Dopamine Fasting
Dopamine fasting sounds like it belongs to the category of “popular healthy diets” such as the Atkins diet, the Zone diet, the paleo diet, and the raw food diet. However, dopamine fasting doesn’t just involve giving up food- it involves taking a break from social media, shopping, video games and any other pleasurable activities we regularly indulge in.
So what exactly is dopamine fasting? The basic idea is to temporarily abstain from the usual stimulations of life such as social media, video games, mouthwatering foods, and Netflix in order to reset “our dopamine levels.” This trend was popularized by Dr. Cameron Sepah, who states how “taking a break from behaviors that trigger strong amounts of dopamine release allows our brain to recover and restore itself.” Dr. Sepah primarily focuses on six compulsive behaviors -- with some examples being emotional eating, excessive internet usage, and shopping. In this case, dopamine fasting may allow us to become less dominated by unhealthy stimuli that are mentioned above. Instead of automatically responding to reward-cues like a text message or a notification button, we should allow our brains to take breaks to reset from “this potentially addictive bombardment” (Grinspoon). Thus, dopamine fasting’s main intent is to reset our brain’s reward system; by freeing ourselves from our usual stimulations, we will not only regain control of our lives but also be better able to address compulsive behaviors that these activities may cause.
Dopamine functions as a neurotransmitter and is heavily involved in the motivational component of reward-motivated behavior. The brain’s reward system can learn certain cues in the environment we associate with potential rewards over time (Mccabe). For example, being in a bakery while thinking about cookies may raise our dopamine levels. However, there are many misconceptions about dopamine fasting even within its own name. Despite the fact that dopamine does rise in response to rewards and positive stimulations, it doesn’t actually decrease when you avoid partaking in these activities. Thus, the dopamine fast does not actually lower our dopamine levels and you can’t “fast” from a neurotransmitter. However, too little dopamine can result in disorders like Parkinson’s Disease, which include symptoms of muscle rigidity, stiffness, and difficulty of balance and coordination; hence, too little dopamine may also not be a good thing. In addition to this, some people have misinterpreted dopamine as if it was like heroin or cocaine. These people are fasting in order to give themselves a “tolerance break” so the pleasure of whatever they are depriving themselves of (food, social media, or video games) “will be more intense or vivid when consumed again” (Grinspoon). Unfortunately, dopamine does not function that way.
However, fasting in a minimally disruptive way can be a great technique to reduce stress and possibly engage in other more simplistic activities. The original intent behind dopamine fasting was to allow us to disconnect from our technologically driven world and allow us to reconnect with ourselves and others. However, radical extremes such as not eating any food or not listening to any music, can not only stress oneself even more but can also disturb their lifestyles and the environment around them. As a whole, however, taking a timeout for mental health is a great way to reconnect ourselves, but completely cutting ourselves out from all pleasurable experiences in our life is not. While dopamine fasting may not be the total solution to solve our smartphone addiction, it is still important to practice mindfulness and resist temptation sometimes. So instead of instinctively reaching for our phones when we hear that bell notification, we should pause and think about it -- and maybe even go out for a simple walk instead.
References:
https://www.livescience.com/is-there-science-behind-dopamine-fasting-trend.html
