Study: Watching Porn Can Shrink the Brain, Desensitize You From 'Normal' Sex

A 2014 study found the harmful effects of watching porn on the brain, the Daily Mail reports.

According to a study published in JAMA Psychiatry, monthly, peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association, last year, those who regularly watch x-rated content seemed to have a dulled response to sexual stimulation over time.

Having sex and watching porn causes dopamine, the neurotransmitter that is responsible for rewards and pleasure, to be released in the brain. If dopamine is repeatedly in a surge, however, (a result of watching a lot of porn), this means the brain comes desensitized to the positive effects it can have on a person.

In order to feel the same natural high again, people need to watch more and more porn in order to get more dopamine, according researchers.

The Daily Mail points to a 2011 study published in Psychology Today that reveals those who have these dopamine spikes feel like they need increasingly extreme experiences to be aroused. Men who were exposed to sexual images in films became desensitized and were not enticed by "normal" sexual encounters.

"Pornography is creating a generation of young men who are hopeless in the bedroom, the report concluded," the Daily Mail writes.

Though watching porn has a number of benefits, researchers found men who are porn watchers may be shrinking their brains. The striatum part of the brain, which is connected to the motivation and reward responders, shrank the more porn a person watched.

"The study marked the first time researchers found a possible link between regularly viewing pornography and physical harm," the Daily Mail writes. "However, [researchers] noted that it is possible that people who spend more time looking at pornography are born with a certain type of brain."