Lifestyle: Porn Is Ruining The Sex Lives Of An Entire Generation – Psychology Today

Young men in their 20s apparently have no groove in bed — and it’s all because they’re addicted to pornography, according to a report in Psychology Today.

But the problem is much more serious than simply either being good or bad in the sack, it’s a physiological issue causing a new generation of men to lose their libidos 30 years sooner than expected.

How did this happen?

According to the report, overexposure to sexually explicit images and video have caused men to lose interest in ordinary sexual encounters — including experiences with a real woman:

Today’s users can force [their] release by watching porn in multiple windows, searching endlessly, fast-forwarding to the bits they find hottest, switching to live sex chat, viewing constant novelty, firing up their mirror neurons with video action and cam-2-cam, or escalating to extreme genres and anxiety-producing material. It’s all free, easy to access, available within seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

After a period of time, excessive porn watchers overstimulate a neurochemical in their bodies called dopamine — the drive behind every “want” and “desire” that humans feel we need to “overcome.” But with your libido in constant drive mode, your dopamine reaction will become numb and, eventually, you’ll no longer be able to become aroused by the same experiences as before.

This occurrence is similar to veteran drug-users describing their need for stronger mind-inducing chemicals in order to receive the same “high” they once had. In the same way, porn-addicted men will need more extreme sexual experiences in order to feel the same kind of arousal.

It’s an endless cycle and if you think Viagra will help, you’re wrong.

Sexual-enhancement drugs work by breaking down a blood vessel dilator called cGMP and this is what causes an erection. If your libido is over worked, the drugs can only cause a physical erection, but a pleasurable sensation cannot be activated.

The only cure is to avoid internet erotica at all costs, but this will be “one of the most difficult things you’ve ever done,” says the study.

In order to have “normal” sex again, a “reboot” period — six to 12 weeks — is needed by completely letting go of your pornographic nature. Addicts can experience a temporary loss of libido altogether as well as “insomnia, irritability, panic, despair, concentration problems, and even flu-like symptoms.”

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