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abstinence
Sign in to saveAlso known as abstaining, abstention, avoidance, avoiding
Abstinence is the practice of self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol, drugs, food, or other comforts.
Abstinence is the practice of deliberately holding back from activities that feel pleasurable, most commonly sexual activity, though it can also apply to alcohol, drugs, food, or other comforts. It matters because people choose abstinence for various personal, religious, health, or moral reasons, and understanding it helps explain different lifestyle choices and values across communities.
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- Abstinence
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18 sectionsContents
- Abstinence in religion
- Judaism
- Christianity
- Islam
- Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism (Dharmic)
- Medicine
- Types
- Drugs
- Nicotine
- Alcohol
- Caffeine
- Food
- Pleasure
- Sexual abstinence
- Organizations
- See also
- References
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Abstinence is the practice of self-enforced restraint from indulging in bodily activities that are widely experienced as giving pleasure. Most frequently, the term refers to sexual abstinence, but it can also mean abstinence from alcohol, drugs, food, or other comforts.
Because the regimen is intended to be a conscious act, freely chosen to enhance life, abstinence is sometimes distinguished from the psychological mechanism of repression. The latter is an unconscious state, having unhealthy consequences.