Why watching too much porn makes men's brains smaller - research

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Show me the size of your brain and I tell you how much porn you watch.

Why watching too much porn makes men's brains smaller - research Men who watch pornography regularly could be reducing the size of their brain, a study has found.

Researchers discovered less grey matter in the brains of men who regularly view pornography compared with those who don’t.

Experts say it’s the first evidence for a link between watching sexually explicit material and reductions in brain size – but the new study doesn’t prove that pornography causes changes to the brain.

They say an alternative explanation could be that men with a certain type of brain with overly-sensitive reward stimuli – known as the ‘striatum’ - could be more likely to use pornography.

Dr Simone Kühn from the Max Planck Institution in Berlin led the study. “Unfortunately we cannot answer this question based on the results of the present,” she said.

“It’s not clear, for example, whether watching porn leads to brain changes or whether people born with certain brain types watch more porn”.

Dr Kühn and colleagues from Berlin’s Charite University used 64 healthy men between the ages of 21 and 45 years and studied their porn-watching habits.

They matched their survey results with scans of the men’s brains and observed both the volume of the brain and the way they reacted to sexually explicit images.

The findings, published in the JAMA Psychiatry Journal, have been met with scepticism from some experts who say that watching pornography in moderation was probably not harmful.

Dr Gregory Tau from Columbia University said that porn-watching was “probably not terrible in moderation”.

“It is possible that there are individuals with a certain kind of brain that are more susceptible to these kinds of behaviours,” he said.

“Or, it’s possible it’s the excessive use (of porn) that’s perpetuating itself to causing brain changes. Or, it could be both.”

Dr Kühn has called for future studies to conduct deeper investigations into the effects of pornography on the brain over time.

[GandD 5,966]

This is what you call stepping up to the plate.

[Ban Hammer 13,336]

so the pope is in mensa, eh?

[GandD 5,966]

They covered this in Seinfeld. No sex = men get smarter and women get dumber.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Porn is overly accessible. It should be a secret vice once in a while, not a daily routine.

I wonder if the porn companies are going to be the subject of a lawsuit for peddling an addictive substance, like cigarettes.

Edited May 30, 2014 by Harpa Timsah

[mota bhai 2,675]

Let's uninvent the Internet.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Let's uninvent the Internet.

Let's do it!

I'll write you postcards!

[GandD 5,966]

AJ talking to himself again.

[Teddy B 17,252]

Let's do it!

I'll write you postcards!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

so the pope is in mensa, eh?

It didn't say it caused a smaller brain, it just said that men with smaller brains might be overly attracted to it, compared to men with bigger brains

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I have a story: When I was young, we got a computer at my house and I used the AOL trial to use their AIM. I made a friend and then I couldn't keep the AIM so we agreed to write letters. We did!

When I moved to a different town at age 13 by boyfriend and I also wrote letters to eachother every day. That lasted about a month, which was a long time for a 13-year-old!

[mota bhai 2,675]

I have forgotten how to use my hands to write.

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

“It’s not clear, for example, whether watching porn leads to brain changes or whether people born with certain brain types watch more porn”.

I would love, love, love if they did this study again but with people who watch reality tv instead of porn as the subject!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

I have forgotten how to use my hands to write.

So has my husband I try to get him to practice writing. He also can't read English cursive so we got a kids writing book to learn how to make cursive G's.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

“It’s not clear, for example, whether watching porn leads to brain changes or whether people born with certain brain types watch more porn”.

I would love, love, love if they did this study again but with people who watch reality tv instead of porn as the subject!

People that watch reality TV have a brain? I doubt it.