I'm going on a dopamine detox
What is it? Why am I doing it? How to join along.
In my quest to begin healing again and start to turn my life around I’m taking a month to get my brain right by going on a dopamine detox.
Let’s start with the basics… What is dopamine?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that serves as the reward center for our brains. It impacts a variety of functions like mood, motivation, attention, and so much more. Dopamine has been a crucial factor in our survival as humans from the beginning of time because it helped motivate us to continue to find things like shelter, food, water, etc. despite how difficult it was to do so. As a result, our brains are now wired to seek out pleasure and with our changing society our rewards are much different, much more accessible, and much more rewarding.
Dopamine does not stay constant. It has ebbs and flows. When we are doing something we find very pleasurable our dopamine is high. After this activity, our dopamine lowers below baseline. It needs time to recharge to be able to feel the pleasure from our reward again. We develop a tolerance to our rewards as well which leads to things like addiction. What once brought us the feeling of pleasure or reward no longer does so we increase the amount to feel it again. This could mean going from 20 minutes of playing video games to 2 hours. Smoking a bong hit a day to needing a bong hit every 30 minutes.
When we go through a period of low dopamine we feel lethargic, unmotivated, moody, etc. It’s a far cry from the feeling we get when we are engaging in a high dopamine reward which leads to the desire to get back to that pleasurable place again.
Additional reading: What is dopamine? | Understanding and treating addiction | Tools to manage dopamine | Dopamine Nation interview
What is a dopamine detox?
In short, a dopamine detox is abstaining from high dopamine rewards (aka things you might be mildly addicted to) for a full month. You can check out this article to read a more thorough explanation or read this article on Dr. Lembke’s view on a dopamine fast.
Why am I going on one?
This is a multi-part answer, however, the answer at its core is to become more aware of how I spend my time and how my impulses control my day-to-day life. Now to break it down further…
I am neurodivergent and am naturally dopamine deficient. Over the past few years, to handle the additional stressors in my life I’ve been checking out instead of checking in with myself because it feels better. I need to reset my reward pathways to gain better resilience and restore balance.
I am tired of wasting my own time. There have been so many moments where I have spent hours on the couch scrolling on my phone or playing a video game. While this is fine every now and then it’s not a regular habit I want to keep. When I critically look at how I’m spending my “free” time I could be spending it doing things I enjoy but offer lower reward value in my brain. Things like gardening, working on home projects, cleaning, etc.
I want to see what is actually adding to my life vs what has just been a distraction. I originally started smoking cannabis to manage my chronic pain without painkillers. I will always love and appreciate the plant for its healing properties. With that said, during my time as a cannabis influencer, I participated in so much overconsumption and I genuinely believe it hurt my brain. I want to see if I can gain a better relationship with the things I’m detoxing from and determine whether the way I’m using them is genuinely beneficial or just negative for me.
I am keeping a promise I made to myself. I have been terrible at sticking to my word when it comes to the goals I have or practices I want to add to my life. Simply put, the way I’ve been treating myself is trash and just isn’t fair to current me or future me.
What are my dopamine detox rules?
Of course, the general rules are to abstain from the substances that are your personal high-dopamine rewards and to replace them with positive, healthy habits in their place. Here’s my own custom-tailored plan for myself.
My naughty list includes the current high-dopamine rewards that I struggle with. My nice list contains items that I enjoy in a healthy way and would like to replace my naughty list items with.
The Naughty List
Cannabis
ADHD meds (consult with your doc before doing something like this)
Instagram
Video Games
Impulse shopping/online shopping
The Nice List
Youtube and TV (sparingly)
Pinterest
Physical activity (walking, yoga, pilates, etc)
Creating (sewing, making videos, cooking and baking, etc.)
Meditation
Journaling
Yardwork
Cleaning
My commitment devices
If you’ve read Atomic Habits then you’ve heard of commitment devices. In regular language, a commitment device can be a plan or a physical item that helps you stick to your goal. An example of this would be a locked box with a timer that you put your phone into while you work or placing your gym clothes on the dresser for the morning so you don’t need to think about anything to get the ball rolling.
For cannabis, I am asking Elijah to keep his consumption in the back office and away from me. We typically aren’t in this room at the same time so this should be sufficient. I have already moved all of our smoking gear to this room as well so I won’t be as tempted.
For ADHD meds, I genuinely have not been having trouble with these but nonetheless know that if I take them it’s a large dopamine hit which would skew my results. I’m simply just not taking them.
For Instagram, I am deleting the app from my phone for the month and logging off of the web browser version.
For video games, I’m moving our switch to the back room so I won’t see it and want to play.
For impulse shopping/online shopping, I’m deleting shopping apps from my phone. I’m avoiding promotional emails and sale temptations. If I do genuinely need to shop online I will let the cart “marinade” over the course of 24 hours to determine if it’s a need or a want.
Overall, I’m very interested to see how I respond to this experiment. A healthy, younger brain takes about a month to restore balance to the dopamine receptors and intake. I know this next month will be hard work but I’m looking forward to the challenge.
If you’ve made it this far, what do you think about the whole idea? Would you try a dopamine detox? If so, what items do you think you’d exclude? I’m happy to have folks join me on this journey. I plan to post weekly check-ins with prompts and keep you updated on how it’s going so you’re free to follow along!
Until next time!
xo, Roo
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Relatable af! Good for you and I'm inspired to make this a goal!
Everything you described sounds exactly like me, and I know I need to do this. I’m in so deep that I feel not in control of it and the ways I dopamine seek. I get stuck on the couch for hours scrolling. I’m really curious to hear what you have to say about it after the month is over, maybe it’ll inspire me to finally do it!