are a phenomenal fuel source for the brain and with fasting you can often reach even higher levels of ketosis than you can by doing the diet….
…if you go long enough without food.
In addition to that, fasting also promotes something called BDNF (brain derived neurotropic factor), which is a protein that is responsible for the survival of nerve cells as well as for the growth of new nerve cells in the brain.
Many experts refer to BDNF as “miracle-gro for the brain”.
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Limitations…
If you really want to reap the biggest mental clarity intermittent fasting can provide, it is not enough to fast for just 14 or 16 hours, like many of the intermittent fasting protocols out there (even though that can already be helpful), but you would have to go a bit further than that.
Personally I often start notice a big increase in concentration around the 20-22 hour mark and it can get even stronger if I keep going for an additional 12-24 hours beyond that…
…obviously, this comes with limitations on where and in what situations to implement it.
Nevertheless, I have successfully used intermittent fasting as a good tool for being super sharp during a demanding music gig. ( I play the trumpet, which is a demanding musical instrument in and of itself).
I have, of course, also used it to help me stay sharp during other, cognitive demanding tasks as well, like for example having to learn new skills that takes a bit more brain power in order to master.
There are many ways to do intermittent fasting, but here too you are better off searching for some good info on YouTube, as this article would become way too long if I started explaining all the basics and details here.
NoFap And Concentration
Final Words
Ok, so what's the final verdict, does NoFap help with concentration or not?
Answer: yes, it does help!
It can help because it upregulates your dopamine receptors (if you have a disrupted dopamine system from years of fapping to porn). as well as give you an increase in mental clarity from semen retention itself, even if you never had any problems with porn.
The first one will undoubtedly yield the biggest effects, but semen retention itself can, for some guys, also create surprisingly positive benefits it terms of increased energy, drive and mental clarity.
Will it work for you?
I have no idea. We are all different and not everyone will experience increased concentration by doing NoFap.
I guess the only way to know for sure is to try it out and see for yourself.
Thank you for reading!
-Scandinavian Bob-
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P.P.S. If you are struggling and would like my help, you can click here to see what kind of help I'm currently offering.
OR, If you just want more similar content, you can click here to check out my YouTube channel as over there I regularly publish videos about NoFap, rebooting and other cool self-improvement stuff.
F.A.Q's About PMO Rebooting And Benefits in General
Q: I'm having problems with sleep on NoFap. I started my rebooting 5 weeks ago and my sleep has been crap ever since. Is it part of the flatline?
A: It could be part of the flatline or just part of withdrawals in general. When quitting an addiction, assuming you were addicted, the stress centre in the brain actually become more active, often resulting in an increase in anxiety, restlessness and insomnia. It will calm down though and since you're already 5 weeks in I would guess it won't take long now as it often starts getting better in the second month. For more info on this, check the article “NoFap and insomnia”.
Q: Will NoFap help me get a girlfriend?
A: NoFap can not just magically get you anything. YOU are the one who has to go out there and get a girlfriend. That said, NoFap really seems to help a lot of men as it wakes their natural drive, and so they automatically start putting themselves into situations where it is more likely to happen. In addition, many NoFappers also start taking better care of themselves, as well as improving other areas of their lives,, and so, naturally, this will also make them more attractive to the opposite sex. If NoFap in and of itself makes guys more attractive to women, well the jury is still out on that one, but many believe it to be the case. Personally I think there might indeed be something going on there…that we still do not really know how to explain.
Q: Can porn really cause ED?
A: 100% yes!!!
Q: Why is NoFap so hard?
A: It is supposed to be. And that's the beauty of it 😉
Related post: Does NoFap make you more productive?