Porn and Insomnia

[Crispy]

It seems to me that MB with porn is not as relaxing as people think it is. I think it really screws up your sleep pattern and leads to insomnia. I don't have any evidence or a study or anything. Just my perosnal experience. Anyone else notice that?

[gnein]

Yes, I've noticed that too. It's a pattern where you stay up too late (or get up too early) looking at P, then stress about how you don't have enough time to get enough sleep, which makes it harder to sleep on the time you HAVE set aside, and of course, waking in the middle of the night, you turn to P to try to "relax" yourself, and the cycle starts all over again.

You can also get better *quality* sleep without P. Now I just have a non-P book to read through if I wake in the middle of the night, or if I'm really unable to sleep, I get up and do housework or something constructive. At least by doing that, I can make time to sleep later on when I'm tired enough to do it.

[Jayneedshelp]

Yeah I've had this problem too. As I wrote in my journal, though, my problems with sleep started before my addiction but did escalate because of my P viewing habits. If I was unable to sleep at night I'd turn to P thinking that it would help me relax but then stay awake longer because I'd be engaged in P for hours on end. It's a frustrating cycle but maybe they need to be tackled seperately from each other? I don't know.

[gnein]

Nobody really knows how much sleep we actually need, and I suspect it varies from person to person. There are some people who can get by on 5-6 hours/night, others for whom 8-9 hours isn't enough. In fact, I once read about a soldier in a war who suffered a brain injury that prevented him from ever sleeping again, and still went on to live a long and healthy life.

The problems arise when we stay up all night using P, and don't get enough sleep for our OWN needs. The key is to listen to your body, if it's night and you feel sleepy, go and have a sleep. If you don't feel sleepy, go and do something constructive until you do. P messes up this process, because of it's addictive nature. When we look at P, we tend to spend to ignore what our body is telling us about what it needs, and that's where the whole process begins to fall apart.

[Jayneedshelp]

gnein, I think you've hit the nail on the head. I honestly don't think that I could put the words together to come up with a reply that intelligent.

The truth is I have less sleep because I need less sleep and always have. Even though my sleep patterns would be less anyway my PA has completely thrown me off.

[JayZeee]

Amazing. I've had on and off bouts with insomnia over the years and I never put it together. I know if I mb late at night, it will cause insomnia that night, but now that I read your post, I get the feeling it accumulates when one is doing it regularly and probably causes chronic or semi-chronic insomnia. Thank you.

[Vorlan]

I'd go with that suggestion Gnein. I suspect that the chemical release caused by MB probably has something to do with it too. I forget the precise scientific vocab but basically MB gives big highs and lows. Extremes of activity and excitement followed by extremes of tierdness and stillness. I remember at one point in my addiction I often tried to MB quickly each night so that I could sleep because otherwise I would toss and turn all night with the urge.

I can vouch also that after quitting for an extended period sleep patterns return to normal. I now sleep in a regular pattern and I attribute this to getting over my PA.

Best wishes,

Ben

[breakforever]

For me the insomnia came from finding the perfect picture. The perfect picture always changed, so I would have to search each time. This process could take hours. Before I knew it, I would be sitting at my desk at three in the morning tired and depressed.
The worst part was the day after. I would have to get up and try not to be in a bad mood. This was even more depressing, especially if I had plans to hang out with the kids.

[gnein]

Amazing. I've had on and off bouts with insomnia over the years and I never put it together. I know if I mb late at night, it will cause insomnia that night, but now that I read your post, I get the feeling it accumulates when one is doing it regularly and probably causes chronic or semi-chronic insomnia. Thank you.

It's not just the insomnia, it's the fact that you've stayed up all night trying to find the perfect image or perfect video, so even if you DO fall asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow, and sleep right until the alarm clock awakes you the next morning, you're still short of sleep because you've been up all night. Then as you get addicted to P over time, you start "needing" the P to fall asleep each night, and so you start staying up later EVERY night.

It's a cycle that sucks.

[jcsoy]

You guys are so right. You look at you look for just the right picture . Next thing you know it is late and you are sleepy.