Your ‘Dopamine Fast’ Could Backfire
by Nino · 16 things on NewTwos
- Denying yourself the fun things you enjoy won't make your brain healthier.
- In the same brand of pop culture shorthand that labels oxytocin the “love hormone” and cortisol the “stress hormone,” dopamine is classified as the “reward” chemical we deliver ourselves a dose of every time we experience something pleasurable.
- So-called “dopamine fasting” is supposed to be a way to detox ourselves from addictive behaviors, and the trend began with a modest suggestion from a psychiatrist that maybe some of us should take breaks from stuff we spend too much time with (like social media).
- Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, one of the chemicals that brain cells make to communicate with each other.
- Dopamine is involved in reward pathways in the brain, but it is also involved in other functions, like coordinating movement.
- Even in the brain pathways it’s most famous for, it doesn’t just signal a reward. As neuroscience researcher Kim Hellemans explained to Psych Central, it makes more sense to think of dopamine’s role in learning as a “pay attention” signal.
- In the Medium post that set off the trend in 2019, psychiatrist Cameron Sepah proposed dopamine fasting as a solution to compulsive behaviors we engage in when we feel bored or sad.
- Eliminating enjoyment is exactly what legions of aspiring biohackers understood “dopamine fasting” to mean.
- Fans of dopamine fasting often talk about “detoxing” from dopamine or increasing their body’s sensitivity to it, so they can feel more pleasure from mundane things.
- The effects of a dopamine “fast” don’t have much to do with dopamine, but with whatever you do during the time you believe you are fasting.
- If you follow Sepah’s original suggestion, you might unplug on the weekends and spend more time with your family and friends.
- But if you take the idea of the dopamine fast literally, you might end up avoiding pleasurable things that are neutral or even good for you, like social interactions, going outside, reading books, exercising, eating foods that you like, and, yes, listening to music.
- Hardcore dopamine fasters tend to talk about meditating all day and/or getting more work done.
- This isn’t a picture of physical or mental health: rest and relaxation are part of the normal human experience.
- If you feel like you’re spending too much time on your phone, you can work on ways to reduce your doomscrolling time. There’s no need to commit to quitting everything that brings you joy.
- Source