Feel Demotivated? A Dopamine Detox is Just What You Need

Dopamine Detoxes have been going viral for the past few years as a way to resent neurochemicals in the brain, influence the brain’s reward system and allow yourself to rediscover the motivation to do difficult things. 

Founded by Dr Cameron Sepah, a California psychiatrist who specializes in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for addictions, the Dopamine Detox (a title he warns not to take literally) was meant to explore how people can regain control over their compulsions. 

What’s Dopamine Got to do with Motivation?

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, one of the primary feel-good chemicals in the brain responsible in some way for pleasure and happiness. However, dopamine is not directly responsible for the pleasure we feel when we indulge in our favourite activities. Dopamine simply gives us the craving and desire to chase after these things. 

For example, taking your first bite out of a slice of pizza instantly sends feel-good chemicals to your brain. That’s not dopamine. But, the sudden urge to take another bite, almost as if you can’t stop yourself? That’s dopamine. Even thinking about pizza late night when you’re stressed about something else is also dopamine. 

You could say that dopamine is the driving force behind your cravings. But that doesn’t mean that he’s the bad guy here. Dopamine, in humans and animals, is the chemical that forces us to get up and feed ourselves, have sex and procreate, and continue living. That’s why it’s so closely related to motivation. If you don’t have a lot of dopamine in your body, you won’t want to do anything!

Dopamine creates desire, which forces us to chase after things that make us feel good. 

Dopamine is a lousy judge of character.

Now here’s where the problem arises. Dopamine creates cravings and wants for the things that make us feel good, but may not actually be good for us. 

A greasy burger and a healthy protein salad both make you feel good, but in different ways. The burger is instant gratification, sending your taste buds into overdrive and giving your body the sugar and carbs it craves. Soon, you hit a crash or feel bloated from the calorie-dense lunch. 

The salad doesn’t give you the same instant high but could stabilize your blood sugar and give you more energy for the rest of the day. You could have a better mood and feel lighter and better. 

However, dopamine won’t recognise long term effects as much. Dopamine tends to be stronger with the activities that give you instant gratification. 

Similarly, scrolling through social media and reading a book will both trigger feel-good chemicals in the brain. However, dopamine will recognize scrolling through social media as the stronger and more desirable activity since it’s instantly gratifying instead of longer pay-off. 

That’s why the dopamine released when we hear a notification ping is so strong, it almost forces us to reach over and check our phone, no matter what we were doing. 

In fact, even when the stimulus is disappointing, we still want to do it again and again. Haven’t you ever craved junk food so bad that you ate it and then realised it wasn’t as tasty as you thought it would be? Or spent half an hour scrolling through Instagram thinking that you don’t know why you wanted to do it so bad?

That’s dysfunctional dopamine making you want things that you don’t actually want so bad!

Since it’s the driving force behind cravings and wants, we end up chasing the burst of dopamine—just one more slice of pizza, one more episode, one more page to scroll through. 

Also read Dopamine and Friends: The Happy Chemicals in our Brain

Dopamine Dependence

If you feel like your urge to check your phone constantly is so strong that it’s almost become involuntary, you might have a dopamine dependence. A good way to tell when you’re in this situation is when it feels like you’ve lost a lot of control and are mildly addicted to everything. 

Instead of one addiction, you feel like you can’t resist daily temptations. Whether that’s social media, junk food, shopping, drugs/alcohol or any other kind of instantly gratifying activity, you feel like you almost compulsively indulge in them without being able to really make a decision. 

Apart from this, you feel it’s increasingly challenging to stay focused on low dopamine-producing activities. Exercising, Reading a book, and working on your side projects are all things you want to do but keep procrastinating. You lack the motivation to actually do them, even though you want to. 

Dopamine can seriously interfere with motivation. Instead of reprimanding yourself and going into a spiral of self-loathing for not having enough self-control, try to understand your brain so you can regain control over your decisions. 

How to do a Dopamine Detox

1. Make a list of all the activities and destructive behaviors that you want to avoid. This is personal to you and completely depends on your lifestyle. Dr Sepah mentioned these six compulsive behaviors: emotional eating, excessive internet usage and gaming, gambling and shopping, porn and masturbation, thrill and novelty-seeking, and recreational drugs. However, any other destructive behaviours are also linked to dopamine. 
2. Create a list of Can Do and Cannot Do

There is a lot of ambiguity over what can be done and what cannot on the dopamine fast. That’s why it’s best to stick with what Dr Sepah mentioned. He said that there is no way to completely eliminate all dopamine-producing activities. There’s no reason to isolate yourself from human interaction, in fact, it’s encouraged! The idea is to reinforce the brain with wholesome activities. 

Spend a quiet day with yourself full of introspection, meditation and sitting with your feelings. If you feel uncomfortable and craving a particular activity, write it down (in a notebook) and articulate this feeling. What exactly is this discomfort? More importantly, what exactly is this desire? Do you really want the (said activity) or do you just want to feel good?

It’s suggested that you keep away from:

• Eating
• All technology
• Listening to music

Most other entertainment forms like gaming, but reading a book is acceptable for a short amount of time.

3. Keep a fast for 24 hours.

Most dopamine detoxes involve a fast from food just so that you can have a quiet day without stimulation. But if this would interfere with your health or you’re keeping a detox for longer than 24 hours, make sure you plan some simple and healthy meals with nourishment, not taste as the focus.

4. Be Prepared

Have all your things prepared the night before. This is your notebook to write your thoughts in and to refer the rules you made about what you can do and cannot do. 

Make sure you inform your friends and family that you’ll be undertaking this detox. This will make sure you’re not disturbed and also create a sense of accountability. It should, of course, be an off day from work as well.

Expect to experience extreme boredom and discomfort. The goal is to experience these emotions and understand our cravings and our actual needs. 

You should also take this day to reflect on what you wish you did more of, but never seem to find time for. That can be painting, art, reading more books, cooking, etc. 

5. Hide your distractions

It might be helpful to hide your devices away. It will likely be challenging enough without your phone within arm’s reach, mocking you. I drained my phone of battery when I did this detox, mostly because by the time I felt tempted to go and charge it so I could use it; I would realise what I’m doing and keep it away. 

If it’s emotional eating you’re doing this detox for, make sure you haven’t kept your favourite foods and snacks in your fridge! Having bland and healthy food around can ensure that you only eat when you’re really hungry, instead of just bored. 

6. Afterthought

Once the detox is done, don’t jump back into your regular life and abuse all the things that you missed so much! Take some more time just to reflect what the experience was for you. 

Especially try to focus on what you think you learnt, and whether you feel like you’ve regained a sense of control. 

Most people feel a strong sense of pride in themselves once they’re done with the detox. They didn’t expect to be able to take such a big break from their destructive habits. Taking the break makes you realise how easy it might be to do this regularly. 

What the Dopamine Detox will NOT do

Contrary to popular belief, the dopamine detox doesn’t actually increase or decrease dopamine levels in the body. It will not make your life more enjoyable! Taking a break from using social media doesn’t mean that you will enjoy social media more afterwards. 

The reason for this is that Dopamine doesn’t actually affect the pleasure we experience. It only controls how much we want that pleasure.

You might find that social media is just as exciting or dull as it was before, and junk food just as tasty or gross. However, what has changed is the urge you feel to consume it is not as strong as before. 

Next time you hear the notification ping, you might get the shot of dopamine in your brain to reach out for it, but you’ll be able to take a moment and think about whether you want to act on it or not. 

You’ll also find it easier to indulge in lower dopamine-producing activities, like reading books or working. Dopamine detoxes are very effective in training the mind to do seemingly difficult tasks by reducing the need to indulge in the easy ones. 

With fewer urges to indulge in destructive habits, you’ll have more time and motivation to do the other things in your life that require your attention. This is a good time to refer to the list you made of all the activities you wish you had time for.