First off, I'm not advocating nofap, at least not under any false pretenses, and I'm not someone who necessarily practices it either.

I've noticed that as I spend longer stretches of time without masturbating, my ability to visualize things, internalize learning material, think of new creative concepts etc all improve substantially. As in, the difference in cognitive capabilities, at least regarding drawing, are really remarkably, noticeably increased.

The downside to this is that the longer I go without jacking off, the more I just wanna draw babes and nothing but babes. So, I don't know how to balance the self restraint with the incessant horniness that comes along with it. I've also noticed that having sex with my gf affects me in a similar way, but not quite as much.

Is this just a fact of life? My instinct tells me it's just a case of human psychology, as in, I've ostensibly fulfilled the "biological objective" and now my brain has no reason to continue functioning at full speed, but I also can't really believe that ALL artists are motivated in the same way. And while I don't spend nearly as much time masturbating as I did as a teenager, I'm also willing to believe this is just a symptom of porn-induced brain rot.

I'm wondering what /ic/'s experiences are here. Maybe not just with jacking off or whatever, but just generally what things you do to be in the best mental state for art. And in my case, how do you balance the effects of these things on what you want to draw in the first place?