Man masturbates every day for a week and makes dangerous discovery

One small step for man, one giant goon for mankind.

Chris Ivan decided to give the practice a go for a full week.

In case you live under a rock and don't know what gooning is, it involved masturbating until you almost reach the finish line before stopping to reach peak 'goon state'.

Experts have warned that gooning can lead to consequences such as erectile dysfunction and/or a problematic relationship with porn.

Chris said that he was already aware that enjoying too much self-pleasure could be bad, adding that he had been plagued by excessive masturbation in the past.

After his first session, Chris hit a wall in the afternoon. He described feeling like his 'life force had been sucked out of him' and this is a man who, by his own admission, is usually pretty upbeat. He was tired, irritable, and low on energy, but the only thing that seemed remotely appealing to him was doing it all again.

"The idea of exposing myself to that content again seems very enticing, because overall I don't feel as good as I did before I exposed myself to that content," he told his 26,900 subscribers.

On day two, Chris woke up with what he described as a brain that 'felt like mush' and noticeably 'less awareness'. The doubts were already creeping in. He talked about the internal tug-of-war between the pull of the content and the voice in the back of his head telling him to pack it in.

"I just feel so guilty. I hate this for myself because I know it's just not healthy," he said.

By the end of day two, he felt 'like garbage', a 'shell of the person' he was at the start of the week, and already alarmed at how significant the impact had been so early on.

Days three to seven

On day three, Chris was waking up late and experiencing what he called 'spontaneous negative self-talk.'. The guilt of regularly watching porn was, in his words, 'eating him alive'.

As the week dragged on, everyday tasks that he'd normally get on with fine started feeling like enormous chores, his mind constantly drifting back to porn and self-pleasure. And when he did give in to the urge, he said it 'made him feel normal rather than great' — the novelty had already worn off entirely.

"It isn't even exciting anymore," he admitted.

Looking back

Reflecting on the seven days, Chris said he 'wasn't in the mood to do anything' throughout and found even minor inconveniences disproportionately frustrating. A month on, though, he said the difference in his quality of life was vast.

He was clear that the experiment wasn't meant to glorify gooning. He wanted to show 'how easy it is to slip into addiction and how quickly something 'harmless' can start controlling your thoughts, mood, and habits'.

"It's here to show the real dangers, the mental pull, the excuses your brain makes, and what it actually took for me to stop," he said.

So, can you actually masturbate too much?

Dr Jen Claude addressed this in a 2024 YouTube video, making the point that masturbation is generally a healthy part of life. She said that frequency varies wildly from person to person and there's 'no top limit threshold'. The problem arises when it starts interfering with your day-to-day life, relationships, or work.

"In certain situations you can see how masturbation becomes compulsive, in which case we say that you need to be evaluated, you need to discuss this with a licensed professional," she said.

Chris's week seems to illustrate exactly where that line is.