I hope this video makes you OnePercentBetter.

Now over to Alexis from the channel Lifelong Learners.

- [Alex] Thanks for the introduction Brandon.

It's good to be OnePercentBetter today.

My name is Alex, and I'm gonna talk about porn.

It's often portrayed as a passive or positive habit.

But, do you know how it affects your brain?

Your brain is the most sophisticated mass of cells

on the planet and when you watch porn,

it releases a complex surge of chemicals

that burns the experience into your mind

and over time can lead to addiction.

Approximately 5% of all internet traffic is porn related

and for many college-age men

and women watching porn is a weekly or daily activity.

Your brain is small but hungry.

It consumes 20% of your oxygen

and blood circulation just to operate.

It has over one quadrillion synapses enabling

a complex system of cell-to-cell communication.

It's also adaptable, or plastic in its ability

to change at any age.

This organ of one billion neurons is always

making new connections.

The brain's grey matter can actually shrink or thicken.

Neural pathways or connections can be forged,

refined, weakened or cut depending on a range

of things like hormones, the environment or trauma.

Neurons that fire together start to wire together.

It's helpful to compare your thinking patterns

to tracks on a snow-covered mountain.

As you consistently move down the mountain

on the same track the path becomes easier

and smoother for next time.

Your brain responds in a very similar way to porn as to sex.

So, what actually happens inside your head?

Initially, your brain starts to release

a surge of dopamine which creates a state of tension,

focus and pleasure.

Norepinephrine is also released which makes you more alert

and burns the experience into your mind.

That's why these experiences can

become like a neurological tattoo.

They are difficult for you to forget or wipe away.

At the moment of climax oxytocin

and vasopressin are released.

These act like bonding agents.

They bond you to the person or object causing your arousal.

They are also released when a mother

touches a child or when couples touch.

These chemicals also start to cause out-group aggression.

This means that you will start to draw closer to the things

you are bonded to, porn,

and more distant from the things outside

the relationship, like your partner.

Opiates are released which create a sense of euphoria.

Serotonin is also released which creates

a feeling of calmness, wellbeing and satisfaction.

This is why some people use porn

to self-medicate their moods.

All of these chemicals train your brain not to bond

with another person but with porn.

As you consume more porn you get a build up

of DeltaFosB which is a molecular switch for addiction,

cravings and compulsions.

A study from Cambridge University found

that the addiction part of the brain lights up

on scans when people view porn.

People who watch porn start to become hyper-reactive

to sexual media.

Any hint of it immediately revs them up

and their threshold for pleasure raises.

A 2011 study found that the dopamine spikes

result in porn watchers needing increasingly

extreme experiences to become sexually aroused.

This often leads to users moving from comparatively

tame media to porn featuring more extreme content

like group sex, anal, bestiality, bondage or rape.

Research has shown that the following behaviours

become exhibited in individuals that continue to watch porn.

Normalising unhealthy behaviour.

Diminished sexual satisfaction when looking

at porn or engaging in sex.

Irritability, headaches, anxiety,

and depression when going without porn or sex.

Needing more sex, more risky sex,

or more graphic disturbing porn over a longer period of time

to get the same high.

They can even become unexcited by ordinary sex.

Invest in more time and effort to seek out sex.

Important social, occupational, or recreational activities

are sacrificed in order to engage in sex.

Essentially, porn starts to negatively affect many aspects

of your life in significant ways.

There are many ways to get help you and kick this habit.

Your brain is still an amazing mass of cells

that you can re-train.

Rather than walking down the same well used mountain path

you can develop a new path down the mountain.

To begin with it or feel unnatural,

like you are walking through waist deep snow,

however as you continue to make positive choices

the path becomes easier and more natural.

Essentially, you're re-train your brain

with thinking patterns.

So, is porn really a harmless habit?

Were you surprised how it can affects your brain?

If you enjoyed this check out my channel Lifelong Learners.

There's some great videos there about thinking,

technology, psychological experiments, and more.

Leave a comment below, and remember to subscribe

and give us a thumbs up.

And a special thanks to Brandon

and OnePercentBetter for collaborating with me on this.

Thanks for watching!