Pornography consumption is emerging as a new factor that can cause erectile dysfunction, starting from a variation in the production of a neurohormone in the brain, said American researcher Gary Wilson.
Dopamine is a neurohormone released by the brain when we receive a series of stimuli, among which novelty and sexuality are at the top.
"Internet pornography has more ways to raise dopamine than simple sexual novelty," said the researcher, who warned that today the Internet user reaches orgasm after seeing "dozens of videos", reformulating the sexual and hedonistic experience.
In addition, the internet offers the user the vision of different sexual experiences, from fetishes to strange disturbing affiliations that, "although they can provoke us anxiety, increase the levels of sexual excitement," he said at a conference on sexuality in the Mexican capital.
Dopamine levels rise more rapidly than in traditional sex, as pornography can be considered a "supernormal" stimulus.
"These stimuli are those that duplicate the qualities we find very attractive," explained the speaker.
Not only that, Wilson argued, "high-speed pornography also lets you control dopamine with your computer mouse."
"This we could not do with the magazines, nor with the real encounters," he added.
The brain thus experiences two twin processes, sensitization and desensitization.
The former allows elevated levels of dopamine, while the latter increases tolerance, making people dependent on more and more stimuli for pleasure.
The traditional sexual act, therefore, inevitably permeates these two phenomena.
"Sensitization is behind sexual conditioning," he added, accustoming the brain to "to crave sex under certain conditions."
The conditions imposed by the internet are: "observe rather than participate, constant novelty, seek other videos then search for other fetishes," said the researcher.
This produces occasional erectile dysfunction in sexual activities, with repercussions in different parts of the world.
Wilson had contact with many men from his platform on the internet. From 1998 to 2001 the degree of erectile dysfunction in men under 40 was 2 or 3%, before the appearance of porn on the Internet.
In 2006 everything changed with the invention of free porn sites. Many men in their 50s and 60s, the expert reports, said "they had no sexual problems until these websites were invented."
Wilson found 7 studies that "found a consistent jump in the ratio of erectile dysfunction," which rose from 14% to 36% since the advent of porn on the internet.
Written by Edgardo Cedeño.