Aalborg Universitet

A Period of Abstinence from Masturbation and Pornography Leads to Lower Fatigue

and Various Other Benefits: A Quantitative Study

Straub, Jochen; Schmidt, Casper

Published in:
Journal of Addiction Science

DOI (link to publication from Publisher):

10.17756/jas.2021-056

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CC BY 4.0

Publication date:
2022

Link to publication from Aalborg University

Citation for published version (APA):

Straub, J., & Schmidt, C. (2022). A Period of Abstinence from Masturbation and Pornography Leads to Lower
Fatigue and Various Other Benefits: A Quantitative Study. Journal of Addiction Science, 8(1).
https://doi.org/10.17756/jas.2021-056

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J ournal of
Addiction Science https://doi.org/10.17756/jas.2021-056

Research Article Open Access

A Period of Abstinence from Masturbation and Pornography

Leads to Lower Fatigue and Various Other Benefits: A
Quantitative Study

Jochen Straub1* and Casper Schmidt2

1
Innsbruck University, Austria
2
Department of Communication and Psychology, Aalborg University, Denmark

Correspondence to:
Abstract
*

Jochen Straub
Innsbruck University, Austria Many young men have noticed significant personal benefits from abstaining
Tel: +49 1515 6684743
from online pornography and masturbation which has resulted in a large online
E-mail: straub.jochen1992@gmail.com
movement. This study is a step toward quantitatively exploring these benefits in
Received: April 01, 2022 21 single men who underwent three weeks of pornography and masturbation
Accepted: May 09, 2022 abstinence. When comparing the abstinence group to a control group, we found
Published: May 11, 2020 significantly strong effects of reduced mental and physiological fatigue. Further-
Citation: Straub J, Schmidt C. 2022. A Period of more, medium effects were discovered in measures of increased wakefulness, ac-
Abstinence from Masturbation and Pornography tivity, inspiration, self-control, and reduced shyness. Participants who additionally
Leads to Lower Fatigue and Various Other abstained from sex showed even stronger effects in reduced mental and physio-
Benefits: A Quantitative Study. J Addict Sci 8(1):
logical fatigue. The effects found suggest energizing and performance-enhancing
1-9.
potentials in a non-clinical group of single male subjects. These findings could be
Copyright: © 2022 Straub and Schmidt. This relevant to the treatment of a range of clinical symptoms including social anxiety,
is an Open Access article distributed under the
lethargy, and fatigue. A limited period of sexual abstinence might also increase
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International License (CC-BY) (http:// personal, athletic, and professional performance.
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which
permits commercial use, including reproduction,
adaptation, and distribution of the article provided Keywords
the original author and source are credited.
Published by United Scientific Group Pornography, Masturbation, Sexual abstinence, Benefits, Well being

Introduction
In the last decade, a large online movement has emerged dealing with ab-
stinence from pornography and masturbation (=OM; e.g., https://nofap.com/;
http://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/; http://www.rebootnation.org). The movement
is growing steadily (e.g., http://www.reddit.com/r/NoFap/ with 116,000 mem-
bers in 2014 [1] grew to 906,800 members by December 10th, 2021) and receiv-
ing increasing attention in mainstream media [2].
Within the OM, there are many anecdotal reports of significant benefits
through abstinence from pornography and masturbation (=APM). They encom-
pass mental health benefits, such as reduced depressiveness and shyness. Accord-
ing to the anecdotal reports, APM also has enlivening effects via reduced fatigue,
clearer thinking and increased motivation for different activities. Although a
qualitative study [3] has affirmed these benefits no other study has attempted to
verify these reports quantitatively. This study is a first step in quantitatively inves-
tigating the numerous anecdotal benefits from APM.
To date, there appears to be only one study [3] that has examined the bene-
fits of abstaining from pornography on psychological affect related to the previ-
ously described OM. Their qualitative analysis of OM diaries found that mood,

Straub and Schmidt. 1

A Period of Abstinence from Masturbation and Pornography Leads to Lower
Fatigue and Various Other Benefits: A Quantitative Study Straub and Schmidt.

motivation, mental clarity, self-confidence, and productivity atal dopamine deficiencies experienced more mental fatigue.
had improved through APM. Another team of researchers, Other preclinical studies have shown that striatal impairment
Negash et al. [4], observed that abstinence from pornography (in primates) led to dysfunctional sleep-wake regulation by
led to greater valuation of larger postponed rewards compared reduced daytime arousal and increases the need for daytime
with smaller immediate rewards. In comparison, a control naps. Mesostriatal impairment has similarly been associated
group that abstained from favorite foods did not show these with dysfunctional regulation of mood and anxiety [19].
effects. Pornography abstinence also led to increased commit-
Schmidt et al. [20] published the first study assessing the
ment in romantic partnerships [5]. An endocrine study found
structural neural correlates of compulsive sexual behavior ( =
that three weeks of ejaculatory abstinence could increase tes-
CSB) with voxel-based morphometry. They examined struc-
tosterone release during masturbation [6].
tural neural differences between healthy and CSB subjects,
In clinical studies, positive effects of therapeutic fasting where CSB subjects exhibited increased left amygdala volume
have been observed that are similar to the benefits of “por- which is involved in motivational salience. Further, CSB sub-
nography and masturbation fasting” in the OM. For example, jects displayed reduced functional connectivity between the
dietary fasting was accompanied improved daytime concen- amygdala and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared
tration, sleep quality and emotional balance [7]. Another study with the control group. A reduction in this connection has
[8] found that dietary short-term fasting improves mood, been associated with impaired emotion regulation [21]. Fur-
pride and a sense of achievement. We found a study that in- thermore, malfunctional emotion regulation has been associ-
vestigated the positive effects of Ramadan fasting [9] which ated with depressed mood and shyness [22].
had strong similarities with our study in terms of sample size
Studies within meth-amphetamine use [23] have found
(N = 25), variables studied, and study period (in summer).
evidence that abstinence can help neurological reward struc-
Within the Ramadan group, researchers found positive effects
tures recover. The rate of recovery was negatively correlated
in terms of reduced fatigue and sleepiness and better mood.
with the dose and years of use humans [23]. Neurological re-
However, the improvements of the Ramadan group were not
search has identified similar mechanisms between sexual and
so pronounced as to be statistically significant compared to the
substance-induced rewards review [24]. Therefore, it is likely
control group.
that these processes are also relevant for sexual abstinence.
Neurological background
Psychological background
We hypothesize that neurological factors may play an im-
Higher pornography use could be associated with lower
portant role in explaining beneficial effects of APM. Internet
mental health (e.g., Depression [16]; Shyness [5]. A quali-
pornography contains additional arousal-promoting elements
tative analysis of 53 self-perceived problematic pornography
that can cause an even higher levels of arousal than partnered
users [26] found four key effects of use on mental health and
sex. Dopamine is strongly involved in sexual arousal and desire
well-being. Participants reported psychological problems such
and is elevated significantly during sexual activities [10]. In-
as social and general anxiety and depressive symptoms that
ternet pornography has been proposed as a “supernormal stim-
included isolation behaviors, anhedonia, and depressed mood.
ulus,” that is, an artificially enhanced and more stimulating
Another main theme was the inability to focus on complicated
version of a natural reward [11]. Internet pornography offers a
or lengthy tasks. The third sub-theme was decreased energy
nearly unlimited number of novel pornographic videos. Previ-
and motivation, often caused by lack of sleep due to pornog-
ous studies observed that novel explicit material increases and
raphy use. Finally, participants reported that their use nega-
retains sexual arousal [12] and can activate the dopaminer-
tively affected their self-esteem and was often accompanied
gic reward system additionally [13]. Novelty further increases
by feelings of guilt and shame. A study [27] researched the
arousal if it is combined with the anticipation of a reward [14].
relationship between pornography use, moral disapproval of
Surveys on the characteristics of consumption of sexually ex-
it, and sexual shame. They observed that both sexual shame
plicit material [15] have revealed that some viewers gradually
and moral disapproval were associated with an increase in the
tend to watch pornographic content that is no longer in align-
experience of depression. Another study [28] found that indi-
ment with their sexual preferences or orientation. A possible
viduals who frequently used pornography and perceived it as
explanation is that scenes of a more extreme or novel nature
problematic had significantly greater problems (e.g., depres-
may create a "shock effect" that further increases arousal.
sion, lower self-esteem) than individuals who did not perceive
Only relatively few studies have investigated sexual be- their frequent use as problematic. The experience of moral
havior in connection with neural correlates. Kühn and Galli- incongruency is not exclusive for self-perceived addiction to
nat [16] discovered that higher pornography consumption pornography use but can be found in other behavioral addic-
was associated with greater structural impairment in dorso- tions as well [29].
lateral striatal structures (right caudate and left putamen) in a
The effort of sustaining abstinence is sometimes accompa-
nonclinical sample. They found lower functional connectivity
nied with certain psychological changes. This may help explain
between the right caudate and the left dorsolateral prefron-
some of the benefits we saw reported in OM. Successfully ab-
tal cortex. This circuit is heavily involved in exerting cognitive
staining from pornography and masturbation sometimes led
control [17].
to a sense of regained control over consumption and also in
Striatal impairment has been associated with functional other areas of life [3]. As basic research [30] has shown that
depreciation. Lorist et al. [18] found that patients with stri- self-control is strengthened through exerting self-control,

Journal of Addiction Science | Volume 8 Issue 1, 2022 2

A Period of Abstinence from Masturbation and Pornography Leads to Lower
Fatigue and Various Other Benefits: A Quantitative Study Straub and Schmidt.

the effort to resist sexual cravings could perhaps strengthen of these participants also filled out T2. The following describes
self-control in other domains of life. the selection process for our statistical analysis. These 44 par-
ticipants were filtered by the question, "How often did you
The present study masturbate during the study period?" Only participants who
The numerous anecdotal self-reports from the OM cite were able to completely abstain from masturbation were eligi-
various benefits, sometimes described as "life-changing" or ble for further analysis. Two participants were additionally ex-
with similar descriptions of marked improvements. Common- cluded from the study as they reported masturbating less than
ly named benefits were, amongst others, reduced depressive- once per week and watching pornography for less than half an
ness, shyness, mental and physiological fatigue and increased hour per week. Thus, their consumption was considered as too
positive feelings, motivation and self-control. As mentioned infrequent. The remaining 21 participants are referred to as the
earlier, Fernandez et al. [3] independently found similar im- APM subgroup in this study.
provements. As such, these specific benefits served as our Another question from T2 asked EG participants if they
research variables. The potential improvements could have a had sexual intercourse during the study period and how of-
positive impact on various aspects of life. To date, however, ten ("How often did you have sex during the study period?").
there are no experimental studies that capture this phenom- This was used to create an APM subgroup with a complete
enon. This study aims to fill this gap and determine, whether sexual behavioral abstinence. Only participants who had not
three weeks of APM can produce improvements in the previ- masturbated and additionally did not have partnered sex
ously mentioned research variables. during the study period were assigned to the abstinence from
sex, masturbation, and pornography (=APMS) subgroup. The
APMS-subgroup consisted of 11 remaining participants.
Methods
Twenty-five participants of the control group (CG) com-
Procedure and participants pleted both questionnaires. One CG participant apparently
We had an experimental group (=EG) and a control group did not answer the questionnaire truthfully and was removed.
(=CG). A previous study [31] found evidence that motivation Twenty-four CG-participants were used for comparison with
for an APM is almost exclusively (99%) present in men. For the EG.
this reason, and to exclude gender effects, we restricted our
Questionnaires
study to male participants. Sexual intercourse was not restrict-
ed by the study design, but participants of both groups should All questionnaires were sent out using the web-based
not be engaged in an established sexual relationship. Both survey tool "Sosci Survey". All measurements were collected
groups were recruited during summer in 2020. Our study was based on self-reported data. The EG and CG each received
designed without the incorporation of specific diagnoses for the same battery of questionnaires at T1 and T2. These ques-
problematic pornography use, compulsive sexual behavior or tionnaires were used to compare longitudinal changes in the
other clinical categories. values of our research variables between T1 and T2. The ques-
tionnaires we analyzed showed Cronbach`s alpha coefficients
Both groups underwent the following procedure. All
ranging from .83 to .89. These values represent sufficient reli-
participants completed a baseline questionnaire (=T1), the
ability [32].
content of which is described below. The follow-up question-
naire (=T2) was sent after a period of three weeks using a mail Our battery of questionnaires included the following
schedule function. scales. Self-control was measured with the “Brief Self-Con-
trol Scale” (BSCS [33]. It assesses general self-control and the
Participants of the EG were recruited through personal
ability to act effectively and in a goal-directed manner. The
contact, social media or via the email distribution list of an
scale consists of 13 items.
Austrian university. The various recruitment strategies were
used to aim for the largest possible sample size. The recruitment We extracted the “Shyness-scale” from the “Shyness and
process of the CG was done entirely via the email distribution Sociability Scales for Adults” (SGSE [34]. The "Shyness Scale"
list of the same university. All participants recruited through asked six questions about unpleasant feelings and inhibitions
the email distribution list received subject hours required for in the presence of other people as well as social avoidance be-
a bachelor's degree in psychology. The CG was recruited with havior.
blinded intentions. The study was billed as an investigation of The eleven-item “Fatigue Scale” (FS [35] consists of two
changes in various personality constructs over time. We used factors that are physiological fatigue (e.g., tiredness, feeling
the control group to exclude confounding seasonal, situational, weak etc.) and mental fatigue (problems concentrating and
and other possible effects as much as possible. thinking clearly).
Recruitment of the EG was performed in an unblinded The Short Depression-Happiness Scale (SDHS [36] con-
fashion. The EG was instructed to attempt to remain abstinent sisting of six items assesses a bipolar continuum with depres-
from pornography and masturbation for at least three weeks siveness at one end and happiness at the other. In our study,
after completing T1. T2 was filled out after completion of scores on this scale were listed under "depressiveness," with
three weeks of APM. higher scores indicating higher depressiveness or lower hap-
Sixty-two participants of the EG finished T1. Forty-four piness conversely.

Journal of Addiction Science | Volume 8 Issue 1, 2022 3

A Period of Abstinence from Masturbation and Pornography Leads to Lower
Fatigue and Various Other Benefits: A Quantitative Study Straub and Schmidt.

We used the 10 positive feelings of the “Positive and Neg- Results

ative Affect Schedule “(PANAS; [37]. The questionnaire mea-
sures the frequency of a wide range of positive feelings such Descriptive measures
as being “strong”, ”proud”, “active” or “interested. This scale is
referred to as "positive feelings" in our study. Descriptive measures of EG sexual behavior and attitudes
prior to abstinence are presented in table 1.
We used the Motivation and Pleasure Scale-Self Report
(MAP_SR [38] in part. We employed three questions con- Two-way repeated measures ANOVA
cerning motivation (“In the past week how motivated have
Z-values outside the range of -1, 96 to 1,96 indicated a
you been to do hobbies or other recreational activities”) and
violation of normal distribution. In our study, all research-vari-
three asking for the actual effort expended (“In the past week
ables of the EG did not show any violation of the normal dis-
how much effort have you made to actually do any hobbies
tribution. The CG showed divergence from the standard devi-
or recreational activities?”). We asked about motivation and
ation in positive feelings at T1 (skew = 2, 23; kurtosis = 3, 26)
actual effort for each of the categories of social, recreational,
and T2 (skew = 2, 66; kurtosis = 3, 5). Shyness in the CG also
and work/educational activities.
violated the normal distribution (T1: skew = 4, 9; kurtosis = 8,
The questionnaires (SDHS, physiological fatigue, mental 1; T2: skew = 5, 4). For Cohen’s d values, a small effect starts
fatigue, PANAS, MAP_SR) referred to the past week, except at 0, 2 and medium effects range from 0, 5 to 0, 8. D values
that the shyness and self-control scales assessed how the par- above 0, 8 are considered as strong effects. The results of the
ticipants typically feel about themselves. ANOVA for the APM-subgroup and APMS-subgroup are
summarized in table 2.
The EG was additionally asked questions about their sex-
ual behavior. T1 asked about average weekly pornography use Both abstinence subgroups showed significantly reduced
and average masturbation frequency (each in the past three mental and physiological fatigue compared to CG. But the
months). We also asked about the degree of shame associated APMS subgroup (physiological fatigue: d=1,03; p=.003; men-
with their masturbation practices. The T2 questionnaire also tal fatigue: d = 1,2; p = .001) showed even stronger reductions
included the filtering questions described earlier. in reduced mental and physiological fatigue than the APM
subgroup (physiological fatigue: d = 0,8; p = .001; mental fa-
Statistical analysis tigue: d = 0,82; p = .001). These were the only salient differ-
ences between the APM and APMS subgroup. Therefore, the
All analyses were conducted with IBM SPSS Statistics remaining research variables are presented as a single unit for
26. overview purposes.
We used a two-way repeated measures analysis of vari- Interactions of medium effect size were found in for in-
ance (ANOVA) to determine differences between the EG and creased self-control (d = 0,7; p = .004) and reduced shyness (d
CG at the end of the three-week study period. The potential = 0,47; p = .039). The two positive feelings “awake” (d = 0,6; p
improvements had to be pronounced enough for us to detect = .011) and “inspired” (d = 0,48; p= .034) also showed a medi-
a statistically significant interaction effect. This suggested that um interaction. All previous listed interactions effects could be
the differences between the CG and EG were due to the ex- confirmed with a post hoc analysis.
perimental condition of APM. T-test for dependent samples
The positive feeling “active” (d = 0,45; p = .047) and pos-
were utilized for additional confirmation of the interaction.
itive feelings (d = 0,44; P = .036) indicated a significant in-
We used Cohen’s d [39] to determine the effect size of the re-
teraction in the post-hoc but not in ANOVA analysis. De-
sults. We used Z-values [40] to detect violations of the normal
pressiveness decreased significantly in both CG and EG, with
distribution.
no statistically significant interaction. Similarly, both CG and

Table 1: Masturbation frequency and weekly pornography consumption and perceived shame at T1.

Masturbation Frequency Pornography consumption Perceived Shame

N N N

less than once a week 0 less than half hour/week 3 not at all 9

once a week 2 half to an hour/week 5 a little 7

two to three times/week 8 one to three hour/week 6 moderate 1

four to six times/week 7 three to five hour/week 5 quite a bit 1

every day 1 five to seven hour/week 1 very much 3

two to three times/day 3 more than seven hour/week 1

Journal of Addiction Science | Volume 8 Issue 1, 2022 4

A Period of Abstinence from Masturbation and Pornography Leads to Lower
Fatigue and Various Other Benefits: A Quantitative Study Straub and Schmidt.

Table 2: Mean differences between T1 and T2; Main and Interaction effects from two way repeated measures ANOVA.

Research APM-subgroup APMS-subgroup Control Group Main Effect (F) Interaction (F)
variables T1 T2 T1 T2 T1 T2 APM APMS APM APMS

depressiveness M 2,6 2,3 2,45 2,23 2,25 2,07 10,47 4,50 0,9 0,28

S 0.8577 0.771 0.716 0.677 0.612 0.562 p = .002 p = .042 p = .349 p = -869

2,52

Shyness M 2,75 2,52 2,56 2,37 2,97 2,99 3,67 1,92 5,51 3,32

S 0.684 0.726 0.448 0.468 0.512 0.491 p = .062 p = .175 p = .023 p = .080

Phys. Fatigue M 2,84 2,14 2,89 2,09 2,48 2,46 11,91 16,5 10,87 15,22

S 0.851 0.654 0.695 0.637 0.637 0.664 p = .001 p = <.001 p = .002 p = <.001

Mental
M 3 2,71 2,9 2,06 2,73 2,54 17,2 28,2 4,9 11,27
Fatigue
S 0.912 0.822 0.91 0.86 0.661 0.752 p = <.00 p = <.001 p = .032 p = .002

Self-control M 2,86 3,25 2,84 3,3 3,08 3,15 11,71 11,46 6,1 6,66
S 0.727 0.564 0.569 0.513 0.555 0.578 p = .001 p = .002 p = .018 p = .015

Motivation M 3,5 3,91 3,62 4,32 3,81 4,1 4,87 6,55 0,15 0,89

(Recreational) S 1,14 1,02 0.961 0.832 1,08 1,08 p = .033 p = .015 p = .697 p = .352

Motivation M 3,59 3,95 3,69 4,15 3,81 4,1 5,57 6,10 0,8 0,34

(Social) S 1,01 0.84 1,032 0.899 1,03 1,09 p = .021 p = .019 p = .779 p = .565

Positive
M 3,24 3,62 3,28 3,7 3,3 3.4 5,78 8,89 1,97 3,33
Feelings
Feelings S 0.731 0.556 0.627 0.561 0.769 0.786 p = .021 p = .005 p = .167 p = .077

awake M 3 3,55 3 3,62 3,52 3,43 3,28 3,3 6,63 6,21

S 0.873 0.912 0.707 1,04 0.812 0.978 p = -078 p = .077 p = .014 p = .018
3,54 4,81
inspired M 2,91 3,54 2,92 3,54 3,29 3,19 2,51 4,81 4,81 6,21

S 0.971 0.776 0.76 0.776 0.845 0.981 p = .0121 p = .034 p = .032 p = .018

EG showed increased motivation for social and recreational sults are highly congruent with the findings of a recently pub-
activities at the end of the study, but no interaction effects. lished qualitative study 3] of the OM. They found improved
mood, motivation, mental clarity, confidence, and productivity.
Discussion Although we did not find statistically significant improve-
ments in mood and motivation, we did observe other results
Summary and practical implications that point in a similar direction as Fernandez et al. [3] find-
The aim of our study was to investigate whether the an- ings. Increased mental clarity may equate to reduced mental
ecdotal benefits reported on OM could be found in an exper- fatigue in our results. While shyness and self-confidence are
imental study. We found evidence that APM reduces mental not completely identical, being less anxious and inhibited in
and physiological fatigue and shyness and increases self-con- social contexts can probably be considered part of self-confi-
trol, activity, wakefulness, and inspiration. Intriguingly, our re- dence. Finally, reduced mental and physiological fatigue is also

Journal of Addiction Science | Volume 8 Issue 1, 2022 5

A Period of Abstinence from Masturbation and Pornography Leads to Lower
Fatigue and Various Other Benefits: A Quantitative Study Straub and Schmidt.

likely to contribute to the increase in productivity found by

Table 3: Post HOC result (T-Test with dependent measures) in d values
Fernandez et al. [3]. transformed in Cohen’s D values.
Our findings suggest that it is possible to realize potential Depressiveness d 0, 5 0, 44
beneficial effects in one’s personal and social life by abstaining
p 0.029 0.035
from pornography and masturbation. The combination of en-
livening effects and strengthened self-control could raise pro- Shyness d 0, 47
ns.
ductivity in nearly every endeavor, whether personal, athletic, p 0.039
or professional. Also, sexual abstinence has been used to boost Positive Feeling d 0, 44
peak performance, for example by elite athletes [41]. ns.
p 0.036
The strongest effects were reduced mental and physiolog- Feeling awake d 0, 6
ns.
ical fatigue. Fatigue leads to decreased productivity and has p 0.011
previously been estimated to cost employers in the US an es-
Feeling inspired d 0, 48
timated hundred billion dollars annually [42]. Further, fatigue ns.
p 0.034
has negative consequences for one’s social and personal life
[42]. Experimental APM as an occupational training exercise Feeling active d 0, 45
ns.
could potentially provide benefits for both employees and em- p 0.047
ployers. Phys Fatigue d 1, 03
ns.
We also noticed a reduction in shyness, which could lead p 0.003
to improvements in social life. It is conceivable that this ef- Mental Fatigue d 0, 82
fect could serve as a supportive tool in the treatment of social ns.
p 0.001
anxiety. The energizing effects of APM or APMS could help
Self-Control d 0,7
patients overcome lethargy, and APM could potentially be ns.
used as a tool to combat fatigue. Further studies could exam- p 0.004
ine whether there may be potential applications in different Motivation (Recreational) d
ns. ns.
clinical and non-clinical populations table 3. p
Motivation (Social) d
Explanatory approach ns. ns.
p
First of all, some elements of our explanatory approach
Note: d= Cohen’s d; small effect = .20-.50; medium effect = .50-.80
should be taken with caution, as neurological research on por- strong effect = >.80; ns. =not significant
nography users is still in its infancy. Neurological and mental
health studies [16, 20] using a purely correlational approach
The effort to pursue APM and the successful completion
cannot establish a causal relationship between pornography
of it may have facilitated some of the improvements reported.
and neurological impairment. For example, identified struc-
Regaining control through APM may have increased perceived
tural impairment could also be due to a pre-existing condi-
self-efficacy and personal autonomy. A lack of self-efficacy has
tion such as "Reward Deficiency Syndrome” (=RDS). RDS is
been shown to be associated with shyness [44]. Therefore, our
a brain disorder characterized by a clinically significant de-
results reporting reduced shyness may have been influenced
ficiency of the essential dopamine neurotransmitter which
by an increased sense of self-efficacy. As already mentioned,
leads to higher demand for stimulation [43]. Although previ-
self-control is developed by exercising it and as such, this could
ous studies have demonstrated neurological recovery process-
explain these improvements.
es [23], the relationship between neurological recovery and
found psychological improvements remains unclear. Further In summary, we hypothesize that the reduction in shyness
studies could examine this connection and deliver important and improvement in self-control are potentially due to both
insights in the recovery of reward (ab) use in general. neurological and psychological factors. The energizing effects
may have been generated mainly by improved functionality of
We hypothesize that the beneficial effects result from a
reward structures through reduced stimulation.
combination of neurological and psychological changes that
accompany APM. Anecdotal reports encompass improvements on well-be-
ing. Although both positive feelings and reduced depressive-
The regeneration processes of reward structures, described
ness showed a positive development, we did not find sta-
in the introduction, may have contributed to the observed
tistically significant differences compared with the CG. A
improvements in the experience of shyness, self-control, and
shameful attitude towards one's masturbation practice can
mental and physiological fatigue. The only noticeable differ-
have a negative impact on mental health [28, 29]. However,
ence between the two subgroups, APM and APMS, was an
most of our participants reported little to no shame. It is pos-
even greater reduction of mental and physiological fatigue
sible that improvement in mood and happiness is more pro-
in the APMS subgroup. Here, it is speculative whether the
nounced in individuals who have a shameful attitude toward
APMS subgroup have experienced greater regeneration of
their pornography and masturbation use and have come to
reward structures by completely abstaining from sexual stim-
terms with themselves again through APM. In addition, sit-
ulation.

Journal of Addiction Science | Volume 8 Issue 1, 2022 6

A Period of Abstinence from Masturbation and Pornography Leads to Lower
Fatigue and Various Other Benefits: A Quantitative Study Straub and Schmidt.

uational factors, which will be presented later, may have also ries [3] found that key improvements affected the same areas
distorted the findings on well-being. perceived to be affected by problematic pornography use. Our
study could confirm many of the qualitative findings from Fer-
Sexual versus dietary fasting nandez and colleagues [3] with an experimental and quantita-
Food rewards [45] have also been found to stimulate re- tive approach. In summary, our findings are highly congruent
ward circuits. Sexual and dietary fasting both seem to have a with both recent qualitative evidence as well as numerous re-
vitalizing effect on the body and [7-9]. The energizing effects ports from large OMs.
of both variants could be caused by the reduced stimulation This study underscores that an APM offers several advan-
of the reward circuits. As already stated in the introduction, tages and can be used to realize more fully one’s inherent po-
one study [9] on fasting during Ramadan is conceptually quite tential. The potential benefits this study also increases scientific
identical to ours. Although both fasting variations resulted in evidence that the benefits of the OM have a real background.
less fatigue, APM suggests more pronounced improvements
than those seen in Nugraha [9]. A possible explanation would What this study cannot answer is the degree to which the
be that the differences are due to the different intensities of observed improvements are due to the omission of pornogra-
stimulation of food and sex, respectively, which has been sup- phy and masturbation and thus recovery from its (potentially)
ported previously [4]. Pornography abstinence led to a shift in impairing influence, and thus cannot make causal inferences
preference from short-term rewards of lower value to deferred about the effects of APM. We thus warrant future researchers
rewards of greater value. This change was not observed in the to examine this in more detail through isolating these effects
control group, which abstained from their favorite food. in an experimental design.

Confounding influences Reports from OM suggest that there are other potential
benefits beyond those examined in this study, such as improved
Reduced depressiveness and increased motivation for so- sexual performance, increased relationship commitment, and
cial and recreational activities were found in both groups (EG, increased creativity and engagement in new hobbies and oth-
CG). This study took place in 2020 during the COVID-19 er activities. Three weeks may be too short a period to reveal
pandemic which caused many restrictions to public life (the the full benefits of APM. Earlier studies suggest that an over-
closing of sport clubs, restaurants, cultural events, and restric- stimulated reward system still shows recovery-progress after
tive social guidelines for avoiding personal contact). These re- multiple months of abstinence [26]. Future studies could thus
strictions loosened up or abated during the study period and research longer periods of APM.
partly restored public life. This may have affected participants’
observations in both groups. In our results we reported only As this study focused solely on a male sample, it would be
significant differences between the two groups. of interest whether women can benefit from APM as well. As
mentioned, more studies examining APM in the context of
Other rewards (substance and behavioral rewards) influ- a specific outcome and setting (e.g., clinical, or occupational)
ence the reward system as well (e.g., excessive internet con- may also yield interesting results. Endocrinological and neu-
sumption [46] social media [47] substances [23]. Participation rological measurements could provide further in vivo informa-
in APM may have led to different patterns of consumption. tion on the exact processes involved in APM at different phys-
For example, some participants may have also reduced con- iological levels of description. Knowledge about the impact of
sumption of other rewards, while other participants may have diverse rewards on aspects of daily life would be enriched by
attempted to compensate for the lack of sexual stimulation studies about other forms of reward abstinence. There are oth-
with other rewards. Future studies could attempt to experi- er abstinence movements or variations that anecdotally also
mentally control for these potentially confounding effects, provide significant benefits. Some examples would be com-
which could impact neurological regeneration processes. plete abstinence from drugs (informally known as "straight
Finally, participants may have had expectation biases about edge"), some variations of Internet abstinence (e.g., abstaining
the effects of the APM beforehand. Expectation effects could from social media or entertainment media), or from (almost)
have influenced the participants and thus the results. Future all sources of instant gratification combined (also referred to as
studies could control for these potentially confounding effects. as "dopamine fasting"). It is quite possible that other or similar
As previously mentioned, the observed effects may have been benefits could be found in conjunction with these different
related partly to the beneficial effects of exerting self-control. reward abstinence variations.

Conclusion and Future Studies Declarations

Existing literature already implies a direct relationship No funding was received to assist with the preparation of
between impairment from pornography use and recovery this manuscript.
from it through abstinence. For example, [29] found that
self-identified problematic pornography users attributed some
characteristic limitation (e.g., physical and mental fatigue, de- Conflicts of Interest
creased confidence, motivation and lowered mood) as an effect The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.
of their use. Conversely, a qualitative analysis of APM dia-

Journal of Addiction Science | Volume 8 Issue 1, 2022 7

A Period of Abstinence from Masturbation and Pornography Leads to Lower
Fatigue and Various Other Benefits: A Quantitative Study Straub and Schmidt.

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