Should You Do a Dopamine Fast?

A little sacrifice now for a big reward later.

A dopamine fast isn't a fast at all, and you wouldn't want such a thing. You can't cut off the use of dopamine anymore than you can cut off your use of air. The body doesn't work without it. What you want to do is significantly reduce dopamine stimulation to reduce--and therefore reset--how much stimulation it takes to feel something.

If you're curious to try a dopamine reset, read on.

For a few hours or a few days, pursue several of these:

• eliminate social media

• avoid pornography, online and otherwise

• avoid news, especially opinion pieces

• stay focused on a single task for a prolonged period; do not multitask

• while working, turn off music

• focus texting and phone calls on their purpose instead of talking about emotion-related matters, fishing for compliments, or offering invitations to further discussion

What these things have in common is that they push us away from anticipation. Social media sets us up to anticipate response, porn pushes us toward searching and novelty, news and opinion puts us in an adversarial and "make it better" or "do things my way" mindset, and so on. Add things to this list by thinking of what makes you look ahead instead of engaging with what's happening now.

In the next post, I'll share some ways to make your effort easier.