Thread: So this helped me A LOT when attaining lucidity! Give it a try

Originally Posted by snoop

I would agree that not masturbating increases awareness and memory (for a while), but I don't think I would peg dopamine as being responsible for this. Increased dopamine means increased focus, awareness, and better memory. How can a lack or lower amount of dopamine cause you to exhibit the signs of higher amounts of dopamine? Ignoring the fact that many other hormones and neurotransmitters are involved in masturbation/orgasm, it's not as simple as pegging something to a neurotransmitter because the same neurotransmitter plays different functions in different parts of the brain. There are D1 receptors, D2, D3, D4, and D5. Dopamine plays several roles and causes different behavioral reactions in just the frontal lobe alone. I think it's safe to say the deficits suffered from over-masturbation come from a multitude of factors. That being said, I'm interested in what those factors are.

I didn't understand everything you wrote, but I think it's the roller-coaster effect that is the reason. You get often high on dopamine by masturbating a lot, but then the roller-coaster goes down some time after you've had your dopamine, and the withdrawal is really bad since you're masturbating so often (if the roller-coaster goes up a lot, it also needs to go down a lot to maintain balance. While masturbating, the roller-coaster goes up. While not masturbating, it goes down.) Since you're usually further down than you would if you hadn't been masturbating excessively, you get worse memory than if you didn't because then the roller-coaster would be at a more constant and stable level. That's what I'm thinking, anyway. It seems logical to me. Also, please note that when I say 'you', I'm not actually referring to you, I know of course nothing about your masturbation habits And please, just ask if there's something about what I said that's unclear or if there's something you didn't understand.

It may be a placebo:

"Not masturbating will surely improve my performance!"

(After the confidence boost reaps success)

"Wow it works! I'm better at everything!"

If it does turn out to be a placebo, then the moral of the story is to just believe in yourself.

Originally Posted by RemoteVicinity

I didn't understand everything you wrote, but I think it's the roller-coaster effect that is the reason. You get often high on dopamine by masturbating a lot, but then the roller-coaster goes down some time after you've had your dopamine, and the withdrawal is really bad since you're masturbating so often (if the roller-coaster goes up a lot, it also needs to go down a lot to maintain balance. While masturbating, the roller-coaster goes up. While not masturbating, it goes down.) Since you're usually further down than you would if you hadn't been masturbating excessively, you get worse memory than if you didn't because then the roller-coaster would be at a more constant and stable level. That's what I'm thinking, anyway. It seems logical to me. Also, please note that when I say 'you', I'm not actually referring to you, I know of course nothing about your masturbation habits And please, just ask if there's something about what I said that's unclear or if there's something you didn't understand.

You were pretty close. Having looked it up, it's the body reacting to the consistent increase in levels of multiple neurotransmitters (dopamine included, acetylcholine too) and hormones causing it to behave a bit wonky. I looked it up a few days ago so I forget if the increase led to down-regulation of the receptors of the neurotransmitters involved or not, but that would also explain things. To elaborate, when there is too much of a neurotransmitter, the body responds by reducing or down-regulating the amount of receptors in the brain for said transmitter. Similarly, when there is too little, the brain up-regulates and creates more receptors. Down-regulation causes loss of sensitivity to a given neurotransmitter so there must be more to experience the same effect. It's all just the body's ongoing efforts to maintain homeostasis.