Too much porn can make men stupid, scientists have revealed.
A study by German researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development found that men who watch a lot of porn generally have a smaller striatum.
The striatum is the part of the brain which processes ‘rewards and motivation’ – leading scientists to believe that pornography damages this function.
They can also have less grey matter, making their brains generally smaller than those of men who rarely watch it.
The female leading author of the study Simone Kühn, did point out however, that it isn’t clear whether X rated material is making brains smaller, or whether men with a decreased striatum tend to watch it more often.
She added that the striatum is less active with men who consume a lot of sexual images.
Dr Kühn said: “Moreover we found that another brain region, that is also part of the striatum that is active when people see sexual stimuli, shows less activation the more pornography participants consumed.”
The study questioned 64 men aged 21 to 45 about their porn watching habits and examined who their brains reacted to pornographic images.
While it isn’t clear that porn is the root cause of men’s decreasing brains, it is fair to say that it could have a detrimental effect on them