What Is Dopamine Diet? – Guide

Are you sick of how much time you spend on the Internet but you can’t help yourself? Do you find regular activities that other people find fun not fun at all? Do you know what you should do, but you give in and do something immediately rewarding instead? These are the signs that you need a Dopamine diet. But WHAT IS the DOPAMINE DIET? The Dopamine diet appears to be a good guideline for healthy digital habits, but we think it won’t do the trick in re-establishing healthy surfing habits and overcoming internet addiction.

What Is Dopamine?

Dopamine is more of a predictive and motivational neurotransmitter. The things that give you pleasure – sex, drugs, food, etc. are the actual source of the pleasure itself; they don’t increase dopamine levels which then makes you feel pleasure. They directly give you pleasure via nerve signals to the reward Centre of the brain, the nucleus accumbent.

What Are The Side Effects Of Too Much Dopamine?

1. ADHD
2. Addictions
3. Binging behaviors
4. Gambling
5. Obesity

High Levels Of dopamine Can Also Contribute

1. Mania
2. Hallucinations
3. Delusion
4. Schizophrenia

What Is a Dopamine Diet?

Dopamine is the reason why your brain would rather spend hours watching Netflix than the same time exercising. You know that exercising will bring you more satisfaction in the long run (even if it is unpleasant in the short run), but Netflix would bring you similar satisfaction instantaneously, with little to no effort. The end of the spectrum includes drugs such as cocaine and amphetamines. These can cause withdrawal symptoms so strong that we would sacrifice our well-being to get more of them. The idea behind the hypothetical detox is that we reset our brains’ reward pathways to become re-accustomed to more a natural level of dopamine release. This could result in us getting more satisfaction from simpler, more productive activities like meditation, working, and healthy eating. In this way, we could achieve or even surpass our goals. Levels of dopamine detoxing can range from abstaining from only one activity to abstaining from all activities that could bring enjoyment, including even simple conversations.

Why Would You Do a Dopamine Fast?

You might want to do a dopamine fast for a couple of reasons

• You’re sick of the way you spend time
• You can’t help yourself and stop surfing
• You want to make regular things more interesting and fun (and not need to have your phone in your hand constantly just to feel engaged)

Have a healthier relationship with your smartphone, the Internet, and the digital world as a whole.

The Goals Are:

1. To break the pattern of compulsive behaviors like surfing the web or picking up your phone mindlessly. E.g: rabbit holes of YouTube videos
2. To realize wanting or craving something doesn’t mean we’ll like it when we’re doing it. For example, we might be exaggerating how good it would feel to re-experience playing a certain game. In reality, that’s just our nostalgia at play.
3. To let restore the dopamine receptors so regular things become more fun once again. E.g: You turn to a hobby because you enjoy it once again

The simplified destroy the addiction looks like this: “Desire to change + Understand addiction + Break the compulsive pattern + Build a better life + Learn to handle your emotions better = Success” Doing a dopamine detox is about acting on the desire to change and break the compulsive pattern. This gives you room to breathe, build a better life, and if you actively try to do so, also learn to handle your emotions better.

How Long Should You Do a Dopamine Detox?

• In general, 2-12 weeks. It takes time for our brains to rewire.
• 2 weeks is the minimum to experience noticeable effects(that’s why we made our challenge 14 days long).
• 30 days are long enough to see changes and make for a good monthly challenge. We recommend going with this route.
• 12 weeks is the typical time horizon for Internet addiction therapy (which is also close to the popular 90 days or 100 days challenges). This is most often long enough to transform your life but it can be too daunting for a lot of people.

Do’s And Don’ts

You Do

• Eat Healthy Foods
• Drink Water
• Be in Nature
• Meditate and Walk
• Write / Read Books
• Set your Future goals
• Be Social

You Don’t:

• Eat Sugar
• Have Masturbate
• Watch TV/Netflix/YouTube
• Use social media
• Over Exercise
• Consume Drugs/Alcohol (including Caffeine)
• Use the Internet/ Use Mobile Devices/Screens of Any Kind
• Eat Junk foods/ Carbonated Drinks

Benefits Of The Dopamine Diet

• Increased ability to focus on hard tasks
• Increased self-motivation
• Improved emotion regulation
• Developed greater self-control and willpower
• Developed and improved patience
• Greater life satisfaction
• Increased feelings of self-worth
• Developed self-discipline

A dopamine diet is a temporary solution that helps you rethink your relationship with digital devices.