That is biohacker Dave Asprey talking to Shawn Stevenson on The Model Health Show podcast. He makes some claims about an "ejaculation hangover," blaming the hormone prolactin for this, and further suggesting that men should limit their ejaculation frequency.
As I've mentioned before, I think it is valuable to experiment with your ejaculation frequency. Learning about your body and sexuality is important. What I want to point out is the missing nuance from Asprey's very prescriptive advice. So, let's break down what he says.
"There's a very clear orgasm hangover for men, or more to be, to be really straightforward, an ejaculation hangover for men."
While a phenomenon called postcoital dysphoria, characterised by inexplicable feelings of tearfulness, sadness, or irritability following otherwise satisfactory consensual sexual activity, was found to affect about 3-4% of men on a regular basis according to one study with an international sample of 1,208 male participants (Maczkowiack & Schweitzer, 2019), another study with a convenience sample of 223 women and 76 men found that 60% of men experienced postcoital symptoms such as unhappiness and low energy only after ejaculation, suggesting a more varied and multifaceted phenomenon than classic "dysphoria" (Burri & Hilpert, 2020).
"The day after you ejaculate, you don't like your job as much. You don't like your partner as much. You don't like your life as much."
While the same study I referenced just before about postcoital symptoms did also find that these symptoms were significantly associated with more personal and interpersonal distress (Burri & Hilpert, 2020)...
...a different large-scale survey of 3,821 adults found that higher frequency of orgasms (which can be considered a proxy for ejaculations) increased happiness when using a single item indicator as a measurement (Cheng & Smyth, 2014).
Regarding not liking your job as much, a two week daily diary study of married, employed adults, found that - for both men and women - when employees engaged in sex at home (which presumably included ejaculation and can be considered a proxy as such), they reported increased positive affect at work the following day, independent of the effects of marital satisfaction, and sex at home increased both daily job satisfaction and daily job engagement as a function of increased positive affect (Leavitt et al., 2017).
"And the reason for this is a hormone called prolactin. So when you ejaculate, your prolactin levels soar, and this causes, essentially, the orgasm hangover."
Three observations suggest that the hormone prolactin is key player in the establishment of what's known as the Post Ejaculatory Refractory Period (Krüger et al., 2002; Drago, 1984), the period after a single ejaculation when further erections and ejaculations are inhibited.
First, it's been shown that prolactin is released around the time of ejaculation in both humans and rats (Brody & Krüger, 2006; Egli, Leeners, & Krüger, 2010; Exton et al., 2001; Exton et al., 2000; Krüger et al., 2006; Exton et al., 1999; Krüger et al., 2003; Oaknin et al., 1989).
Second, chronically abnormal high levels of circulating prolactin are associated with decreased sexual drive, anorgasmia, and ejaculatory dysfunctions (Svare et al., 1979; Buvat, 2003).
And third, removal of prolactin-producing pituitary tumours or treatment with drugs that inhibit prolactin release appear to reverse sexual dysfunctions (Sato et al., 1997; Melmed et al., 2011).
Taking these three observations into consideration, it's been hypothesized that the prolactin surge around the time of ejaculation plays a role in the immediate subsequent decrease of sexual activity, the hallmark of the post ejaculatory refractory period (Grattan & Bridges, 2009).
However, this hypothesis has been criticised, with some authors suggesting that the findings of chronically high levels of prolactin reducing libido have been erroneously extended to the acute release of prolactin around ejaculation (Seizert, 2018; Levin, 2008; Corona et al., 2012; Levin, 2003; Turley & Rowland, 2013).
Some early reports in rats suggest that prolactin levels are elevated through the entire sexual interaction (Kamel et al., 1977; Kamel & Frankel, 1978). This was also shown in a more recent study, that there is prolactin release during sexual behaviour in male mice (Valente, Marques, & Lima, 2021). This same study also showed, using a pharmacological approach, that acute manipulations of prolactin levels, either mimicking the natural release during sexual behaviour or inhibiting its occurrence, do not affect sexual activity or shorten the refractory period, respectively, refuting the idea that prolactin is responsible for the post ejaculatory refractory period.
And yet, a single-blind, placebo-controlled, balanced cross-over designed study with 10 healthy male participants showed, also using a pharmacological approach, that decreased prolactin levels significantly enhanced all parameters of sexual drive, function, and positive perception of the post ejaculatory refractory period, while increased prolactin concentrations produced small, but not significant reductions of sexual parameters (Krüger et al., 2001)
A study of 7 men with normal sexual function also showed that not only did prolactin increase approximately 2-fold over time from before erection to after ejaculation but also cortisol increased significantly over time from before erection to after ejaculation. That study also found that serum testosterone level increased significantly over time from before erection to the moment of ejaculation, but decreased to the pre-erection level 10 minutes after ejaculation (Kobori et al., 2020).
"The, 'Will you respect me in the morning' thing? 'No', because my prolactin levels are high, and they hack my brain, and make me, just, I'm lower dopamine, things are not as good."
Prolactin is tightly controlled by a short-loop negative-feedback system with dopamine and any increase in prolactin results in the brain releasing more dopamine (DeMaria, Lerant, & Freeman, 1999; Al-Chalabi, Bass, & Alsalman, 2022; Lyons & Broberger, 2014). So, it probably isn't a lack of dopamine causing you to not respect your partner in the morning.
If you are experiencing a lack of connection with your partner after ejaculation, it is worthwhile considering that according to a cross-sectional survey and daily experience study, for both men and women, post sex affectionate behaviour such as cuddling, caressing, and shared intimacy, is associated with higher sexual satisfaction and, in turn, higher relationship satisfaction (Muise, Giang, & Impett, 2014). So, spending some quality time with your partner after sex may mitigate this so-called "ejaculation hangover."
Additionally, if you're ejaculating from masturbation, it may not be prolactin that is causing the you to dislike your partner or job or life, it may be a phenomenon called “masturbatory guilt.” Individuals who masturbate but also consider masturbation morally reprehensible experience feelings of guilt (Grubbs et al., 2019). This guilt, in turn, influences psychological and relational well-being. One study reported that this ego-dystonic masturbation was significantly related to higher scores of anxiety and depression scales, sexual dysfunctions, and relational as well as intrapsychic problems in a sample of over 4,000 male outpatients of an andrology and sexual medicine clinic (Castellini et al., 2016).