NoFap – A Helpful Ideology, Or A Crazed Cult?

With it being the start of the month as I write this, what better topic to kick off the famous ‘No Nut November’ than the topic of NoFap?

If you’ve never heard of NoFap before, it’s basically a community that encourages people to stop masturbating entirely. Regular sexual intercourse is considered fine by most, but masturbation is not to be done under any circumstances.

The community also discourages you from consuming porn in its entirety.

The idea behind it is the belief that porn and masturbation causes a whole host of negative problems, and abstaining from masturbation entirely can not only fix these problems, but transform you into the person you were always meant to be. However, since the NoFap community was started in 2011, it has changed quite a lot – and may not be as helpful as it once was.

In this article, I’ll be covering both the truths and the deceit behind the NoFap ideology, and get to the truth of it all.

Supposed Benefits Of NoFap

Just for fun, I want to quickly list out some of the benefits I’ve seen people report when they begin their NoFap journey:

• Increased confidence
• Improved willpower
• Improved motivation
• Improved spirituality
• Increased happiness
• Decreased symptoms of depression and anxiety
• Lower stress levels
• More physical attractiveness
• Better posture
• Stronger muscles
• Better sleep
• More attention from the opposite sex
• Improved erectile dysfunction
• Better grades
• Job promotions
• More energy
• Reduced acne
• Food tastes better

And so on. Some of these, as I’ll cover in just a moment, actually make a lot of sense, though perhaps for unexpected reasons.

Others simply appear to be placebo or coincidences.

Abstaining From Masturbation – And Especially Porn, Holds Some Benefits

NoFap does not affect all members equally.

It’s important to understand that masturbation has no negative health consequences on its own. While porn is arguably worse for your mental health than masturbation alone, it also isn’t proven to show any health risks in those that consume it at normal levels.

Obviously, this doesn’t apply to all people.

Porn addiction is a very real thing. Some people spend hours and hours a day watching porn – preventing them from spending time with loved ones, carrying out their responsibilities, or enjoying other hobbies.

Additionally, some people have so little fulfillment or excitement from other things in their lives, and porn floods their brain with artificial dopamine – leading to withdrawal symptoms and depression when porn use stops. The effects are similar to those of addictive drugs.

If this sounds like you, abstaining from masturbation can help you fix your problem.

It’s the same as any other addiction, that carries negative consequences. If you have a problem eating cookies, then you may find it more effective to completely stop eating them, rather than just trying to taper down to a normal amount.

Although the first few weeks of avoiding masturbation can be extremely difficult, people typically find the urges eventually start to subside. Engaging in an addictive behavior – even a little bit, can lead to compulsive relapsing and hurt progress.

So, in order to know whether taking a break from masturbation holds any benefit to you at all, ask yourself – is excessive masturbation or porn usage currently a problem for you? How is it affecting your life?

If you were to quit, how would you reallocate that time? If you replace masturbation with an even worse habit, then it’s not really helping you at all, now is it?

In addition to those with an addiction, NoFap can be particularly helpful for those with porn-induced erectile dysfunction (PIED), or those needing motivation to pursue relationships in real life.

Sex is a biological need, and unsurprisingly, if you don’t masturbate you’ll be more driven to go out and form real relationships – the same way you’d probably learn to hunt, fish and scavenge if you were suddenly dropped in the wilderness.

The Community Is What Ruins It

Truthfully, after spending some time in the NoFap communities, the biggest flaw isn’t the ideology – it’s the community itself.

Anecdotally speaking, the larger communities are largely compromised of people between the ages of 14 and 25, and both the youth and the lack of life experience shows.

Communities are full of memes rather than helpful advice, and there are so many stories that are falsely attributed to NoFap, that really have little to do with it at all.

Here’s why.

NoFap can be the start of a huge amount of personal transformation. Somebody who commits to cease compulsory masturbation may also start quitting other bad habits at the same time, replacing them with good ones. They take on a new identity, they become a person that they are more proud of.

This leads to a whole host of other benefits. Maybe they carry themselves with more confidence. Maybe they are more outspoken. Maybe they pick up new hobbies, or get out of the house more, or start becoming more positive.

These things continue spiraling. They may seem more energetic, more outgoing, and therefore more attractive.

This has nothing to do with the magic of not touching your genitals and everything to do with a positive mindset shift that continues compounding on itself.

People in the NoFap community often see it as a literal superpower. Anecdotal stories shared throughout the community reinforce this false belief.

The reality is, NoFap isn’t going to magically get you a girlfriend. You aren’t going to turn into the next James Bond because you stopped touching your penis.

You may feel better, you may have improved mental health, you may even alleviate symptoms of depression or anxiety. And heck, doing something difficult and overcoming an addiction is truly something to be proud of.

But, don’t get the wrong idea – these improvements you might see, they were possible all along. Let’s be real – when you are happier and you feel better, you start noticing more of the good things in life, and less of the bad ones.

The issue isn’t masturbation, or even porn. It’s the fact that the people who benefit the most from NoFap are those that lack discipline, fulfillment, and other sources of joy in their lives. Committing to NoFap forces you to finally confront and fix those issues. If you don’t, you’ll be just as miserable, and experience none of the supposed benefits that NoFap can provide.

Now I know some people might start telling me about the links of masturbation to lower testosterone levels, or the supposed benefits of semen retention. However, these theories have been scientifically proven to be false.

Masturbation and ejaculation does not lower testosterone, and semen retention does not provide any health benefits at all. In fact, the only notable thing that semen retention helps with is increasing ejaculation size – while actual sperm quality suffers. Regular ejaculation can also reduce the risk of prostate cancer, so overall, semen retention poses more risks than benefits.

Conclusion

I need to point out, despite working in the adult industry, I am not against NoFap. I just think it’s important that we have realistic ideas of what to expect.

If masturbation or porn use is causing actual problems in your life, of course you should take steps to address those. Porn use in particular is much more risky than masturbation alone.

As for next steps, I did find much more engaging and useful information on the PornFree subreddit, which is considered to be a much more mature version of NoFap. However, unlike NoFap, the PornFree community still encourages healthy masturbation, just without any porn to enhance it.

You may also consider signing up to my email newsletter, where I share tips that can help you both find a sexual partner, and enhance your sex life once you have one.

I’m curious, what are your thoughts on NoFap? Write to me and let me know!

~ Lexi