NoFap memory is a topic that we need to discuss because there a lot questions surrounding it.
Can watching too much porn make you forgetful?
Can excessive masturbation to porn make you forget where your car key is?
Can PMO addiction make you forget that next sentence that’s about to come out of your mouth?
Some people will tell you that when they jerk off to porn, they’re more relaxed.
And when they’re relaxed, their brain can focus better.
And that’s a reasonable argument.
Because when you’re focused, you’re able to recall events better.
And there’s that constant brain fog that the PMO addict suffers from.
So, which side of the two stories is true? Does porn addiction affect memory or not?
To begin to get answers to these important questions, we’ll start our probing from what the current studies (available at this time) say about factors that can aid memory problems.
What you will learn
Factors that can aid memory problems
Some of those factors are;
- Diseases like Alzheimer’s
- Alcohol, drugs, and some prescription drugs can cause temporary memory loss. And the abuse of these drugs can even have a more devastating and damaging effect on your brain. You can do a quick drug test using a reliable kit at home.
- Vitamin B-12 deficiency,
- Sleep deprivation,
- Head injury or concussion,
- Cancer treatments like chemotherapy, radiation, and so on.
NoFap can only cure memory problems that are side-effects of PMO addiction.
You have to be sure that none of the other factors above are contributing to your memory loss.
Also, when you’re on NoFap, your lifestyle choices will influence how quickly
NoFap can help cure your PMO-induced memory loss.
Why excessive PMOing can lead to memory impairment in the first place
From the personal experience department, I can say that when you masturbate to porn excessively, there’s a brain change.
And you actually feel these brain changes.
So, the question is what are these brain changes? And what is their effect on memory (both short-term and long-term)?
Brain changes that studies have repeatedly confirmed that porn addicts suffer from include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Physiological changes in the limbic region and the prefrontal cortex: where the former gets bigger and the later shrinks.
- Dopamine flooding in the brain, (brain fog),
- Replacing acetylcholine with stress adrenaline when you masturbate excessively.
So, let’s look at what studies have revealed based on all the brain changes and our memory brain functions;
Working memory brain change
When you repeatedly give in to compulsive habits like jerking off to porn, you’re feeding the limbic part of your brain, while starving your prefrontal region—metaphorically speaking.
If the compulsive habit is bad for you, your prefrontal cortex will want to exercise control and not do it.
But every time you give in, you’re actively casting a vote against the prefrontal region of your brain.
What this does physiologically over time is that your prefrontal cortex grey matter reduces, while the limbic region grows larger.
This brain change is a signature of all compulsive behavior disorders.
And porn addiction has been termed as a compulsive disorder according to WHO diagnostic codes of ICD-10.
As your porn consumption hours increases and it becomes something that you just can’t live without, this brain change becomes very noticeable both in fMRI machines and behavior.
Our working memory is a part of our prefrontal region that we use to store information in the short term. Think of it as a Central Processing Unit.
With this brain change that the porn addict goes through, the working memory functioning is impaired.
This has been shown by several studies in the lab. Where people that reported that they consumed porn were given working memory tasks to see how they do.
Remarkably, those that reported watching porn did poorly on those tasks.
German researchers also found that watching porn affected the working memory and the short-term memory of 28 heterosexual men.
They attached this impairment to porn affecting the working memory of these men.
And other studies have strongly linked the efficacy of our working memory to the speed and level of our exposure to Alzheimer’s.
This is how important our working memory unit is important to our ability to recall. And porn does damage this unit.
The Lingual Gyrus brain change
The lingual gyrus is the part of our brain that helps us to know visual cues, identify letters and other things.
A study found that when participants are exposed to pornographic pictures, this area of the brain is highly stimulated.
And this stimulation increases as the number of hours of pornographic exposure increases.
This brain change was found to make study participants that were exposed to memory tasks slower in response.
And those that weren’t exposed to pornographic materials were faster in response to memory tasks.
Excessive masturbation leads to reduction of acetylcholine
Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter that gets reduced when you masturbate excessively.
Excessively is a keyword because masturbating twice a week (for some people) can’t be termed as excessively: which doesn’t have this negative effect on the brain.
But someone that has a masturbation addiction—masturbating every day—no longer has control and will start suffering from this brain change.
When this acetylcholine neurotransmitter is reduced, your body replaces it with stress adrenaline.
And these stress hormones can cause memory loss and lack of focus.
Brain fog from dopamine traces and porn mental images
When we watch porn, our brain is flooded with dopamine.
Dopamine trains our brain for addiction.
A porn addict’s brain always wants more porn dopamine. So, your brain will keep trying to get you to watch more porn.
How your brain does this is that it floods your brain with images of porn you’ve watched in the past.
These images trigger the secretion of a little dopamine in your brain.
And this little dopamine triggers another flood of porn images.
And the cycle continues till you give in and go and watch porn.
Now, think about this shitshow that’s happening in your brain.
A cocktail of synthetic dopamine and porn images flooding your brain.
This cocktail of brain shitshow happens all the time in the life of a porn addict.
When he’s in the lecture room, when he’s with his family, when he’s at work, when he’s about to sleep, and anywhere he is.
This makes it extremely difficult for the addict to concentrate, focus, or remember trivial things.
Because his brain’s bandwidth is being eaten by porn images and dopamine.
How NoFap can help improve memory, and even cure memory loss
The reversal of the brain changes
When you do the NoFap hard mode for 3 months, your brain chemistry starts changing back to the way it used to be.
Your dopamine pathways are re-wired. Your prefrontal cortex gets rejuvenated.
The prefrontal region gets more grey matter and as a consequence, the brain functions in that area increases.
One of the brain functions that get a boost is your working memory—which we’ve established plays a crucial function in our memory function.
This is why people on NoFap for a long time often say that they’re able to hold conversations for long and don’t find themselves in short of words anymore.
And all the cases of forgetting where they put their car keys is greatly reduced.
Brain fog clears up on NoFap
Speaking of brain bandwidth, clearing up brain fog is another way that NoFap helps to improve your memory.
When you’re on NoFap for a long time, you’ll get fewer and fewer flashes of porn images that used to hinder you from concentrating or focusing your thoughts in the past.
And with a clearer mind, you’re much more able to recall past events with more accuracy.
Other NoFap habits improve memory
If you’re on NoFap and you want to boost your memory power, you can inculcate the following habits into your daily routine;
- Meditation
- Eating healthily: especially vitamin B-12
- Sleeping adequately
- Exercise regularly
Conclusion on NoFap memory loss
When you’re on NoFap, if you start doing one or two of those habits listed above, you should start noticing remarkable improvements on your memory functions.
If you have any observation, or you want to share your experience about your memory on NoFap, please use the comment section below.