The Nofap Chaser Effect: Everything you need to know about the chaser effect and how to prevent it

Once upon a time, somewhere not that far away depending on your geo-location, there was a boy (me) trying to make his fortune as an online sports trader.

“It’s quite easy to do and very soon, you’re gonna be raking in the big bucks”, said a pointed-nose bald self-proclaimed guru on YouTube.

“You buy at low odds and you sell at high odds. Easy peezy!!”

What my guru teacher forgot to tell me was that my brain didn’t like losing.

He forgot to tell me that I would automatically chase losses.

This was pre-nofap days. And this was my first encounter with the chaser effect.

The second time I had to deal with the chaser effect was when I was trying to get rid of my annoying belly fat.

What I had to do was also quite simple, according to a belly-fat specialist blogger.

“Stop eating dinner any time after 6.00 pm in the evening. If you can do this with some simple exercises, you’ll lose that belly fat!!”

Again, quite simple on paper.

But after 10 days of not eating late, I relapsed on the 11th day.

The chaser effect came to pay me a visit once again.

Then I went on a late-late night binge-eating spree that doubled my belly fat after a month.

The chaser effect is basically your body’s way of recouping losses.

Whenever your body perceives scarcity, it wants to binge on the scarce commodity when you eventually get it.

It does this in an attempt to have the scarce commodity in stock should scarcity strike again.

So, after my first NoFap relapse, well, the chaser effect knocked on my door once more.

Not everybody gets the chaser effects during the course of their nofap journey.

But for those of us that get it, we all know how nasty that sumb**ch can be!!

What is the chaser effect?

According to yourbrainonporn.com, ‘chaser’ is used to describe intense cravings that follow orgasm. It can be some minutes after the orgasm, or the following day.

The chaser effect is a PMO or MO binge you go on when you orgasm after a while on nofap.

The shocker when it comes to the chaser effect is that it’s not only limited to relapsing (PMO) when on nofap.

It can happen when you engage in partnered sex.

This makes it really frustrating because, after the sex, you’ll feel this sexual energy and desire for sex build up like you’ve never felt it before.

If you give in, you’ll likely keep orgasming till you are physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted.

The chaser effect sort of goes like this;

Wow, I just relapsed. I just ruined a 30-day streak.

Let me restart my counter.

Oh wait, let me do one more! I feel a lot better. But that’s it!

No more! Let me restart my nofap counter.

Oh wait, let me do one more!!

And after 8 PMO sessions in 2 days; “I’m too exhausted to restart my counter”.

The chaser effect goes beyond nofap

As I pointed out at the beginning of this post, the chaser effect is not only peculiar to nofap.

It’s kind of like another compulsive addiction hallmark disease/symptom.

The chaser effect can present itself for any compulsive disorder you can think of.

The alcoholic can go on a bender after a relapse. The gambling addict goes on a binge-gambling phase when it’s been quite a while he’s gambled or when he’s chasing a loss.

For the gambling addict, his chaser effect is characterized by a series of un-calculated risks that would eventually lead to the loss of all his money.

The junk-food addict on a diet can go on a binge-eating journey after eating just a burger.

The role of the chaser effect in the human body

To date, there’s never been a full all-out research on the chaser effect.

However, several studies are indicative of the chaser effect.

One of those studies was a study carried out to test the role of abstinence on the compulsivity associated with internet pornography.

And the study concluded that engaging in other ‘sexual activities’ aside from internet porn did increase porn use significantly in the days after the sexual activity.

Because of the lack of literature on the subject of nofap chaser effect, to know why it occurs, I had to look beyond the context of nofap.

When I was experiencing the nofap chaser effect, and I started interviewing people on the topic, I was told by someone that the chaser effect is a survival evolutionary mechanism kind of thing.

It’s like a cycle that gets triggered in the brain that keeps you wanting more after the brain has previously perceived scarcity.

In other words, it’s biological!!

For instance;

• [Scenario 1] Researchers have found that for every 2 pounds you lose through dieting, the body raises your appetite level and lowers your resting metabolism so that you gain the 2 pounds back and more. Study 1, Study 2.
• [Scenario 2] Researchers have found a neurochemical cycle after orgasm that can keep you wanting more depending on some certain motivating factors. Study 1, Study 2.
• [Scenario 3] Researchers have recognized a certain pattern that emerges when a new group of gambling addicts called the binge gamblers lose money.

In scenario 1, the body experienced a scarcity of junk-food. Scenario 2 had scarcity of orgasm while scenario 3 perceived scarcity of money.

It’s like your body has seen all these scarcities and it wants to prepare for any form of future scarcity.

The negative side-effects of the nofap chaser effect

Any form of chaser effect you get when you’re on nofap is always characterized by any/all of the following side-effects (if you give in to the chaser effect);

1. Physical exhaustion,
2. Mental exhaustion, and
3. Emotional exhaustion

When you go on a 2-day marathon PMO binge, you will be exhausted and emotionally drained.

And if you aren’t watchful and prepared, you might be returned to a low point where you get unmotivated to restart your nofap.

How to “beat” the nofap chaser effect

We know that your body wants you to make up for “lost times”.

So, there’s basically built-up sexual energy that your body keeps calling on you to expend.

I’ve seen the nofap chaser effect on different levels before.

Initially, when I first started nofap, when I relapse to porn, or I have sex and I ejaculate, my chaser is so bad that it would take me weeks to snap out of it.

As I became aware of this biological phenomenon called the chaser effect, and with the repeated effort of nofap, the chaser effect timeline became shorter.

What was taking me weeks to get out of was taking me days.

Nowadays, the chaser timeline is like completely gone. But in some rare cases, I experience it for a day maximum.

Eventually, I was able to “beat” the chaser effect.

But I’m not sure if “beat” is the right word to use in this context. Rather than use the word “beat”, I think the right word to use is “outgrow”.

Below, I outline the step-by-step of how I was able to “outgrow” my nofap chaser effect until it became almost non-existent.

How to “outgrow” the nofap chaser effect in 8 steps

1. Be aware of it

In winning the battle against the nofap chaser effect, awareness is key. As a matter of fact, awareness is the only weapon you have at your disposal.

Learn to know when it’s in operation.

We are all different anatomically. The way Mr. A will experience the chaser effect will be different from the way Mr. B will experience it.

Some people’s chaser is rapid. While some people’s chaser is gradual and progressive.

If yours is rapid, it’ll happen the day of your orgasm and won’t be longer than the next day.

And because the number of days is quite short, the chaser effect can be quite intense.

If yours is a gradual type of thing, you might be PMOing just once or twice a day after the relapse and you might get stuck in this daily cycle for up to two weeks.

The whole point I’m trying to make here is that your first responsibility is to figure out the pattern of your chaser.

Get to know how your chaser works. When it comes. When it goes away. How intense are the urges your chaser brings?

2. Re-connect with your prefrontal cortex

Anything you’ll experience as a result of the chaser effect will be orchestrated in the limbic region of your brain.

The strong urge you’ll start getting after relapsing will originate from this region of the brain.

The part of the brain that can override this limbic system is known as the prefrontal cortex.

The trick is this; when the prefrontal cortex is fully operational, the limbic system is non-active, and vice versa.

How do you get your limbic system to shut up for your prefrontal cortex to take over?

When the huge cravings for orgasm arise, you can try these simple willpower exercises to quickly get your prefrontal cortex in control;

How to re-connect with your prefrontal cortex as fast as possible

• Have a grown-up conversation with your limbic system. Seriously! Talk to yourself. Tell yourself why it’s important for you to get back on the nofap wagon. Tell yourself that these strong cravings you’re getting are false messages from your brain that only wants to keep you in the PMO addiction cycle forever. After you’ve done this, then;
• Take three deep breaths!!!
• After the breaths, shift your focus to something else.

3. Move the energy around to another place

If the brain techniques above have failed you, and you’re still getting these intense cravings for orgasming, you can then proceed to literally move that sexual energy to other places in your body.

How do you do this?

These are some ways to go about it and you can just pick anyone that’s most convenient, and works best for you;

How to re-direct your built-up sexual energy

• You can do a sexual transmutation exercise. This is a form of exercise where you breathe your sexual energy out of the pelvic chakra, all the way to the chakra at the top of your head. I tried doing this exercise for a while but I never really stuck with it. If you want to give it a try, here is a video of a guy showing you how to transmute sexual energy on YouTube.
• You can do reps of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) exercises. This is my go-to exercise for moving my sexual energy around and diverting into something/somewhere else. With this type of exercise, apart from re-directing your sexual energy, you’re also activating your prefrontal cortex at the same time. So, anytime I relapse or have sex, I usually increase the number of times I do this HIIT exercise. Here’s my simple routine for HIIT exercise when I start getting crazy urges to orgasm; 30 seconds of jumping jacks, breathe for 10 seconds, 30 seconds of push-ups, breathe for 10 seconds, 30 seconds of stepping up and down on a chair, breathe for 10 seconds, 30 seconds of squatting, breathe for 10 seconds, 30 seconds of running in place, and finally, breathe for 10 seconds. You can do as many rounds as you can. After that round of exercise, I immediately go and have a cold shower.
• Make mindfulness and Chakra meditation a more consistent practice. Nothing helps to redirect energy and focus more than a constant meditation practice. You don’t have to be elaborate, you can be doing a simple 5-minute meditation, and after 8 weeks, you have a more active prefrontal cortex. When the chaser effect hits, you can sit and meditate to shift your attention from the chaser effect (and sexual energy) to another thing entirely.

4. Remember why you’re doing nofap in the first place

As I always say, if your reasons for doing nofap are big enough, you’ll conquer most of the challenges you’ll face on your nofap journey.

For impact, you can get a piece of paper and start writing the most IMPORTANT reasons why you started doing nofap in the first place.

5. Wait it out if you can

As I said earlier, the nofap chaser effect usually lasts for just a couple of days after orgasm on nofap.

For some people, it lasts for just two days after the relapse. Some people have it longer than that.

Although while you’re in the thick of the chaser effect, it might not feel like something temporary. But it is!

Knowing this, you can actually make the informed decision of waiting it out. You can make the psychological switch of its short lifespan and everything gets a lot easier from there.

If you are in a relationship and experiencing the chaser effect as a result of intercourse, talking to your partner about it helps TREMENDOUSLY.

I’ve discussed other techniques (like cold showers, meditation, HIIT exercises, deep breathing, Chakra breathing) you can use to stall till it’s finally gone.

6. Nofap is a way of life

Speaking of waiting it out and not PMOing like a crazy person during the chaser period, you should always have it at the back of your mind that nofap is a way of life.

Don’t treat nofap like a challenge where you have to be keeping score with your brain.

The sooner you make this switch from treating nofap as a challenge to your way of life, the sooner your brain will get the memo.

The challenge mentality constitutes most people’s chaser effects. If nofap is treated as a part of your life, it’ll be easier for you to wait out the chaser effect.

7. Ride out the chaser wave with awareness

After it’s all said, and it’s all done, you are still PMOing over and over again after a relapse, I say it’s time you ride out the chaser effect with awareness.

For you not to get too caught up in the chaser effect net and to get back to rebooting as soon as possible, ride out the wave.

That is if your chaser effect is too strong for you after everything you’ve done.

So, with awareness, ride it out.

It’s that simple. Continue PMOing or MOing till you are out of the chaser stint.

There are two scenarios of riding out the chaser effect;

• If you relapsed by PMOing on nofap (i.e. you used porn to relapse); the first thing is to be aware you are experiencing a chaser when you start getting these intense cravings for an orgasm. Choose a day and binge on PMO. Till you get to that point where you feel exhausted and really motivated to get back on the wagon. It might be a certain number of ejaculation you get to. So that the second day, you’d have done it all and your mind is off the chaser effect.
• If your chaser effect is as a result of orgasming through partnered sex; if you find yourself in this type of situation, communication with your partner is quite important here. Let him/her know about the nofap chaser effect and how you are currently/might experience it. Let him/her know that you’ll be extremely horny over the next couple of days. After a sexual encounter on one of my nofap streaks (two months of nofap), I was getting really horny. I told my girlfriend about what I was going through and she understood. Telling her kind of relieved a lot of stress for me. Contrary to what I thought I needed (constant sex), what she did for me was quite different. She was emotionally available to me during this period. I would call her up, she’d come over to my place, and we’d talk for hours. After the talk, I would feel a lot better. Sometimes there’d be the horizontal boogie, and most of the time, there won’t be sex. After some days, I would be feeling really better and the chaser would regulate. [NOTE] Please, please, and please, if you orgasm through partnered sex, and you have the chaser effect, whatever you do, DON’T WATCH PORN. Porn will make it a lot worse for you.

8. You “outgrow” the chaser effect

To conclude this post, if you’re aware of the chaser effects whenever it hits, with time, you outgrow it.

With time and practice of the above steps, you kind of outgrow the need to chase an orgasm after a relapse (or sexual intercourse) when you’re on nofap.

There’s no chaser effect I’ve experienced that I haven’t outgrown.

From my gambling chaser to my late-night eating habit, down to the nofap chaser effect, with awareness and constant action of not falling into its pit, I’ve been able to outgrow each and every one of them.

On the other hand, if you keep on relapsing, and the chaser keeps getting worse, and you can’t seem to get out of it, you should consider getting help for your nofap challenge so that you’ll stop relapsing.

If you have any questions, thoughts, or ideas on the nofap chaser effect, use the comment section below.

And please, please, and please, share this post. You never know who it might help.

Till we speak again, stay Fap-free, STAY WEALTHY.