What is internet addiction?
In today’s modern world, using the internet on a daily basis has almost become a routine and an indispensable part of everyone’s life. The convenience of the internet is evident and is just increasing every day.
However, the excessive use of internet had been termed as “internet addiction” and is impacting many people, especially young adults.
Let us Dive Deeper
It has known to cause severe social problems and people desperately try to look for a solution to curb the same. India is one of the countries with the highest proportion of people who use the internet globally. Today, its use has increase exponentially due to the surge in smartphone sales, laptop, PC’s, tablets etc.
One of the more obscure problems that arises from the internet is sleep deprivation which worsens one’s efforts to quit a niche part of the internet- “porn addiction.”
There are many reasons why sleep deprivation can harm your efforts to quit porn. 7 of them we have listed here:
Puberty
In both men and women, adolescence and puberty is a major transitional period in their lives where their bodies and minds transform from childhood to adulthood. This period is crucial to your development as it the time when you form their most significant habits which can affect your entire life eventually.
However, no matter how much you can be in avoiding habits that can harm you, you can unfortunately often fall prey to the deadline addiction to pornography. When a teenager forms these health habits during his / her early ages of puberty, it can be hard to let go of and can cause serious issues such as sleep deprivation and decrease in the grey matter present in the brain.
Misinformation
Adolescents are the most susceptible to sleep deprivation due to porn addiction as they lack the ability of self-control at a young age. During that young age, they might be misinformed and think that porn may improve their sleep and start obsessively watching it to gain more sleep.
At this age, their curiosity is usually high to understand what exactly it is.
However, this would prove to be entirely counterproductive as it would end up increasing the time that they stay awake during the night. Hence, excessive use of the internet to chat, play games, watch pornography, browse social media etc, results in a reduced sleep time and physical activity as well.
These harmful habits have adverse effects on a person, especially when you are young. The way that porn affects sleep is more consequential than people think it is.
Insomnia
Insomnia is a disorder when you are unable to fall or stay asleep. It is widely common these days and there are various reasons why people suffer from it.
Reasons may vary but a few common ones are nervousness, stress at work, depression, pain, fear, anxiety, restlessness, worry about the past or the future, physical discomfort and various such triggers which makes an easy activity such as falling sleep into an uncomfortable burden.
Addressing one of the main reasons for sleeplessness: Having too much screen time before bed is a basic reason why most people suffer from insomnia. And hence, the basic effect is the people end up feeling extremely lethargic and lack focus to do the most basic activities the next day.
When a person’s internal biology is way out of balance, their body tries to recall past experiences which made them feel good. Hence, they consistently binge to seek serotonin and dopamine by watching pornography during the night can lead to a detrimental habit that is hard to quit.
Hormonal Addiction
When you view porn, their brain releases a chemical called oxytocin which is a “feel good” hormone which helps them achieve sexual release and relaxes you.
This activity helps you to curb negative emotions such as restlessness, anxiety, and fear. It has proved to make many men sleep like a baby and thereby this activity more common in the male species. As it gives them an intense sensation of pleasure and has a certain tranquil effect on their body.
The harmful effects, however, are that it can cause “pathological” and “subconscious” absorption of knowledge. This leads to addiction without you even realising it.
Habit Formation
Porn addiction and sleep deprivation happens when you continues to watch it regardless of the problems at work, family etc. And it ensures to have a lot of screen time before going to sleep. A person with such a compulsive habit starts to feel negative thoughts and emotions. Such as flatness and depression when they even miss a single day of watching porn.
As a result, you go back to porn to revisit the feelings of arousal and “happiness” for a few minutes.
This creates a vicious cycle. As the addiction makes you go back to it every time they need to cope with your stress.
Isolation
Another factor which contributes to sleep deprivation as a result of consistently watching porn is because of loneliness. The content might give you a sense of “togetherness”, which is associated with pain relief of the mind.
However, this is counterproductive as you may feel trapped as you are digging their own grave by doing this. People who feel isolated tend to remain in denial about this fact and continue to use porn as a release. Hence, to stop feeling deprived, you should follow the road to recovery by coming clean and genuinely repenting your behavior.
Following the Crowd
Last factor which most people take lightly is that they believe that watching porn late at night is somewhat okay. Because everyone else does it as well.
This mentality is detrimental because its aftereffects can ruin relationships, friendships, and careers in no time.
Just because everyone else is heading into the dark waters does not mean you have to, right?
You have to overcome this peer pressure and understand how it can affect your personal and professional life negatively.
Sleep deprivation and its adverse effects due to porn might seem like a minor problem. But in all honesty, its effects can be quite severe.
5 Facts & then What you Can do About These
#1
An average person aged 20 needs approximately 7 hours of sleep to function normally with focus on the next day. Many people think this is a suggestion but it is a health requirement. Hence, people do not follow a sleep schedule and get a lots less sleep than the average recommendation.
When you do not get enough sleep on a certain night, a certain “sleep debt” is created where you owe yourself a lot more sleep the next day or else it keeps building up and affects your brain.
The environment that a person sleep in one of the most important factors to determine the amount of sleep he can get.
#2
The idea environment is when the bedroom can be a colder, but comfortable room temperature. The more comfortable you feel on their bed before sleeping, the faster you are likely to fall asleep.
Most importantly, we recommended you turn off or mute all of their electronic devices so that you do not succumb to screen time during bed.
#3
The noise level is suggested to be at a minimum or a rhythmic sound such a clock.
The windows can be closed to eliminate the noise from the street.
The quieter the sleeping environment is, the better. Using devices such as an air conditioner or a CD with melodious music is said to make you more feel more vulnerable to sleep.
#4
In order to improve a sleep schedule, you must have basic knowledge about common sleep interruptions such as pornography and how they can be treated.
There are various precautions that can be taken in improve sleep and maintain healthy habits. One of them for example- is to stay away from electronic devices as much as possible, even during the day.
#5
Another way is to enable a porn disabling software such as Blocker X. Just like these, there are countless ways in which you could improve your sleep.
You could visit health professionals and sleep clinics if they truly cannot solve the problem themselves.
However, that happens in severe cases. Sleep deprivation is a huge issue; however, it is not a disease.
It will not just affect you but also the people and environment around you. Very important to be aware of a healthy amount of sleep that is needed and avoid porn at these times. It can deprive your sleep more rather than the opposite.
You control your own sleeping habits and that is a major step to leading a long and healthy life.
Do you relate to any of the factors mentioned in the article?
