Porn & Masturbation are Harmful to your Health.

I want to thank con for accepting this debate, even though I believe he thinks I am going to go off on masturbation/porn is a sin, or state my beliefs with non-science material. That is not going to be the case however. I plan to prove my argument through science, and nothing else. PORN USERS HAVE SAME EFFECT AS AN ALCOHOLIC Studies at Cambridge University have shown people who are addicted to pornography show similar brain activity to alcoholics or drug addicts. MRI scans of test subjects who admitted to compulsive pornography use, showed that the reward center of the brain (ventral striatum) reacted to seeing explicit material in the same way as an alcoholic might on seeing a drink. http://www.independent.co.uk... http://www.lifesitenews.com... PORN CAUSES UNNATURAL LEVELS OF DOPAMINE IN BRAIN Porn physically changes our brains' for the worse. Just like other addictive substances, porn floods the brain with dopamine (pleasure hormone). When our brain gets overwhelmed by the constant levels of dopamine that comes with consistent porn use, it fights back by taking away some of its dopamine receptors which hear dopamine’s message. Since there are now fewer receptors, even if the brain is putting off the same levels of dopamine in response to porn, the user will not feel dopamine’s effect as much. Because of this, the porn they were looking at before doesn’t seem as arousing or exciting, and the porn user has to go hunting for more porn or more hardcore porn to get the effect the old porn used to offer. Hilton, D. L. (2013). Pornography Addiction—A Supranormal Stimulus Considered in the Context of Neuroplasticity. Socioaffective Neuroscience & Psychology 3:20767 Pornography Addiction: A Neuroscience Perspective. Surgical Neurology International, 2: 19; (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... Impulsive-Compulsive Sexual Behavior. CNS Spectrums, 11(12):944-955. Influence of Unrestrained Access to Erotica on Adolescents’ and Young Adults’ Dispositions Toward Sexuality. Journal of Adolescent Health 27, 2: 41–44. PORN CAUSES P.I.E.D (PORN INDUCED ERECTION DISFUNCTION) According to Dr. Elizabeth Waterman, psychologist at Morningside Recovery Center, "When people start watching porn, there is a huge flood of dopamine in the brain," Because of high dopamine levels, the receptors that were once very sensitive become less sensitive, and normal physical intimacy does not produce enough dopamine to stimulate the dopamine receptors. The more porn someone watches, the more, and harder and more graphic, porn you need in order to get an erection. If the user continues, they can find themselves physically unable to maintain an erection, much less enjoy sexual contact with another person. http://www.mensjournal.com... Ian Kerner, PhD sexual counselor believes this is a “new kind of ED.” Andrew Kramer, MD urologist tends to agree with this as well. He states “you need more, and more of it…men preferring porn to sex with a partner.” http://www.doctoroz.com... MASTURBATION CAN CAUSE DAMAGE, AND PENILE SHRINKAGE Dr. Irwin Goldstein, director of medicine at Alvarado Hospital, believe penile shrinkage occurs because of two main causes: 1. By the buildup of plaque, known as fat, that prevents the flow of blood, 2. By the buildup of inelastic scar tissue that prevents arteries from increasing in size inside the fibrous sheath of the erectile chambers. Excessive and abusive masturbation can damage the various subcutaneous tissues of the penis, causing both a buildup of plaque and an increase in scar tissue, two issues seen in a similar condition known as peyronie’s disease. The sexually exhausted body can also experience an inhibited liver production and a depletion of HGH, an essential growth hormone for penile tissues, thus a male will experience penis shrinkage. http://www.herballove.com... PERSONAL PORN STORY I know many readers will most likely blow this part off, but I believe personal experience is powerful in a debate as well. I started masturbating, like most guys, around the age of 15-16, and I loved the feeling I received from it (dopamine release). Some I became bored of just masturbating, so I turned to porn videos to provide me more images I could use to get me a better session. I soon became addicted to the dopamine release, and pleasure I was getting each day. Now at age 38, I find it hard to get an erection when having sex with my wife, and need to think of the images in order to stay hard. Porn has ruined my sex life, and I am struggling now to break free, and get me life back in regular order.