One thing that ensures a good night sleep for me is.....

@Chewykins

out if curiousity (if you dont mind talking about it), how does the unicorn perfectly match up with you? Is it its magestic beauty, mysterious background, or something else within?

@Lavendersubmarine

In the department of psychological/mental consequences, you have the possibility of creating a certain fantasy in your mind that, if/when you do engage in a sexual moment with someone, will ruin your expectations of said moment. In other words, you'll find that YOU are able to create exactly what you need sexually than someone else which can damage your overall view on the experience of having sex in general...in the grand scheme of things. Again, this is just a possibility and may not be the case for everyone, but it possible.

There's also the very real scenario of it becoming an addiction (which I suppose can add onto my previous point) like drugs, unhealthy fatty foods, and other means to escape stress in life. If heavily relied on in that way, masturbation can be dangerous for someone as it allows them to lock away what's bothering them deep inside which will only hurt them significantly down the line.

I won't get into the possible physical consequences as I'm not really informed in that area (and I'm not one to pretend like I know things), so I'll leave that up to personal research on your end. I have heard that there is physical effects but I have nothing to prove it with. I can only speak from past research and, as ashame as I am to say, personal experience in my own past. Although I've left that part of my life not too long ago making the decision to quit and STAY AWAY from it, I didn't forget the lessons that I learned along the way.

Hope this helps and I have to emphasize that everything that I stated isn't a guaranteed effect, but a possibility.

@outofsorts

How I got out of masturbation addiction (I'm now closing in on 5 months clean which is insane whenever I reflect on it) is something that I have to be very sensitive about speakingn to someone. Bare with me if you're not of a religious mind, but the only true way that I can explain it is that I turned to God with this. I made getting "clean" a top priority in my life. I WANTED to be free of this pain and I WANTED to be clean of this sinful act and addiction.

My strong desire to become clean started to conflict with my sexual desires creating a conflict of good and bad within me that was completely absent before in my many years of consumption. Now that a battle was actually in play, so started the healing process. For when there's a legitimate battle between good and evil inside of you, there is something to fight for. Masturbation became the enemy and I wanted to be the victor, so I put forth all effort in fighting the good fight.

Let me make one thing clear upfront, it was not an easy battle whatsoever and even to this day, I still have feelings that are unmistakably sexual unfulfilled desires. BUT when I think back at how far I've come over the months and how pure I've felt in that department, it allows me to face the enemy in the face and confidently say "I've beaten you and I will continue to defeat you". So, where does God play into all of this? Well, for me, everywhere.

The painful irony is that right when I was trying to defeat masturbation by setting goals for myself and priorities to control it, I was only having minor sucesses. I was attempting to hit goals like "Go a week or two without it", etc.. However, everytime I felt I was moving forward, I would always slip back and feel only somewhat like I was accomplishing my mission. The sad truth is that I simply could not do this on my own, and that's when divine intervention shined its ironic light on everything for me.

It's so happen, my eczema started triggering out of nowhere in arandomly high stakes manner which then caused my body and mind to lose all interest in physical desires and went into straight fight or flight to handle the situation. In other words, one problem (masturbation) was replaced with a more pressing medical problem (my randomly returning eczema). When I took notice of this miracle in timing, I decided to push forward even more in never leaning on those tendencies ever again. Ever since that moment, even when my eczema would be tolerable, I still wouldn't even budge to entertain the idea of doing it. I feel like God made it a point to medically stop me from doing it long enough for me to make a bolder choice.

So, I say to you as someone who has suffered for years with addiction in that field eventually becoming clean, do not let desire consume you. We're all human and we all have feelings and itches that we instinctly want to satisfy, but there will ALWAYS be a cost to over indulging and going about things the unhealthy way just for a temporary fix on something. The healthy and righteous way will always be the hardest way, yet what people need to realize is that it's also the most rewarding in the grand scheme of things.

Be strict with yourself in your coming journey to become clean of your addiction. But also, be patient with yourself understanding that it won't be an overnight fix. It took A LOT of convincing for me to see that my temporary sensational fixes were only hurting me more and more over the years, but after I did my research, I knew I had to try my hardest Eventually, I learned that I couldn't do it on my own, so I respectfully, caringly, and lovingly nudge towards looking towards someone for help. If I may make a reccomendation that I'm sure will raise some red flags, but I must speak from the heart. If you're not already of a particular faith or spiritual mind, might I, with much respect towards your culture or lifestyle, suggest seeing how divine intervention can play a major role in your healing.

You may find more than you think in that department, but it's just a suggestion. If not, I suggest just really doing some deep research in the dangers of being consumed by such a thing as masturbation and any form of self pleasuring. Sorry for the long winded response, but I always try to speak from the heart and mind with genuine care (which tends to lead to long winded answers). I hope and pray that you become healed, friend.