An Australian influencer who has been celibate for three years has opened up about how avoiding sex has changed his life for the better.
Jamie Zhu, who has amassed more than 10 million followers on social media, recently shared a video marking his celibacy milestone.
The 30-year-old said he decided to break his “sleeping around lifestyle” after feeling emotionally drained by a steady stream of partners.
“As a career, I have been in social media for 11 years now and that has exposed me to a lot of partying, drinking, sleeping around and all these things,” Mr Zhu said.
As for how he has remained celibate for so long, Mr Zhu says he has “cheated” his mind by focusing on short-term goals and distracting himself by going to the gym.
'I literally had to trick my own brain into living a long-term celibate life. How did I do that? “I have set myself a 100-day challenge,” he said.
“I said, Jamie, you're only going to be celibate for 100 days and when the 100 days are up, you can go back to your old ways.
“But I knew very well that in those hundred days I could break the habit and then enter celibacy.”
Australian influencer Jamie Zhu (photo) has been celibate for three years
Mr Zhu said that “sexual energy is very powerful” and will wait until marriage to break his celibacy.
“I can honestly say that living celibate for the past three years has been one of the best things I have ever done in my life.
“The mental clarity, the focus, the drive, the motivation for life that I feel every day is something I can't compare to anything else.”
Mr. Zhu first began his celibacy with 120 days of “semen retention,” during which he avoided ejaculation for its mental, physical and spiritual health benefits.
Although there is little scientific research into the practice, Mr Zhu told Daily Mail Australia it gave him more focus and energy, while also reducing anxiety and depression.
Mr Zhu (centre) said he decided to break his 'sleeping around lifestyle' after feeling exhausted. Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting he 'slept' with the women pictured above
“After the first one to two months, I noticed my energy was absolutely through the roof,” he said.
'I no longer suffered from those afternoon accidents and my ability to work was unlike anything I had ever felt before. I used to get burned out quickly if I worked too much, but the concept of burnout no longer exists.
'Not only did I feel more physically energetic, but I was also hyper-focused on my career and distractions and temptations were easy to manage.'
Those extra energy levels motivated Mr Zhu to focus on health and fitness, meaning he could train harder in the gym and transform his body.
Mr Zhu said he had “slept with many different women” for most of his life, and found his male friends cheering him on for his sexual conquests.
'Then I started to wonder if this was really good for me. “I also started to wonder why my friends would encourage this behavior,” he said.
'Then I realized that part of this is because of the way society and the media have sexualised our culture, so that men like me think success is based on money, status and how many women you can sleep with.
“Rappers brag about how many women they can sleep with – like it's a numbers game, how many cars they have, how much money they have and they unknowingly influence young impressionable men like me into thinking this is what life is about.”
The photo shows Mr. Zhu before he gave up sexual pleasure
The photo shows Mr. Zhu after transforming his body due to the increased energy level resulting from giving up sexual pleasure
When he started practicing the new method, Mr. Zhu made sure to keep all other parts of his life the same so that he could see if there were any real benefits.
'I had complete control over my emotions. “I could always keep them under control, whereas before I would often throw tantrums and feel emotionally overwhelmed,” he said.
“I would say that after 100 days I noticed that my whole life was no longer about sex, and I could focus on things that really mattered in the long run.”
When Mr. Zhu told his friends about his new lifestyle, they were less than jealous and said any benefits were probably just a placebo.
He also pointed out that many of his friends had developed unhealthy porn addictions.
'They thought I was crazy when I started, but now my mate does it too. Many friends I know are heavily addicted to porn and cannot go more than one day without it. This is what I call an addiction,” he said.
One partner jumped on the bandwagon, with Mr. Zhu saying he is experiencing more benefits than he is.
More women are also interested in him, Mr. Zhu added, although he admitted this was not the case for himself.
'I had a friend who decided to jump on the bandwagon too and he swears by it and experiences even more benefits than I do.
“He said that somehow he experienced so many more women being interested in him. I haven't really experienced an increase in that area, but maybe that's because I'm already a good looking guy.'
