Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction

Evolution shaped this basic human drive to build families: sexual desire is one of our most powerful motivational forces, and has been essential to the flourishing of the human race. Yet pornography transforms that drive into a force that primarily motivates the completely solitary and unproductive activity of masturbation.

It's amazing what you learn doing this. I think I now fully understand the saying that 'knowledge is power.' Once you know how something works and how it affects you, it's much easier to muster the willpower to make a change if you wish.

But desensitisation can also take the form of escalating to new genres, sometimes harder and stranger, or even disturbing. Remember: shock, surprise and anxiety can jack up dopamine.

Lead researcher Kühn told the press that the results ‘could mean that regular consumption of pornography more or less wears out your reward system.’

Sexual arousal is nature's number-one priority and raises dopamine the highest of all natural rewards.

The pleasure of climax appears to arise from opioids, so think of dopamine as wanting and opioids as liking.

Although dopamine is sometimes referred to as the ‘pleasure molecule’, it's is actually about seeking and searching[48] for pleasure, not pleasure itself. Thus dopamine rises with anticipation.[49] It's your motivation and drive to pursue potential pleasure or long term goals.[50]

‎Choice is a subtle form of disease.

Researchers have found that time in nature is good for the brain. It boosts creativity, insight and problem solving

My favourite was a book that said to take a goal you want to accomplish; decide what steps you have to take in order to accomplish that goal; and do it no matter how you feel.