Masturbation is a normal part of many people’s sexuality.
According to a global survey by TENGA, 78% of adults worldwide masturbate. It can be a healthy way to relieve stress, explore your body, and even get you in the mood for intimacy.
However, too much of a good thing can be bad. Excessive masturbation may cause issues with your health and relationships.
If you’ve experienced the negative effects of masturbation and you want to quit, keep reading.
Maybe you’ve tried to quit in the past, but you keep slipping into your old habits.
To fix this you need to build a foundation of healthy habits.
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” – Socrates
We’ll list our top tips and tricks to stop masturbating permanently. Each tip can be thought of as a “brick” to build the foundation you need to quit for good.
1. Avoid Porn
Exposure to porn can trigger the desire to masturbate.
It’s almost too obvious to be a part of this list. But it’s arguably the most important factor.
For starters, porn does the most damage. It hardwires your brain to make you want to masturbate. A compulsive porn user will go through the same habit loop every time.
And porn is the “cue” in that loop. Once exposed they’ll engage in the habit of masturbation. In the end, they’ll get their reward (orgasm). The dopamine supplied by the orgasm motivates them to watch porn again. This could be 10 minutes or even a few days after the session2
2. Stay Active
Many people masturbate because they have too much time on their hands.
Giving up masturbation means you’ll have excess energy on your hands. Find healthy outlets to spend this energy.
Consider taking up a hobby such as learning how to play an instrument or training in martial arts. Learning a new instrument has been proven to improve memory and prevent dementia later in life. Learning new skills or taking courses are other excellent options.
Spending time on activities you enjoy has been shown to improve your well-being and mental health. And when you’re less likely to be stressed or in a poor mood, you’ll be more likely to stay away from masturbation.
3. Seek Professional Help
Sometimes a compulsive masturbation habit is rooted in psychology. Maybe it was due to childhood trauma, and you use masturbation to escape.
In some cases, sexual addiction is associated with other mental health disorders. These can include depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Consider looking into a dual-diagnosis treatment program if this is the case.
Seek out a professional that can help you uncover the root cause of your masturbation habits. They’ll also guide you through the recovery process by telling you what steps to take next.
4. Be Productive
Productivity isn’t the same as “being busy.” A person can be busy without accomplishing much.
Another layer to this is “effectiveness.” Someone can be productive but they’re not getting the most out of their efforts. Effectiveness is about being productive with activities that give you a high return on your time/energy/effort investment.
For example, eating 30 pancakes is difficult. And it’ll keep you busy. But it’s probably not worth it.
Productivity is about making progress towards a meaningful goal. What’s amazing is that you get to choose what you give meaning to. Over time, this will grow into a habit.
5. Spend Time Around Others
Masturbation is an isolating activity.
It won’t happen overnight, but you’ll eventually prefer spending time with others instead of masturbating.
Being around others constantly will also reduce the chance that you can masturbate. It’ll shift your focus and keep you occupied.
If you live with other people, limit the time you spend alone in your room. If porn is a part of the equation, keep your devices like PCs and laptops in the common living area. This will make it difficult to use porn or masturbate.
6. Find a Support Group
Find a trustworthy group of people to voice your concerns to.
This can give you the space you need to express yourself without being judged. A support group can also help you figure out healthy coping strategies when an urge comes. It gives you someone to reach out to in case a strong urge hits.
Speaking to others about your condition openly helps decrease feelings of shame and guilt.
7. Be Your Best Self
Being your best self is not just about taking care of yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. It’s also about focusing on others and making the right decisions morally.
Pick up litter, hold the door open for someone, or smile at a stranger. Consistently doing this trains your brain to make the right choice when faced with an obstacle.
It also promotes an identity shift. You see yourself as the “hero” in your movie of life. And others will start to notice too. And the hero doesn’t lay under his sheets masturbating.
8. Have a Vision
Picture your life 5 years from now. Where will you be financially, physically, and mentally?
Hopefully, you’ll be much better off. But it’ll take a truckload of effort.
Having a vision directs your energy and attention toward a goal. Once you’re fixated on that goal, you’ll make meaningful progress toward it.
Simply abstaining from masturbation or porn isn’t enough. Your vision is an overarching reason for your recovery.
9. Be Honest With Yourself
Ask yourself, is masturbation a problem in your life?
Masturbation becomes an issue when it interferes with other areas of your life. The inability to orgasm, have sexual relations, or giving in to an urge during work are all problematic scenarios.
Be honest about how addicted you are. This gives you an idea of the measures you need to take while quitting. Also, consider talking to a professional sex therapist to find out how masturbation is affecting your life.
10. Layer up at Night
Loungewear, underwear, or sleeping nude makes it more tempting to touch yourself.
Try to wear thicker clothing, or add extra layers to help protect against the urge. Underwear with mesh or compression features also helps. They do this by reducing any friction you may feel from moving around in bed.
11. Make a Strategy
By yourself or with a professional, figure out when you’re most likely to masturbate. Maybe you masturbate before bed, or after work. Also, take note of the setting and your mood. These factors combined make up your “cue.”
With this information, you can make a strategy to overcome this learned behavior. It’s also worth digging deeper and finding the “why” behind your habit. This allows you to create a better strategy.
12. Consume Positive Content
We live in an age where we can control our input. Choose to watch or read motivational and educational content.
There are many helpful articles and YouTube channels that can help you overcome masturbation addiction.
Avoid racy content that’ll increase the chance of a relapse. Music videos, movies, and TV shows often bombard us with scantily clad women. Even though it isn’t pornography, it can sow the seed for a future urge.
Leverage content that directs your focus on self-improvement. You’ll be richer, in better shape, dress well, and be happier overall.
13. Remove Triggers
Most people masturbate with porn. For this reason, it’s important to remove triggers.
You’re sure to relapse if you’re always “sneaking a peek.” This is because problematic masturbation habits are compulsive. By definition, it means they can’t be stopped easily.
Picture a waterslide that’s been greased, and you’re sliding down. It’s nearly impossible to reverse the descent — let alone stop yourself.
Mindlessly browsing social media, drinking alcohol, or being around people who constantly talk about porn are all potential triggers. Find out what your triggers are and remove them.
14. Educate Yourself on Compulsive Behavior
In many cases, masturbation becomes compulsive. This is when it’s classified as an impulse control issue or sexual dysfunction.
This involves a strong preoccupation with sexual fantasies and urges. Don’t mistake this for a high sex drive.
Compulsivity hinders a person’s ability to enjoy masturbation or sex. It makes them fixate on turning partnered sex into a fantasy. But real sex is far from perfect. If someone is masturbating with porn, it’ll skew their expectations. Porn stars are usually enhanced, and real sex won’t involve crazy positions.
A compulsive user may struggle to maintain an erection, and may even masturbate during or after sex to please themself.
15. Psychotherapy
There are a few psychotherapies that help with controlling masturbation addiction.
First is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This type of therapy helps you identify unhealthy thought patterns and behaviors. Once identified, you can work with your therapist to replace them with positive thoughts and actions.
The second type of psychotherapy commonly used is acceptance therapy. This is a type of CBT that focuses on accepting thoughts and feelings that arise. Instead of resisting them, you choose how to act based on your values.
16. Stop Thinking About Masturbation
Trying to stop thinking about something only makes it worse. So how does one stop thinking about masturbating?
Two types of thoughts that could arise, conscious or unconscious. Conscious thoughts such as fantasies need to be caught in their tracks and stopped. If we fail to do this, the thoughts will develop into action and become a habit.
If an unconscious thought happens and you notice it, don’t entertain it. Think of these thoughts as a kind of “mental edging.”
To stop thinking of masturbation is reactive. The thoughts will occur, no doubt. And when they do, guide them in a positive direction.
17. Start a Spiritual Practice
Sometimes, quitting masturbation is more than just “not touching yourself” or “not watching porn.”
You may benefit from daily meditation. You can start small with 1 to 10 minutes and build up from there.
Meditation trains your “lizard brain” to control itself when it’s feeling impulsive. All of a sudden, the cookie jar becomes a little easier to resist. Many religions have a practice in which you enter a meditative state.
You are more than just your body and mind. Leverage the power of higher spiritual states to overcome your masturbation addiction.
18. Talk About It
Talking about masturbation with a trusted family member or friend can help uncover the underlying reasons for your behavior. Compulsive masturbation may be due to the following reasons:
- Untreated mental health conditions
- Restricted or “taboo” views on sexuality
- Relationship issues
- Poor communication
- Inadequate sexual knowledge or skills
- Cultural differences
- Religious conflicts
Talking helps get feelings off your chest and is also useful for devising a strategy.
19. Do Nothing
It sounds counterintuitive, but doing nothing will help you quit masturbating. You may think that doing nothing is what brings the urges to the surface. And that’s exactly the point. You need to face urges head-on.
Urges never stop — no matter how experienced you are. You need to get better at managing them. The issue for many people is that they distract themselves when an urge arises. This is only a temporary fix. It doesn’t make you better at dealing with urges.
Doing nothing will help you examine your urges. And you’ll come to realize that they’re fleeting. It’s entirely your choice to act on them.
20. Be Patient
Quitting masturbation isn’t an overnight task. Many people have hardwired this act into their neural pathways over years.
It requires a lot of persistence, patience, and commitment. If you’re finding things difficult, just commit to the next hour. Don’t worry about the rest of your life. Take it one day at a time.
Final Thoughts From the Team at Mr. Mind Blowing
If you’ve made it this far, the team at Mr. Mind Blowing is proud of you.
Seriously, we couldn’t be happier that you’re here right now.
And having read this article you’ve done something most people won’t do.
You’ve taken a step to better yourself. You’ve given yourself a shot at a more fulfilling life.
Before NoFap, we were instinct-driven animals. We’d obey our lizard brain. If we felt horny, we’d want a release. And that’d usually involve a few adult sites.
We’d waste days, weeks, and months on this addiction. We learned the hard way.
We don’t want that for you. We want to help you stop this addiction dead in its tracks. We want to cut it out of your life before it does irreparable damage.
After finding success through Lifeforce Mastery — we became ambitious, goal-oriented men. We’re still instinct-driven animals… but in the way nature intended.
We play to win.
And we think you should too.
Sincerely,
The team at Mr. Mind Blowing
