Source: Astrid Stawiarz / Getty
Former NBA player Lamar Odom is on a mission to completely rejuvenate his life. Just a few years after Lamar almost died in a Las Vegas brothel, the 39-year-old has completely done an overhaul on his mental, spiritual, physical and relational health.
He’s in a new relationship, making a strong effort to stay sober, and is now giving up porn.
In an impromptu interview with TMZ, the athlete explained that he hasn’t watched porn in a month.
“I’m trying to be better,” Lamar explained at LAX. His girlfriend, Sabrina, who happens to be a fitness guru, is a big reason why Lamar has decided to incorporate healthier habits into his routine.
“Well he was a sex addict,” Sabrina said. “You can’t watch porn if you’re a sex addict, or be with me.”
She also added that Lamar swearing off of porn has helped increase the intimacy they share in the bedroom.
Lamar is not the only Black men who struggles with excessive porn usage. According to a study published in the Journal Of Sex Research, Black American men are more likely to consume porn more than any other race/gender combo–and prolonged and frequent porn usage can have impacts on the brain.
Dr. Norman Doidge, a researcher at Columbia University, found that porn “creates the perfect conditions and triggers” to release chemicals in the brain that creates lasting change. Porn releases dopamine which lights up the reward/feel good section of the brain. This high can keep you coming back for more, and less satisfied with other stimulants–including real life sex. And as the viewer increases their porn intake, they may have to start watching more extreme acts to get the same high. This can lead someone to start consuming more violent, aggressive and frightening porn content, which over time can effect how they treat people in real life. In a survey of 1,500 young adult men, 56% said their tastes in porn over time changed and became “increasingly extreme or deviant.”
Porn addicts can also experience withdrawals as they come off the high, sometimes reporting anxiousness or depression without the stimulation. All of this can of course, drive a wedge between two people as they try to cultivate intimacy.
So if you are concerned with your partner being a little too attached to the .coms and the fapping, it may be worth making your significant other aware of it so that it doesn’t interfere with your relationship.
