Is Porn Messing with Your Mind?

Men who frequently look at pornography may experience a reduction of the gray matter volume found in the reward centers of their brains.

However, researchers are uncertain whether watching explicit sexual content actually leads to brain changes or whether those with certain brain types who watch it are more likely to experience changes, said Simone Kühn, the study's lead author from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, via Yahoo News.

"Unfortunately we cannot answer this question based on the results of the present study," Kühn said.

For the study, researchers questioned 64 healthy men aged 21 to 45 about their porn watching habits. They also examined how their brains reacted to pornographic images, along with a measurement of participant's brains.

For men who watched pornography often, the study results showed that the brain region that is activated when sexual stimuli is introduced was less active. The area associated with processing rewards in men was also smaller for those who watched pornography more often.

"Everything is going to be bad in excess and it's probably not terrible in moderation," said Dr. Gregory Tau of the Columbia University / New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York, via Health Day. 

Tau, who was not involved with the study, agreed that more research should be done in this area and that longer studies would be needed to determine if watching porn actually leads to brain changes. 

"It is possible that there are individuals with a certain kind of brain that are more susceptible to these kinds of behaviors," he said, via Health Day. "Or, it's possible it's the excessive use (of porn) that's perpetuating itself to causing brain changes. Or, it could be both."

More information regarding the findings can be seen via JAMA Psychiatry.