What is NoFap? Meaning, rules and what science says

NoFap means quitting porn, and often masturbation too. It started as an online challenge and turned into a movement of men taking their lives back. Here's what it means, how to do it and what you get.

NoFap meaning

"Fap" is internet slang for masturbating. "NoFap" means not doing it, and in practice it usually means quitting porn. People track their streak in days.

The different modes

• No porn: quit porn, masturbation allowed. The best place to start.
• No porn, no masturbation ("hard mode").
• Semen retention: no ejaculation at all. See the benefits of quitting.

The NoFap challenge and No Nut November

Challenges give you a start date and a goal, which helps. The problem is the end date: if the goal is "30 days", day 31 is easy to give back. In one study, a new daily habit took a median of 66 days to feel automatic. For some people 18 days, for others over 200. Not 21.^[1]

What NoFap gives you

Your nights, your energy and your drive back. Put them into the things research shows raise testosterone: Sleep builds testosterone. When young healthy men slept only 5 hours a night for one week, their daytime testosterone dropped by 10 to 15%.^[2] Heavy lifting raises testosterone. Training big muscle groups (squats, deadlifts, presses) with heavy weights and short rests pushes testosterone up after the session.^[3]

And for many men, better erections: Doctors have reported young men whose erection problems with a real partner went away after they stopped watching porn.^[4]

How to do NoFap without white-knuckling it

1. Pick your mode (start with no porn).
2. Block porn on your phone: free steps.
3. Plan your danger moment. If-then plans work. Across 94 studies, people who decided 'if X happens, I will do Y' reached their goals clearly more often.^[5]
4. Plan for 90 days, not 7: the 90-day timeline.

Quit90 is a 90-day plan for exactly this, with a streak, a Panic Button and a blocker you can't switch off at 1am.

Questions