The topic of pornography may be taboo, but this industry is worth around 100 billion dollars. One survey found that 99% of participating males admitted to watching pornography, and the global statistics for females is 35% and is on the increase. Many may view pornography as just entertainment and something to do. However, the use of pornography can lead to addiction and can have many effects on your health. On the other end of the spectrum, your health, specifically stress, can place you at risk for developing a pornography addiction. This article will explore the facts behind pornography and addiction and the relationship between pornography and adrenal fatigue.
The definition of pornography includes not only explicit videos but pictures as well as text. A pornography addiction is when there is an emotional dependence on porn.
There are multiple warning signs including:
During the use of porn, the reward center of your brain is activated and this stimulates the release of dopamine. This hormone is a feel-good hormone that gives you a natural high and causes you to focus more on the experience - in this case, porn. Because of this, you are more likely to remember the pleasure that you felt during this experience. Some individuals may use this release of dopamine to escape reality or deal with stress. The hormone itself is not addictive. However, the activity used to get this dopamine boost can become addictive and individuals will rely on it for the boost of dopamine.
An addiction to pornography can also affect the emotional health of not only the individual who is experiencing the addiction but also their partner. During this addiction, the individual may lose interest in their life and partner, leading to dissatisfaction. It can also cause an increase in irritability or anger if access to pornography is limited.
Pornography can also negatively affect the emotional health of the partner. Many individuals forget that with porn, the scene is scripted and acted out and is not real. This can lead to unrealistic expectations as well as a change in belief in autonomy. This can put immense pressure on partners to perform sexually to reach their partner's expectations. It can also put them at risk for abuse due to their partner's change in beliefs regarding autonomy. Individuals who experience a pornography addiction become more focused on watching pornography and may also lose interest in their partners, causing them to feel unseen and unheard. One survey conducted found that watching pornography after marriage doubled the risk of divorce. This risk increased for individuals in their twenties and thirties (1).
Watching pornography frequently can also lead to individuals feeling more numb and getting desensitized to sexual stimulation in their actual sexual lives. This can lead to erectile dysfunction (ED) and challenges climaxing. One study found that 30-40% of men who watched at least 40 minutes of pornography experienced ED. The length of time seemed to play a role, as only 10% of males experienced ED in the group that watched less than 30 minutes of porn.
Exposure to pornography can also increase your tolerance to abnormal sexual behavior, increasing your risk of promiscuity as well as violence during sexual acts. This can increase your risk of STDs as well as being injured due to violence.
Adrenal fatigue is a stress-related condition that can contribute to developing an addiction to pornography. Individuals under stress may be more likely to seek an escape and more likely to become addicted to those positive chemicals produced by certain activities, including porn.
Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) is the non-Addison's form of adrenal insufficiency. In simple terms, it's when your adrenal glands cannot keep up with everyday stressors. During short-term stress, your body will produce the stress hormone cortisol to help your body manage stress.
When stress becomes chronic, this can cause a constant demand for a high level of cortisol. Eventually, the body will be unable to keep up with the demand for cortisol, and cortisol levels will then drop, resulting in AFS.
In the early stages of chronic stress, high levels of cortisol can increase the risk of developing a habit of watching porn. Studies suggest that this release of cortisol enhances the activation of the reward center of your brain in response to sexual stimuli. Cortisol also was associated with an increase in incentive value for sexual stimuli (2). This may explain why stress is a risk factor for developing an unhealthy relationship with pornography.
Your body has a system called the NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Stress Response System, which supports your body throughout stress and consists of six circuits of related organ systems. During AFS, imbalances within this system can arise and result in many different symptoms depending on where the imbalance is occurring.
One of the circuits of the NEM is the Neuroaffect circuit. The brain, autonomic nervous system, and gut microbiome make up this circuit and regulate the release of brain hormones. An imbalance in this circuit can result in multiple different symptoms that include anxiety, depression, and an intolerance to stress meaning that simple things that would generally not cause stress will be stressful.
These symptoms may drive individuals to use pornography as a coping strategy. This coping strategy will prolong stress, as it will not address the root cause. Rather, it only relieves it temporarily, causing the individual to become dependent on it.
There are two aspects that need to be addressed in order to break the link between pornography and adrenal fatigue. The first aspect is getting professional help in terms of psychological support. This can be through a recovery center specializing in addictions or seeing a therapist.
The second aspect is to assess your stress as it may be a driving factor. Healing from adrenal fatigue will help to break the vicious cycle and the link between pornography and adrenal fatigue.
The fastest way to heal from adrenal fatigue is to see a professional who has experience in adrenal fatigue. This professional will then help determine what imbalances within the NEM system you may have and help you balance them with an individualized plan. The amount of time that it will take to heal from adrenal fatigue depends on how your body reacts to the plan and the imbalances that you are experiencing.
This plan may include various components that include:
Probiotics to ensure a healthy gut microbiomeOne important supplement that can help to assist with your stress management is gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). GABA is an amino acid that acts as a brain hormone and has a calming effect on your brain cells and nervous system, helping to relieve stress. Low levels of GABA can result in depression, anxiety, and chronic stress (3). Therefore supplementing with GABA may help to heal one of the root causes of chronic stress.
When considering GABA supplements you can choose one that only consists of GABA or you can choose one that has a combination of different ingredients that helps to promote calmness and stress relief. One supplement that does this is Adrenal Calm, which consists of GABA as well as other vitamins and minerals such as vitamin B6 and magnesium to assist with stress relief.
When you are healing from adrenal fatigue it is important to be mindful of factors that may aggravate your adrenal fatigue and may strengthen the relationship between pornography and adrenal fatigue rather than healing it.
Factors that may worsen your adrenal fatigue are:
Addiction to pornography can not only create havoc in your life but also exacerbate stress and ultimately adrenal fatigue. Healing from adrenal fatigue can help to address the root cause of stress. It can also help to improve your health by reducing the effects of pornography. The link between pornography and adrenal fatigue can be broken by seeking professional support and healing from adrenal fatigue. This is done through:
If you're ready to take control of your adrenal health and reclaim your vitality, Dr. Lam's Adrenal Fatigue Recovery Program offers a comprehensive solution. Through diet changes, meditation practices, regular exercise, and optimal supplementation, you can naturally recover from adrenal fatigue and its symptoms—all without the need for doctor visits, costly medical tests, or prescriptions. Plus, with an included meal plan, you'll have everything you need to kickstart your journey to wellness.
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If you're concerned about elevated stress levels and find yourself easily overwhelmed, the Dr. Lam team is here to support you in addressing the root causes of your stress. Reach out today for a free initial consult at +1 (626) 571-1234 to take the first step towards reclaiming your well-being.
Perry, Samuel L., and Craig Schleifer. "Till Porn Do Us Part? A Longitudinal Examination of Pornography Use and Divorce." Journal of Sex Research, vol. 55, no. 3, Mar. 2018, pp. 284-96. PubMed, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28497988/.
Stark, Rudolf, et al. "Individual Cortisol Response to Acute Stress Influences Neural Processing of Sexual Cues." Journal of Behavioral Addictions, vol. 11, no. 2, Jul. 2022, pp. 506-19. PubMed Central, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9295234/.
de Leon, Ana S., and Parashos Tadi. "Biochemistry, Gamma Aminobutyric Acid." StatPearls, Last updated May 2023, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551683/.
If the root cause is addressed, you can break the link between pornography and adrenal fatigue. Seeing a professional who specializes in adrenal fatigue and getting psychological support from a professional who has experience in this will help you to be successful.
