NoFap Premature Ejaculation: Are Benefits Real?

If you’ve ever wondered if it’s possible to do too much masturbation, you’re not the only one. Over the years, many men have had trouble finding a healthy balance between how they treat themselves and how often they do it.

The internet and internet pornography have changed a lot about how our society works, and for some men, the endless supply of media can lead to behavior patterns and habits that might feel a little shameful.

Worse, it might make them want to masturbate a lot instead of having real relationships.

But just because something feels wrong doesn’t mean it’s bad for you, and “porn addiction” may be a cause for concern, but the space between frequent masturbation and bad health effects is, at best, messy.

NoFap is a movement. It is made up of a group of people who believe that if you can control your baser browsing instincts, you can unlock new levels of healthy body function.

The NoFap movement says that masturbating less can help your health, memory, and brain power. It may also help you in the bedroom.

Are they right? Who you ask makes a difference.

What’s NoFap?

The NoFap movement seems to be a modern take on old ideas about masturbation that are tied to the world of abstinence, but with a twist. Actually, the NoFap movement is based on two simple ideas:

• It is good for your health to not masturbate. 
• Pornographic content on the Internet is bad for your health.

When you put the two together in a subreddit, you get NoFap.

In the NoFap movement, there are different “challenges.” “No Fap November” is a 30-day reset that happens every year. It is a group challenge to avoid porn, masturbation, or both for 30 days. It has a familiar structure: everyone from the people who made Seinfeld to the people who came up with Lent thought about this reset idea.

NoFap also has a 90-day “reboot” challenge in which members promise not to orgasm, masturbate, or look at porn for, you guessed it, 90 days. In both cases, all of the benefits listed above are the reward.

Unfortunately, NoFap’s promise isn’t backed by science, and even though science has recognized some problems with too much porn, experts haven’t been able to prove that too much porn or masturbation is a physical cause of premature ejaculation.

Can NoFap Help With Premature Ejaculation?

Can NoFap help with ejaculating too soon? This question has two answers: the abstinence-masturbation answer and the pornography addiction answer. Let’s look at both of these questions without the NoFap movement in mind.

Concerning the question of abstinence, there is no real evidence that there is a link between health benefits and abstinence. This includes a 2016 study that looked at the link between PE and how well nerve tests work.

In the same way, the other side of NoFap’s argument doesn’t have much in the way of proof.

In general, there isn’t much of a link between premature ejaculation and watching pornographic videos on the internet.

People who think they have a porn addiction or have masturbated too much do have a negative mental link to sexual dysfunction.

Even though too much porn or masturbation might not be bad for you, feeling bad about it might be.

Even when people think they have a porn addiction, scientific studies show that there is no link between the two conditions. Instead, there is a link between people who believe they are addicted to porn and sexual dysfunction.

The study’s authors did suggest that mental health professionals think about self-perception as a cause of sexual dysfunction, but they didn’t prove that addiction was a cause.

But experts care more about how you feel about your porn and spanking habits than how “bad” those habits are. From what we know, these self-perceptions could be hurting your performance in bed more than what’s in your browser history.

NoFap vs. semen retention

NoFap tells people to stop masturbating, especially in front of pornographic material. Semen retention, on the other hand, is when a man masturbates without ejaculating.

Some people who support semen retention say that it makes people healthier in ways like making them more fertile or giving them better sperm. But there is no proof that keeping sperm longer is good for your health.

Others say that the technique is a form of mindfulness that can make people feel more sexual pleasure or give them more control over their orgasms. Some also use semen retention to learn how to have an orgasm without ejaculating.

Research shows that people are more likely to have more orgasms if they can orgasm without ejaculating. But there are no solid scientific studies that look into the practice or proven ways to have more than one orgasm.

Instead, learn how to treat premature ejaculation

We do know that if you do have premature ejaculation, a reset or some kind of 30-day challenge isn’t what experts recommend, and studies haven’t shown that it works either.

The science behind physical methods isn’t great, and non-drug methods like the start-stop technique are really just a matter of willpower in close situations.

Kegel exercises may make your pelvic floor muscles stronger and give you some control over your orgasms, which can help you deal with the symptoms of premature ejaculation. You can do as many Kegels as you want, but science isn’t sure how many or how often you need to do them to get the results you want.

There’s also the squeeze technique, which is a physical PE treatment in which you stop what you’re doing sexually, gently squeeze the tip of your penis until your level of arousal goes down, and then go back to doing what you were doing.

Research shows that it might work, but before you try it, you should talk to your partner so that nobody is confused.

If PE is the problem, you have a few choices. In our guide to Premature Ejaculation Causes and Treatments, we go into more detail, but here are the TL;DR facts.

Use of benzocaine wipes might be the best way to treat PE.

When used as directed, benzocaine wipes, which have the same active ingredient as some dental anesthetics, can improve your performance and satisfaction, as well as that of your partner.

Antidepressants might be the last and most serious choice. These drugs are usually used to treat depression, but one side effect is “delayed ejaculation.” Because of this, they are sometimes given to people outside of their intended use to treat premature ejaculation.

Are there any websites or groups that are like NoFap?

Along with the NoFap subreddits that focus on specific groups like teens and Christians, there are other similar but less well-known (read: less controversial) sites and organizations. The idea is pretty much the same, which is that not masturbating or using porn can have different benefits that aren’t backed up by science.

Some of the most visited sites are:

• Porn and your brain. This website is called the same thing as the e-book that its founder, Gary Wilson, wrote. The site is currently run by a group of men who have gotten over their problems with porn on the internet. It was made for people who want to understand and stop compulsive porn use. 
• Restart America. The website says it is a recovery site for people with a porn addiction or sexual problems caused by porn. It offers support and information to help people rest their brains from artificial sexual stimulation like pornography. Gabe Deem, the group’s founder, says he has gotten over his addiction to porn and a sexual problem that was caused by porn. 
• Your brain got back in shape. This is a forum with more than 22,000 members where people talk about their own self-perceived addiction to porn and have discussions like those on NoFap boards. 
• #NoNutNovember. This is an online challenge and meme that many people think of as being the same as NoFap, even though it’s not. It spread like wildfire, mostly because NoFap members shared or took part in the challenge, which is to not orgasm for the whole month of November.

The Last Word on NoFap and PE

If you’re thinking about joining the NoFap movement because you think masturbation is getting in the way of your daily life, we’re not here to try to talk you out of it.

How masturbation affects you may have a big impact on how you think about its health effects, and it may be a great way for people who want to change their intimate habits through self-control practices to get support from a community.

But we can give you better advice than making a fake account and talking to a million other guys about the urge to masturbate: talk to one medical professional.

A single conversation with a healthcare provider about your symptoms of premature ejaculation and how you feel about your masturbation habits could lead to better treatment, as a healthcare professional can help you figure out what’s causing your own problems.

Early ejaculation doesn’t happen the same way for everyone, and how you’re treated shouldn’t depend on what a bunch of amateurs on the internet think is best.

If you’re ready to get the help you need, you can talk to someone today through online counseling. Still trying to find out more about ejaculating too early? Check out our guide to the causes, symptoms, and ways to treat premature ejaculation to learn more.