You will not reap the ''benefits'' or ''superpowers'' if you don't do a dopamine detox. Yeah, you heard me right. I'm not saying you should quit everything that gives you pleasure altogether. The process need to be gradative. I realized that only abstaining from PMO was not enough to make me feel better. When I tried to only abstain from any sexual activity, I was still having no energy, low libido, brain fog, lethargy, anxiety, depression, etc. The reason I was feeling that low is because my brain was still flooded with dopamine. Sure porn is a harmful habit that degrades your mind. So is social media, masturbation, junk food, alcohol, online gaming, netflix, etc. All these things have one thing in common: short term pleasure. We all are witness of what fast and big spikes of dopamine did to our lives. Those pleasurable things are achievable without any effort, and our brain gets addicted to it. You need to switch bad dopamine activities by good ones. Exercising, meditating, healthy diet, exposure to sun light, good sleep, reading, spent time outdoor, music, etc. When you do this change, everything will change. Your life will improve in all areas such as work, studies, sex, spirituality, family, friendships, financially, etc.
I think nofap is a good initialization for most people to dopamine detox and self improvement in general. Once you can spot how one really detrimental habit can affect your life and potential, you can more easily see the rest, espescially in the case of PMO since stopping it can give you measurable energy and mood increase within a week. Of course for some people it's not all that easy if they've been addicted for long (including me), but at some point your energy and motivation for a bettter life picks up regardless.
Our time on earth is limited and avoiding Porn, social media, gaming, Netflix will give you an extra 5 hours every day. 5 hours every day can change a life drastically. That is around 21% of your life spent productively. Even if it is only 2 hours are used effectively every day, that is still a huge improvement on your life, family and career.
I think hobbies is such a great use of dopamine. Sure, it can be short term sometimes, but you get BETTER at something, and you get to look over what you accomplish. Dopamine is hard wired into all humans, I think it depends how youre activating it, cause that will decide the "benefits"
I agree, I would say hobbies give more dopamine than porn but it is spread out over a longer period of time. When you Masturbate, you gain a lot of dopamine within a few minutes and you will feel tired and guilty for the rest of the day, but with hobbies, you gain dopamine every day and once you finish something in your hobby, the dopamine gained will spread over weeks, months and years unlike PMO in a few seconds
I also think that a dopamine detox just straight up makes NoFap an easier process because you are "naturalizing" your lifestyle. This will generally keep you from unnatural things like P.
very cool point, I hadnt thought of that. Hobbies be like "slow release dopamine hits, bro" haha. It can spread so far too - cause if people like your hobby and it impresses them, bam, more dopamine. Not that I want to be a dopamine junkie for the rest of my life. but its an interesting throught for detoxing without going "cold turkey"
Even when your elderly and reminiscing on your past and your accomplishments, you will be proud of the hobbies you completed and the friends you made, not the porn you watched.
I think you're talking quality over quantity ( I know this is maybe too simplified, but definitely in the right direction ?...)
