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Why Do I Struggle To Quit Porn? (Here’s Why It’s So Hard)

By BobPosted on

Why Do I Struggle To Quit Porn?

Yes, quitting porn can be difficult, but don't let the title scare you away. Millions of men have been able to do it, and so can you.

The main reason for why quitting porn can be difficult is…

Quitting porn can be difficult because frequent fapping to porn can for some people cause a number of physical changes in the brain. These are real addiction related brain changes that make it hard to control your use. There are mainly 4 brain changes in any addiction, but “sensitization” and  “hypofrontality” are the two main ones that are making you struggle with quitting porn.

Porn addiction and the 4 major brain changes – making it hard to quit…

A while back I made a two part video series about the 4 major brain changes that happen inside your brain when you become addicted to porn.

Take a look right now and you'll discover the science behind why quitting porn can be such a struggle.

Part 1

Part 2

The free webinar I talked about in the end of part 2 can be found here

Note: also read the text down below as there is additional info there…

A short summary of the two videos…

The four major brain changes in any addiction are…

  1. Desensitization
  2. Sensitization
  3. Malfunctioning stress system
  4. Hypofrontality

Sensitization makes it hard to quit porn…

Sensitization is basically a supermemory of pleasure. These are pathways that light up in your brain whenever you see or here anything that remind you of your drug of choice…

….and whenever they light up, they give you hard to ignore cravings.

Hypofrontality makes you lose your inhibition, further adding to how hard it can be to quit watching porn…

Hypofrontality means “less than normal functioning” and it refers to the front part of your brain that is responsible for self control. This part of  your brain is called the prefrontal cortex (PFC).

All addictions cause less blood flow to your PFC, giving you problems with your inhibition.

This reduction in blood flow is particularly noticeable during the times your sensitized pathways are firing up. I.e. the time when you most of all would need a well functioning PFC.

If we wanted to sum up why quitting porn is so difficult it would be the following…

You have the sensitized pathways screaming for you to act out as soon as you see something reminding you of your addiction, all while your PFC, the part of your brain that is supposed to put the brakes on you, is under-performing.

Does everyone who watch porn get these brain changes?

Note that these brain changes does not happen to everyone!

But also note that, even though “porn addiction” might sound way too big for you to grasp, as in you think…

…”no way I'm addicted, because I just watch it once or twice a week…and addicts are daily users who are shaking and sweating, no matter the drug”…

…well I'm here to tell you, you can indeed have addiction related brain changes and fit the criteria of being an addict even with just one porn session per week.

I personally struggled with quitting porn for 7 years….

This was the case for me. I watched once or twice a week (twice at the top), yet when I decided to give it up, I found that I struggled very hard to do so.

In fact, I struggled for 7 years to quit my porn use. So despite my moderate use, I was clearly addicted.

According to a polls I made on my YouTube channel, a majority of my subscribers actually have at least some form of addiction related brain changes.

For example, one poll took a look at withdrawal symptoms after quitting porn…

…and out of more than 2500 people, only 17% said that they did not experience any withdrawals when going off porn.

I also made this poll here (PMO stands for porn, masturbation, orgasm)…

As you can see, almost 4 thousand people voted and only 17% said they are certain that they are not addicted.

That fits very well in with the the other poll, where only 17% said they have not experienced any withdrawals when quitting (you do not suffer withdrawals when you give up something you're not addicted to).

If you're unsure about you own situation, and whether or not you'd fit the criteria of being addicted, you can take the porn addiction test right here.

The brain changes aside – your lifestyle is making a big difference in how difficult it will be for you to quit porn…

Now, even though the videos showed you that there are real physical brain changes going on, making it hard to quit porn, you need to know that it's still possible to do so.

In fact, it is absolutely possible, and you will be able to do so.

However, if you have a really messy lifestyle, you will most likely have to clean it up in order to be able to quit your porn use.

So, what do I mean by this?

Well…

Watch out for other overconsumption of other instant gratification stuff…

If you have a habit of  frequently going for other instant gratification stuff like for example…

  • Junk food
  • Alcohol
  • Netflix
  • Weed
  • Video games
  • Gambling
  • Excessive social media use

…and you are doing it on a daily basis (or even just a few times a week) then you are going to be fighting an uphill battle with your mission to quit porn as well.

Why?

Because…

…you are literally training your brain to get those heavenly hits of dopamine whenever it screams for it.

You can >>Download<< my Quit Porn Guide for FREE right now!

Now, of course it's possible to live a life with moderate use instant gratification stuff, and still be able to quit porn. But if you have a habit of giving your brain a lot of pleasure without having to do any work for it, then quitting porn will become incredible hard to do…

…simply because porn is the ultimate form of pleasure without effort.

Chasing pleasure without having to put in any effort for it is a dangerous game that can lead to anhedonia.

Put your life in order…

So, if you recognize yourself in the above and you know for a fact that you have a habit of constantly going for low value dopamine activities, then here's what I suggest you do.

And, oh, before we even go there, I need to point out that it's highly unlikely that you'll be able to just snap your fingers and do a complete 180 of your life over a day.

No, you will most likely have to build it up….

…look at it like building muscles.

But you can START today!

Start implementing keystone habits…

There are so many habits, tools and tactics in today's world that we can get completely overloaded by it.

Keystone habits are habits that give you the most bang for your buck and you should definitely be doing at lest a few of them.

That goes for everyone who wants to have a good life, but especially for those who want to quit using porn.

A keystone habit is simply put…

A keystone habit is a habit that has a lot of carryover effect. It creates a cascade of good behavior and ripples over into other areas of your life.

You can probably think of a few already, right?

Examples of keystone habits…

  • Physical exercise
  • Meditation
  • Cold showers
  • Intermittent fasting
  • Reading books
  • Taking walks in the nature

Let's say that you are currently struggling with…

  • Low self esteem
  • Stress and anxiety
  • Insomnia
  • Overweight
  • Procrastination
  • Porn addiction
  • Low energy and drive

If you just added physical exercise, you could have a ripple effect of something like this…

  • The physical exercise make you sleep better….
  • That improved sleep would instantly give you more energy and drive during the day…
  • Since you sleep better you would also have better self control during the day (poor sleep is horrible for willpower)…
  • With more self control you'd stand a better chance at choosing healthier food sources…
  • The healthier foods would lead to weight loss, which by the way physical exercise is doing as well…
  • You'd get a better body composition and slowly but surely start to notice increased self-esteem…
  • With more self esteem your adrenal glands secret less stress hormones and you'd get a drop in anxiety and stress levels (which by the way physical exercise is doing on it's own too – it lowers your baseline levels of stress and anxiety)….
  • Which would further add to even more qualitative sleep…
  • Feeling better in so many ways (self esteem, energy, less anxiety etc) would make you feel less need to escape into low dopamine activities, e.g. porn…
  • …and the good cycle just continues on and one like this…

The same is obviously also true with for example ‘meditation' as a keystone habit.

Meditation will increase your self control, self esteem and your baseline levels of dopamine. Of course that is instantly going to translate into a better mood and higher life quality in general…

…I think you get the picture.

However, remember that it takes a bit of time to turn your life around and you will have to build up the amount. I'd say, start with physical exercise and mediation (probably the two biggest keystone habits).

Just a few minutes a day and build from there.

Things to eliminate – or reduce…

Keystone habits are extremely powerful, but you also need to think about proactively reducing the amount of stupid stuff you're doing.

For example, if you have a habit of aimless browsing on social media, YouTube, Reddit, and things a like, for hours upon hours every day, then this is definitely something you need to address.

And here too, just like with adding habits, you do it gradually…

You could for example start by cutting down on the sheer amount from 8 hours a day to just 6. Then, maybe take 3 days of the week where you only use it for 4 hours, and so on….

…be a little creative here.

The key is obviously going to be: you…going…in…the…right…direction.

Implementing the keystone habit of reading physical books are automatically going to make you spend less time online, making it less likely for you to turn to porn, as well as give you a healthier dopamine system (once more you can see the power of keystone habits).

You can >>Download<< my Quit Porn Guide for FREE right now!

If you need help…

If you still feel that you'd like some help with quitting porn, then here are a few suggestions for you…

Other posts you may find interesting…

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