Concentration

Sex and masturbation do not help concentration. That is just another illusion. When you are trying to concentrate, you automatically try to avoid distractions. So when a PMOer wants to concentrate he doesn’t even have to think about it. He automatically PMOs, partially ending the craving, gets on with the matter in hand and has already forgotten that he just PMOed. Sex in general do not help concentration. After years of masturbation your brain changes affect abilities such as assessing, planning and impulse control. The PMOer is already suffering: that little monster wants his fix.

You are also stressed to provide novelty for the next PMO session as the same stuff will not generate enough dopamine and opioids. You have to “roam the internet streets” for novelty - all the while fighting the pull to cross the line towards shock. This creates more stress. After you orgasm, you feel unfulfilled as well.

Concentration is also affected adversely for another reason. Your dopamine receptors have already started to get reduced by building up natural tolerance to these large surges, reducing the benefit of the smaller dopamine boosts from natural de-stressors.

In fact, your concentration and inspiration will be greatly improved as this process is reversed. For some it will be the concentration aspect that prevents them from succeeding when using the willpower method. They could put up with the irritability and bad temper but when they really needed to concentrate on something difficult they have to have that porn fix. I can well remember the panic I felt when I discovered that the hotel has no internet connection and I had this huge presentation the day after.

The loss of concentration that PMOers suffer when they try to escape is not, in fact, due to your abstinence from sex, let alone PMO. When you are addicted to something, you have mental blocks. When you have such a block, what do you do? You fire up the browser. That doesn’t cure the mental block, so then what do you do? You do what you have to do: you get on with it, just as non-PMOers do.

When you are a PMOer nothing gets blamed on the cause. PMOers never have EDs; they just have an occasional down time. The moment you stop using, everything that goes wrong in your life is blamed on the fact that you’ve stopped. Now when you have a mental block, instead of just getting on with it, you start to say, “if only I could check out my favourites now, it would solve my problem.” You then start to question your decision to quit and escape from this slavery.

If you believe that PMOing is a genuine aid to concentration, worrying about it will guarantee that you won’t be able to concentrate. It’s the doubting, not the physical withdrawal pangs, that causes the problem. Always remember: it is the PMOer who suffers pangs and not non-PMOers. When I quit I went overnight from using everyday to zero without any apparent loss of concentration.