NoFap and Polyphasic Sleep

Disclaimer

This blog contains mostly anecdotal evidence and personal experience from a long-term NoFap-er (no masturbation). As an adaptation, there are also speculations on NoFap’s effects during long-term polyphasic practice. Continue reading with a grain of salt. Some related scientific research data is at the bottom of the blog, so feel free to take a look at them.

More research, especially toward the effect of NoFap on polyphasic sleep is necessary to provide more solid conclusions for the matter.

Don’t think like a pervert

NoFap and polyphasic sleep

Controversy

There has been a lot of contradictory discussions and articles regarding masturbation and its effects on physical and mental health.

  • An article from Medical News Today has pointed out that masturbation can help relax, boost self-esteem and even reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
  • Another source, Practo, claims that masturbation is generally safe and poses very little to no downsides if done properly. The article did not explicitly mention the downsides of masturbation; however, it is reasonable to assume potential issues as simple as the depletion of sperm count if overdone.
  • Psychologically, excessive masturbation can also contribute to depression and social detachment. This in return makes life more difficult and more out-of-touch with social life, according to Practo.

With all that said, occasional masturbation is not an out-of-ordinary activity that only starts during puberty and persists into adulthood. NoFap consists of no pornographic pursuit, no masturbation and no rubbing genitals. The point of this blog is to explain the reasons to pursue the NoFap lifestyle and how to do it.

NoFap adaptation

The first month is likely going to be tremendously difficult to maintain and will likely result in failure. This is because of the enormous change in lifestyle that it entails. In addition, pornographic photos are also everywhere on the internet, which means that withdrawal symptoms from the addiction are going to return. Withdrawing from a masturbation addiction invokes similar withdrawal symptoms to smoking, using drugs and stimulants. This means that one would need strong mental barricades to succeed.

But most importantly, the whole process can be helpful in boosting personal discipline. With enough concentration and willpower, one can usually overcome any pitfalls and conquer any personal desires. However, there is no superior moral ground from engaging in NoFap or masturbation. In the past, masturbation used to be a taboo in a lot of communities and environment. Later on, the feeling of guilt from masturbation is also visible in some individuals.

Benefits of NoFap

There are quite a few benefits that NoFap brings back. The subreddit /r/NoFap contains a lot of stories about how people have become more proactive, happier with their personal life among friends, family and co-workers, more interested in various other activities. Some can even build more expansive relationships with other people. Physically, it helps bolster stamina and possibly even libido. More information on the benefits of NoFap is available on the website “The Benefits”.

“I experienced most of the aforementioned benefits after only roughly 3 months in. There was a very different feeling from within, which directly contributed to how it shaped my worldview. Overall, it was something like more caution, more scrutiny and more skepticism. Each morning wake became mentally more refreshing than before. I guess it is fresher than how people drink a lot in some night events and wake up feeling horribly groggy the next morning.

Waking up early becomes a much easier task for me. Every 5-6 AM wake becomes an entrenched habit like I had been doing it since birth. My energy level during the day was also more lasting than before. The energy dips around noon, or early afternoon were still present, but they were merely normal occurrences.”
GeneralNguyen, 2019

NoFap experience on polyphasic sleep

It can be challenging to relate NoFap with polyphasic sleep. For example, consider tough polyphasic schedules that limit flexibility and intense physical activities. NoFap seems to enable people to maintain a much more consistent cognitive performance throughout the day. Compared to milder schedules with more sleep time, the differences are barely noticeable on pro-masturbation lifestyles.

With periodical masturbation or no masturbation, both high-libido and low-libido days remain observable.

  • However, an improved sense of self-control can surge when one is exposed to erotic imagery during periods on NoFap.
  • Additionally, NoFap can also improve the emotional control. This would increase the level of personal composure.
  • Overall, masturbation or sexual activities should give the least negative effects on more forgiving polyphasic schedules.
  • While it is far from impossible to engage in masturbation on more hostile schedules, more data would be essential to give any sort of conclusive answers.

Certain downsides

“Wet dreams did occur more often, especially within the last month of my last NoFap attempt. I called those events “ultra-bursts”. The burst refers to ejaculation and it is just a personal choice of naming. It was really strange as I had never experienced wet dreaming before this event. Strangely at first, I often got the wet dreams in a dawn sleep of a Dual Core-alike schedule. 

It annoyed me to the point that I stopped NoFap for a period of roughly half a year before returning to it. So I am once again a NoFap-er now. My only conjecture was that my libido became extremely high. Thus, the bursts eventually had to happen. However, I have yet to see any similar NoFap-er with the same issue. The only common “fact” that I have seen online is that wet dreams typically only occur during puberty; yet, I was already way past puberty.”
GeneralNguyen, on NoFap and wet dreams, 2019

REM peak hours and erection

Most notably, there are sources that suggest REM-heavy periods of time in a day (usually 6-9 AM) can affect sexual activities. During these hours, t is very easy to be horny and attracted to pornography. This could purely be exposure to pornographic content or some natural need for sexual activities.

A scholarly source (albeit rather old) pointed out that there is a correlation of erection in men during REM cycles1. Coincidentally, the polyphasic sleep community has gained abundant data to show how during a dawn sleep, even as short as 20 minutes or as long as 4-5 hours, people are much more likely to have vivid dreams.

Is NoFap worth a try?

“Yes, with all the upbeat energy and productivity I have gotten through these years, I have been silently enjoying the freedom and lifestyle from NoFap. Thus, I would recommend attempting NoFap. There is a certain level of “fun” attempting it.

Furthermore, if you are able to maintain it for an extended period of time, it could be a very meaningful experience that adds beautifully to your existence.”
GeneralNguyen, 2019

Main author: GeneralNguyen

Artist: Zenyua

Page last updated: 17 April, 2021

Reference

  1. FISHER C. Cycle of Penile Erection Synchronous With Dreaming (REM) Sleep. A. 1965;12(1):29. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1965.01720310031005. [PubMed]

3 thoughts on “NoFap and Polyphasic Sleep

  1. Abstinence may lead to increased ability to sustain polyphasic sleep schedules or get more done when you’re awake. I know that when abstinent I have been able to lose large amounts of sleep as the way that energy is consumed; if I was not abstinent, I could not have had the same energy losing that sleep. I think you can feel the difference. However, this extra energy needs to be put in to exercise or you may be unable to sleep at night – it definitely affects your sleep and sleep cycles. Not being abstinent, you can feel a need to sleep to restore what was lost out of your brain (as a male, this is a male perspective) – tiredness is also felt in the heart which needs rest. Abstinence has been a positive thing and should be the normal way of operating. Even Logan Paul was being abstinent allegedly before his boxing match recently, it is an anecdotal belief that’s persisted that abstinence is good for athletic performance.

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