Dopamine Detox: The Best Way to Boost your Motivation
By: Gianmarco Ebeling
Tags: Motivation, Dopamine, Wellness, Wellbeing, Procrastination

How dopamine detox can change your life

Do you procrastinate all the time? Do you feel bored and unmotivated? Did you lose excitement to work on your projects?

If the answer is yes, then this is the article for you.

The dopamine detox, also known as dopamine fast, is a method of resetting the brain by eliminating dopamine production.

What benefits can you expect from this technique?

It can dramatically boost your motivation to go after your goals.

to go after your goals. It will reduce impulsive behavior and help you to be more conscious.

It will help you to finally stop procrastinating.

It can improve your interpersonal relationships.

It will make you appreciate the small things in life more.

What is dopamine?

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a motivation chemical.

It is able to shape our behaviors because it is released by the brain every time we feel gratification and satisfaction.

Trying to recreate those sensations that make us feel satisfied, dopamine sets in motion what is called the “reward circuit”, pushing us to repeat the behaviors that gave us pleasure and by that triggering a mechanism of addiction.

Sources of dopamine can be divided primarily into two types:

Natural , such as eating, drinking coffee, playing sports, having sex, and having social interactions.

, such as eating, drinking coffee, playing sports, having sex, and having social interactions. Artificial, such as sugars in junk food, social networks, and drugs.

The problem is that what once satisfied no longer does and more is needed. Dopamine is controlling our daily activities even though we might not even want it to.

How can we stop being ruled by dopamine?

That is where Dopamine Detox comes in.

Photo by Pablo Heimplatz on Unsplash

How to perform a dopamine detox

If you’ve never done a dopamine detox before, you may struggle. Don’t expect yourself to suddenly do it for an entire month, but try with 12–24 hours first. The final goal is to develop a lifestyle where you become aware of dopamine-overflow so that you can do a detox when needed.

To start your dopamine detox, the simple rule to follow is to cut out anything that is a dopamine activator for you.

Here some examples:

No TV

No computer (unless you absolutely need it for work)

No cell phone use (just for real necessities)

No junk food

No caffeine or stimulants of any kind

No music

No smoking

No shopping (except for essentials)

No sex or masturbation

Try to replace this time with slow-release enjoyable activities like yoga, long walks outdoors, and meditation.

Don’t do a dopamine detox, if you’re going to return to your bad habits the day after, but instead try to slowly decrease the number of activities that cause a dopamine overflow in your brain.

Conclusion

I encourage you to do more research on the dopamine detox, as there are different opinions about it, but you should definitely give it a shot. Also, think about the dopamine detox more as a lifestyle than as something that you should do every once in a while.

Let me know what you think about it in the comments and if you are eager to give it a try!