This is kind of a nofap thread but it's really more about the idea of Vital Energy in general. Experimenting with NoFap has given me some insights around how Vital Energy works.

First, this is how I think it "works":
- Eat food for "raw" energy
- Exercise "refines" this energy into vital energy
- Sunlight "activates" vital energy

Vital energy is, of course, a source of energy, which means it's used for activity (like exercise) but also growth. I believe if you have more of it during your rest periods, you will grow faster and for all purposes, better. I also think that the more vital energy you have, the more calories you'll burn - I guess I'd say it increases the speed of your metabolism. Once you have active vital energy in your system, it's like a fire, and you can add more fuel.

The more vital energy you have, the more stress you can take on. The more active you can be. However, at a certain height of both stress and vital energy, you're maintaining a delicate equilibrium.

I do think ejaculation directly drains you of vital energy. I don't necessarily think this is always a bad thing, BUT if you're running with a high stress level, it can really disrupt things. For example, I had been "running hot" for more than a week, going hard in my exercise, also eating at a deficit. I "released" ONE TIME and my whole next day I was kind of fucked and in a bad mood. I mistakenly thought "well I did it one time, maybe doing it more times will help calm me down." But then I ended up just getting sick for two days.

I believe this is a well-known effect, Huberman was talking about it the other day. When your stress levels are high but then you suddenly de-load, your immune system can take a hit, and all of a sudden you can get sick. Like people getting sick after finals week, or after working hard then going on vacation. I believe this happened to me recently when I released after more than a week of Nofap. I was going harder than I realized.