Alex isn't really making a case against sexuality. He's making a case for dopamine regulation. When he describes his brain becoming "a well-oiled machine" around day fifteen, what he's almost certainly experiencing is a recalibration of reward circuitry — the same mechanism that explains why people who fast feel food more intensely afterward, or why those who sit in cold water regularly begin to feel genuinely warm between sessions.
The core claim is this: repeated, high-stimulus, low-effort dopamine release blunts sensitivity to lower-intensity rewards. Abstinence from that stimulus allows the threshold to reset. Clarity, creativity, and motivation return — not because they were summoned through willpower, but because the noise was removed and the signal became audible again.
The knowledge base holds several articles that combine NoFap with cold showers — and the overlap is revealing. In the 500-day NoFap, cold showers, and journaling piece, the participant identifies cold exposure as a tool for managing the urges that arise during abstinence. That's not coincidental. Cold water activates the sympathetic nervous system and dumps norepinephrine into the prefrontal cortex. It sharpens the observer function — exactly the "watching the voice in my head rather than being it" quality Alex describes in this video.
These practices are reinforcing each other neurochemically. Both redirect stress responses toward adaptation rather than escape. Both require confronting discomfort directly rather than reaching for a shortcut.
Here's the honest part: the clinical research on NoFap specifically is thin. Most of what exists comes from pornography addiction studies rather than sexual abstinence research. The mechanism is plausible — dopamine receptor downregulation from compulsive use is well-documented — but individual variation is enormous. Alex's longest streak was 75 days; other people report no meaningful effect beyond day three. The benefits he describes are real to him. Whether they generalize requires more controlled research than currently exists.
What does generalize: the practice of deliberately reducing high-stimulation inputs to restore sensitivity to subtler rewards. That principle holds across diet, media consumption, and substance use. NoFap is a specific application of a broader principle about attentional hygiene.
If you're going to try this, treat it as a protocol, not a moral project. Set a defined period — 30 days is a reasonable starting point. Stack it with one or two other clarity practices: morning cold exposure, reduced social media, journaling. The combination creates a more stable signal than abstinence alone. Expect the flatline around days 10 to 14. It's not a sign that nothing is working — it's a sign your nervous system is in the middle of reorganizing itself.
Alex mentions noticing faster hair growth and a shift toward simpler foods. These are easy to dismiss as placebo, but they point to something interesting: when dopamine systems aren't being constantly hijacked by supernormal stimuli, baseline satisfaction with ordinary inputs increases. The same dynamic appears in cold therapy research — regular cold practitioners report enhanced sensory appreciation, more present-moment awareness, greater satisfaction from simple physical experiences like warmth and food. The contrast does the work. You can't fully experience warmth without cold. You can't fully experience ordinary pleasure when extraordinary stimulation is always available. The ritual of restraint creates the conditions for genuine experience.