Does edging= fail of 90 day challenge?

So last night I edged pretty hard but then stopped a few minutes after. I didn't ejaculate and the material I edged to wasn't porn. Am I still in this?

 

Hi D-train! I'm not sure about what most people will say, but for me personally, as long as you did not ejaculate or watch P, you are still on the lines. Just don't reach that point of no return, and of course, if possible, try to avoid edging so as to not get yourself in a vulnerable position to break your promise to yourself.

Stay strong bro!

 

I appreciate your opinion. I will continue on this long road of recovery. Thank you for your input! It is greatly appreciated

 

It might seem counterintuitive to you, but edging is considerably worse than masturbating until you cum. By the way,
at http://www.yourbrainonporn.com/what-if-i-use-porn-without-orgasm Gary Wilson says (bold text highlighted by me):

Some men attempting the rebooting process believe that as long as they avoid ejaculation, they are successfully rebooting. This bizarre logic leads to a practice common to Internet porn users, called edging. This is masturbating up to the edge of orgasm, then stopping to cool things down, then revving up again. Three common versions of edging:

1. Watching porn without masturbating
2. Masturbating while viewing porn, but not ejaculating
3. Masturbating without porn and without ejaculating

Since a reboot is defined as no porn or porn substitutes 1 & 2 make no sense. Edging while viewing porn (or fantasizing about porn) is far worse than simply having an orgasm and getting it over with. Why is that? It all comes down to dopamine.

Addiction-related brain changes and sexual (Pavlovian) conditioning are initiated by:

1. Dopamine levels which are higher than levels attained through natural means (drugs, for example)
2. Moderate dopamine levels that remain elevated for long periods
3. Combo of 1 & 2

If you are edging to porn you are combining naturally high dopamine levels of masturbation with the dopamine raising abilities of 1) exciting, novel visuals 2) searching the net for porn 3) finding surprising or shocking genres. Edging can keep dopamine levels elevated for hours, and train the brain to require constant visual stimulation, rapid-fire novelty, clicking from scene to scene, and your own hand. None of this matches real sex.

High dopamine tells the reward circuit that "This activity is really, really important, and you should do it again and again.” Forget the possibility of addiction-related brain changes. Chronically high dopamine is conditioning your sexual arousal to everything associated Internet porn use. You are now training for the wrong sport. It's like spending your time hitting golf balls in order to become great basketball player.

Worse than training for the wrong sport, you may be taking yourself out of the game all together. Dopamine is odd. It really shoots up when something is better than expected, but drops when expectations are not met. Rewiring your sexuality to Internet porn means you unconsciously expect to be a voyeur controlling your dopamine with a mouse. When real sex doesn't match porn, dopamine plummets - along with your excitement and erections.

What about edging without using porn? Depends on your goals I guess. Keep in mind that YBOP is about Internet porn, not masturbation (hello nofap/reddit). Is it similar to simply staying close to the edge with a partner? Not exactly, because you are wiring your sexual response to your own hand. Having sex means you are wiring your sexual response to another person. This may be significant to visitors who are are dealing with sexual dysfunctions.

It's important to realize that sexual stimulation is by far the highest level of dopamine naturally produced. Dopamine is at its peak when on the verge of orgasming (edging). In the pre-Internet days, guys would usually masturbate, orgasm and be done with it - it might take 10 minutes or so. At orgasm, prolactin rises, which drops dopamine to baseline levels and inhibits its release. That normally spells some relief.

Placing your foot on the dopamine gas, without ever hitting the brake (prolactin) results in a continuous state of cravings without satisfaction. This practice of edging calls to mind the earliest experiments on the reward circuitry of the brain in which animals would stimulate themselves over and over, braving electrical shocks and ignoring willing mates.

In the end, chronically high levels of dopamine (in conjunction with a specific stimulus) are the trigger for addiction, as over-stimulation of the reward circuit leads to the accumulation of DeltaFosB, activation of genes, and specific brain changes. As the sustained molecular switch for addiction, DeltaFosB initiates both behavioral and chemical addictions. Yet one of its evolutionary purposes is sexual conditioning. It rewires the reward circuit to sexual cues in the environment and makes "sex" even more enticing. If your sexual environment is Internet porn, that's what your reward circuit expects....and craves.

 

Considering the edging was short and not to porn I think I will just take this as a learning experience and keep my streak alive. But if it happens again I will reset

 

"Put simply, sexual conditioning, sensitization, or other addiction-related brain changes, occur on a spectrum. Also realize that our brain is constantly learning and adapting to the environment. Internet porn, being a supernormal stimulus targeting innate sexual circuits, shapes the brain and alters perception.

This is why posing such questions as ""What is the definition of porn"?" or "How much porn use constitutes an addiction?" are misleading and irrelevant. The former is like asking whether it's slot machines or blackjack that leads to a gambling addiction. The latter is like asking a food addict how many minutes she spends eating.

The reward center (nucleus accumbens) doesn't know what "porn" is. It only registers levels of stimulation through dopamine spikes. This is physiology, not morality or sexual politics." SOURCE

 

From the same source as the above post:
"The best way to reboot is to give your brain a rest from all intense artificial sexual stimulation—including porn, fantasizing about porn, chat rooms, erotic stories, surfing for pictures—until it bounces back to normal responsiveness."

 

Thank you for your advice! It is much appreciated

 

ur
Great advice and thanks for the clarification @IGY !! Some food for thought to enforce greater discipline on our behaviours

 

Did you feel any benefits from NoFap on day 90? And about the edging,if you do it again today then reset bro