Dopamine Detox | How You Can Reclaim Your True Nature

I've wasted 10 years of my life on cheap dopamine.

Video games, YouTube, pornography, social media, drugs - you name it.

If you’re a human being living in the 21st century - odds are that you’ve fallen into this trap as well.

Today I'm going to discuss why this is such a big problem and how you can overcome it.

We first need to understand what dopamine is and how it works.

Dopamine is a chemical released in the brain which makes you feel good. It is the chemical responsible for you to feel pleasure, motivation and satisfaction.

When you feel good after an achievement, it's because of a surge of dopamine.

Dopamine itself is not evil, but the problem arises when we have access to cheap and easy hits of dopamine.

Our brains weren’t designed to have a free dopamine vending machine in our pockets 24/7.

Lembke describes the dopamine pain-pleasure system like a seesaw trying to find balance.

What goes up, must come down.

After a spike in dopamine, you will experience a crash as your brain attempts to restore balance - making you less motivated and excited about life.

People in this low motivation state are prone to seek even more dopamine so they can feel normal again. This can lead to a negative spiral of:

Consuming cheap dopamine > crashCrave more dopamine > crash harderCrave more dopamine > crash harderCrave more dopamine > crash harder

This cycle of overconsumption fries your dopamine receptors - making it near impossible for you to find pleasure in anything.

When you're stuck in this negative cycle of binging, doing anything productive seems daunting.

Anna Lembke describes this state as anhedonia;

Now that we know how detrimental over-indulgence can be, what can we do about it?

Unfortunately, it's not as simple as telling yourself to tone down your consumption habits, and live happily ever after.

It's You vs Them

Companies today are spending billions of dollars to keep you hooked.

They have perfected that piece of hazelnut chocolate you put in your mouth. Everything from all the different chemicals to the size of each piece has been engineered to keep you fiending for more.

Those punchy colours and nifty design features in your favourite social media apps have been designed to steal your most valuable resource - your attention.

Social media companies don't care about connecting you with your friends.

They want your eyes glued to the screen so they can make as much money as possible.

How can you reclaim your true nature?

To break out of the destructive cycle of over-indulgence you need to take a quick, sharp and hard reset.

This is where the dopamine detox comes in.

People have differing guidelines on how to do a dopamine detox, my suggestion is the following:

For the next 7 days, follow these 6 pillars:

1. No drugs or alcohol

This one doesn’t need much explanation. We all know how bad drugs and alcohol can be for you.

They aren't doing you any favours. So cut them out.

2. No pornography

The rise of pornography is one of the worst things to come from the invention of the internet.

Scientists often compare pornography to crack-cocaine and heroin. It's a quick and easy way to flood your brain with dopamine and overload your receptors.

Imagine kids from the age of 12 having free access to crack-cocaine and heroin in their pockets. You can't tell me they'll grow up with healthy functioning brains.

This is a detrimental addiction that needs to be addressed.

3. 1 hour phone screen time each day

Having a dopamine vending machine in our pockets 24/7 is destroying our ability to focus.

The average person today has a phone screen time of over 3 hours.

By limiting this to an hour, you’ve now freed up over 2 hours to spend on achieving your goals.

4. No Netflix/YouTube

As you cut drugs, alcohol, pornography and mobile phone use, you will find yourself with a lot more spare time.

It will be tempting to fill this void by turning on the TV and consuming mindless garbage.

Instead, you can fill your time with productive activities.

Try exercising, meditation, reading, walking or even staring at a wall contemplating life.

5. 10 minutes of meditation each day

Even for non-spiritual people, meditation has been scientifically proven to give many benefits.

You will have increased focus, uplifted mood and a clearer mind.

If you’re unfamiliar with meditation techniques, check out free guided meditation apps Headspace or Calm.

6. Daily exercise

Any form of exercise is fine. This can be weightlifting, calisthenics, walking, swimming, yoga, bike riding etc.

The important thing is that you do some form of exercise each day.

This can be as little as a 5 minute walk.

Just. Be. Consistent.

Commit yourself to these completing these 7 days to the best of your ability.

All we need is 7 days, then you can return back to your old ways. But I can almost guarantee that if you commit yourself you will notice a difference.

After 7 days you will want to keep going with at least a few of those pillars.

You'll find yourself with more time, energy and motivation.

You’ll rediscover the ability to find joy in simple pleasures.

You’ll learn to appreciate the smaller things in life like going for a walk or reading a book.

Try it out and let me know how you went. I'd love to hear about your dopamine detox experience.

— Ivan