 Porn addiction. It's expensive. It's time consuming. And it's more common than you think. About 40 million US adults reported visiting porn sites on a regular basis. Not only that, but various research studies show that it has detrimental effects on brain function. So let's get right into the ways porn addiction damages your brain. Porn rewires your brain. This is what your brain looks like. And this is your brain on porn. Not to sound like a corny 90s PSA, but these are actual brain scans that show just how much excessive porn usage alters your brain structure and reward system. In fact, porn is so potent that it can damage and rewire your brain in the exact same way drug addiction would. Here's how it works. Pornography triggers the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter responsible for pleasure and reward in the brain. Over time, repeated exposure to pornography activates Delta FOSB, a molecule that regulates the reward system in your brain and accumulates when you engage in any addictive behavior. This molecule basically acts like an electric switch in the brain and creates new neural pathways in response to overstimulation, aka dopamine release from watching porn. The more exposure to porn, the more this switch goes off, making it extremely difficult to quit the addiction. Because your brain is now wired to crave it constantly, the same way a person may crave a McDonald's cheeseburger or a hit of cocaine. Not in that particular order. If you notice that your urge for porn is persistent and even uncontrollable, it may be time to speak to a mental health professional. Negative impact on relationships. If you've ever gone down the rabbit hole of pornography sites at least once in your life, you probably know that there's a tremendous array of NSFW content beyond any person's wildest imagination. It's no wonder why real life sexual experiences and partners may have some trouble competing with the billions of porn images and videos available to the masses. As neuroscientist Andrew Huperman puts it, there is good data to support the idea that if your brain learns to be aroused by watching other people have sex, it is not necessarily going to carry over to the ability to get aroused when you're one-on-one with somebody else. Research shows that porn addiction can negatively impact a person's ability to feel sexually satisfied with their partner due to desensitization and can even distort their view of intimacy. Here's the quick science lesson. The more porn you consume, the more you develop a tolerance for it, which causes you to crave more of it to feel stimulated due to a shift in brain chemicals. Once this tolerance in your brain is established and dopamine reaches its peak, it becomes increasingly difficult to feel sexually satisfied with anything or anyone. Sexual dysfunction. Speaking of never being satisfied, have you ever spent hours relentlessly doom-scrolling through porn websites until nothing you see arouses your interest? No pun intended. You may feel as though you've seen it all and that you're just used to porn, right? Well, it could actually be a sign of sexual dysfunction. In a study published in the journal Military Medicine, men between the ages of 20 and 40 were evaluated using a questionnaire called the International Index of Erectile Function. Participants were asked to answer questions on their levels of orgasmic function, sexual desire, and overall sexual satisfaction. The study found that rates of erectile dysfunction in men were higher in participants who preferred or chose pornography over having real life sex with their partner. This data supports the growing theory that desensitization in the brain from porn addiction is highly correlated with reduced sexual satisfaction and desire overall. Make sure to consult a doctor if you believe you're experiencing symptoms of sexual dysfunction since there can be various underlying causes at play. It can alter decision-making. If what we just mentioned isn't bad enough, porn addiction is powerful enough to trickle down in other areas of your life and can even cause you to make impulsive decisions. Research from the University of Texas Department of Neurosurgery shows that desensitization from porn addiction is also associated with diminished activity in your brain's reward circuit. Partly due to developing a tolerance to dopamine, the study evaluated that addicts show decreased cellular activity in the orbital frontal cortex, an area of the brain that is responsible for helping us make strategic rather than impulsive decisions. You heard that right. Porn can literally diminish your capability of making sound and rational decisions the way any other life-destroying addiction would. If you or someone is struggling from addiction, check out the links in the description for resources and services that can help. So what do you guys think? Did you learn anything new about porn addiction from watching this video? If so, sound off in the comments. And as always, thank you for watching and have an amazing day.