Dopamine Detox

All right, next, we're going to talk about our neurotransmitters and particularly two neurotransmitters that we're going to talk about today. And the first one is dopamine. And the article is, what is a dopamine detox and does it work? And again, this is from Christine Ruggieri. And we're going to talk a little bit about, can you do this? And how would you go about doing a dopamine detox? Okay. So dopamine is only one element of a complex reward system in your brain. Now you can't actually, you can't actually reduce dopamine levels technically. Okay. You can't, this doesn't work that way. Now, when you look at dopamine, dopamine is a neurotransmitter. It's a chemical messenger and it's basically what they call the feel good hormone. So therefore dopamine detox would be about intentionally choosing to do mindful and natural activities versus doing other things that are more stimulating and that are really not mindful. Again, we, we look at the, you know, we look at the example of social media, for example, again, we're seeing a lot of people now doing a dopamine detox from social media. And why is that? Because we're realizing that social media, there's such an overstimulation of social media that people cannot even stop scrolling, right? People are addicted to their phones. They're addicted to the, um, the algorithm. They're addicted to looking at cat videos and all this type of thing. And they're addicted to the hits that they get when they post something, right? The like button, the share button, when they get a new subscriber, those are all small dopamine hits. We know that. We know that because that's exactly what they, what these social media companies prey on. That's what they spend millions of dollars to do is to keep people on these platforms so they can get these hits so they can come back and keep doing it. It's an interesting thing, right? So a dopamine detox, a dopamine fast, a digital detox. This is all you're hearing is basically a practice aimed at reducing the overstimulation of the brain's reward system, particularly the release of dopamine. Okay. The concept of a dopamine detox was created by California psychiatrist, Cameron SEPA, and it gained popularity through online discussions and self-help videos, but its mechanism is largely misunderstood by the public because they think about it as a detox. I cannot do it. I have to put it away and go through withdrawal and it's not necessarily like that. Okay. So what are the things that we could maybe detox from? The big ones are social media use again, texting, video games, television, watching, eating or drinking, right? Food is a big one, right? People get dopamine hits from eating food. I've worked with many people who are addicted to food. It's a tough thing. It's a tough nut to crack. Gambling addiction, shopping, thrill seeking, all these types of things give you dopamine hits, can give you dopamine hits. Okay. And proponents of the dopamine detox believe that it can help to reset the brain's reward circuitry. Uh, so we don't automatically respond to large, unhealthy reward inducing cues in order to experience a short lived boost again, hitting that like button, right? So here's some of the key roles of dopamine in the body. Number one, it's reward and pleasure. Dopamine is heavily involved in the brain's reward system, which reinforces behavior by providing feelings of pleasure and motivation. Okay. And it's released when we engage in pleasurable activities again, like eating, socializing, those types of things. Next movement and motor control. Dopamine plays a critical role in coordinating smooth movements and motor control. A dopamine deficiency in certain areas of the brain can lead to motor, uh, symptoms associated with conditions like Parkinson's disease. Next mood regulation. Dopamine is involved in regulating mood and emotions. It helps to modulate feelings of pleasure, motivation, and reward, which are essential for experiencing positive emotions and motivation. Imbalances in dopamine levels have been linked to mood disorders like depression, bipolar disorder, and the like. Next cognitive function. Dopamine is essential for various cognitive processes, okay? Including memory, attention, learning, and decision-making. It helps maintaining focus, enhancing work memory, and facilitating the transfer of information between different brain regions. And hormone regulation. Dopamine acts as a hormone that regulates the release of other hormones, okay? Such as prolactin. In the hypothalamus, dopamine inhibits the secretion of prolactin, which is involved in the lactation process, right? And the reproductive functions. Okay. So those are the main roles that dopamine plays in your brain. Now, again, we're looking at it, if we look at it through the social media lens, right? Because you have to remember, you know, and I'm picking on social media because that's the big one today. You know, remember what social media used to be. Social media prior to, let's say 2010, right? Prior to that was actually social. People had groups, right? You had a group, let's say a fishing group, you had a group that, a cooking group, or maybe you just got online because your family was part of your group and you were exchanging messages, you were exchanging pictures from across the United States. That's really why I got on Facebook, because I had family across the United States that I wanted to share pictures with. I was never a big social media guy. And that's what initially, you know, things like Facebook and these types of things, that's what they initially were. You, it was, it was a very basic system for you to share ideas, get into a group, share with your friends and family, and kind of keep connected. It was social. But then what happened? They realized they can keep people on this when you start to introduce the like button, the share button, right? When you start to introduce these, the comments, all these types of things. And you realize now when I post something and somebody likes it, Ooh, I get a dopamine hit. It feels good. So maybe if I post more, more people will like it. And then it becomes this cycle. Now you get addicted to posting and liking and liking. And then if nobody likes what you post, it actually, there's an anxiety. A lot of people have told me that there is an anxiety that is presented when somebody doesn't like what they post. And if you look at the work of, um, if you look at the work of Cal Newport, he's got, he wrote a book called digital minimalism. Very, very interesting. And I suggest you guys take a look at that because he has some great ideas. Now, this is a guy who's never been on social media at all. And he talks about the social media detox. He talks about the digital detox, but again, he approaches it in a very practical way, not a detox in just going cold Turkey, because that can be more problematic, right? Again, we look at it with food. We look at it with all types of addictions. You don't want to go cold Turkey necessarily. You want to do it in a kind of a more responsible way. So it's very interesting to check him out because he's got a lot of great information, but how would you do a dopamine detox? So they have some ideas here. We'll run through them. Number one, identify stimulating activities. So make a list of activities that provide instant gratification or excessive stimulation, such as social media use, video gaming, watching television, eating junk food, all the things. So make a list of the things. It could be one thing that you really want to change, or it could be a few things that you may have this addiction to. So the first thing is you have to identify that. That's the main thing. Number two, set a detox goal, decide what activities you want to abstain from during your detox and determine the appropriate duration. You may choose to avoid an activity for a few hours per day for one month of, uh, you know, a bunch of days at a time, depending on your goals. Okay. But whatever you decide, write down your goals and the duration before you get started. So this way it gives you a clear path. You have clear goals. You have a clear path. You know what you're doing and write it down because it's way more powerful when you write it down. Number three, decide on alternative activities, plan your dopamine detox day by outlining alternative activities that are less stimulating and more mindful. Consider activities like reading, journaling, meditating, engaging in physical exercise, going to the gym. That's a good one, right? Spending time in nature, pursuing hobbies, hobbies. That's a big thing. This is what we used to do before we, we had computers and social media and all this type stuff, right? Number four, minimize screen time. Okay. Reduce your exposure to screens during the detox period. This includes smartphones, computers, uh, tablets, television. If you use these devices for work, limit additional screen time and choose a more mindful activity instead. One of the things I do is I, I put, uh, and again, Cal Newport talks about this. I, he, he used the phone for your method. I put the phone in the other room. He calls it the foyer, but you could put in whatever room you like. Just have it there. Don't have it on you. And when you need to send a text or when you need to make a phone call, you physically go to the phone, you pick it up and you actually make the phone call, send the text, do whatever you need to do. Okay. Maybe get the answer, whatever. Then you put it back down and you go back to whatever it is you were doing. So that's a great way to start kind of pushing away from the, um, the hyper stimulation of the phone itself and or whatever it is. You know, another way to do it is take social media off your phone entirely. That's what I did. I have no social media on my phone. Any social media I do is on my computer. Now, again, we do, I do post for this show. We do post on social media, but I do what I call post and ghost. I get it. It's all posted and then I'm gone. Okay. I'm not sitting there scrolling, reading through whatever is there mindful because I'm, I'm, I'm losing. I'm already, I'm already starting to get distracted. I'm not doing that. And I found that that was happening to me by the way, when I had social media on my phone, I found that I started getting distracted. I found myself endlessly scrolling on things and I was like, okay, wait a minute. This is a problem because it started to take away from activities that I was doing. So, you know, again, seeing this in social media, that's the big one today. But again, it could be anything. Number five, practice mindfulness, be mindful of your thoughts, your emotions, your cravings during the detox, acknowledge any urges or discomforts that may arise and observe them without giving them without giving into them, you know, do deep breathing exercises, meditation, something to help you stay focused. Number six, engage in physical activity. Physical exercise boosts endorphins and provide a natural sense of pleasure. Incorporate activities like walking, jogging, yoga. Yoga is huge. I was addicted to yoga. Let me tell you, because the, the endorphins you would get, the feel good you would get from yoga is, was outstanding. It was better than any drug to me, but any, whatever form of exercise or whatever you can do that would give you that stimulation, do that. Because number one, it's going to make you healthier, obviously, but number two, it's going to kind of start to take the place of whatever it is that you're trying to take the place off. It's that simple. Number seven, seek meaningful connections, connect with others in meaningful ways by spending actual quality time with them, actually spending time, having dinner with them, face-to-face conversations, or in a group sitting in your living room and just chatting instead of all of you looking at your phone at the same time. And number eight, reflect and journal. Take time to reflect on your detox experience. How long did you do it? How did it last? How did it feel? Okay. Journaling can help you. It helped gain, you'll gain insight. You can track your progress, right? That's a big one. Okay. And express your thoughts and emotions. And then you can realize, can I really do this? Maybe you do it for a short amount of time, and then maybe you expand it and do it a little bit longer and a little bit longer, little by little. And again, this could be with anything. So just some quick tips on, on that, that may work for you. Now, does this work? There's been many, there's been research that says that even small distractions can derail focus and productivity. Okay. So you have to increase your focus and productivity by reducing, you know, by reducing exposure to stimulating activities, you may experience improved focus and concentrations. That's one of the things I started to realize that I was getting more focused and concentrated on, especially doing this show and the research for this show. Cause I, I do two shows. I do this show. And then I do a show for artists on Tuesday nights called the artist blueprint. I have to do research for both shows. I found that my focus and my concentration was better when I started de-stimulating myself and really started to focus on the quality of what I'm doing. And really I started to gain ideas. I started to get creative ideas. And those of you who are musicians, musicians, I think you will find that your creativity heightens. If you start, if you stop getting overstimulated by different types of things. So, you know, there is research that says that it does work well, but again, you have to be about it. You have to replace it and do it little by little. Okay. But it can be done. People do it all the time. And again, we're seeing it again in this movement on YouTube by, you know, by social media influencers and these types of things. But again, it could be food. It could be whatever it is that you're addicted to. You know, you little by little try to, you know, de-stimulate yourself. You will be surprised at the focus and clarity that you gain if you start to engage in this type of practice. I know I did, but you have to be intentional about it. That's the key, intentional, because when you're addicted to something, right, whether it's gambling or food or social media, whatever it is, you have the sense that you're not in control because you're being overstimulated, right? And again, you're addicted to the dopamine response, but maybe we could start to take some control over it. And this again, what I, you know, where, where I go back to the social media piece of it, be intentional about using social media. If you need to be on it, use it for what you need and then walk away. Post and ghost, right? If you use it for your business, use it and then walk away. But what you, what you want to get away from is the constant scrolling or whatever it is. So good article, just some things to think about in terms of dopamine. And hopefully you can use this to replace, you know, or use, you know, any of these suggestions to replace, to replace it and help you out. And I think, you know, obviously diligence has to be part of this whole thing, right? There has to be some discipline. It's not easy. It's definitely not easy, but it's definitely doable if you really want to take control. And that's part of the responsibility on the mental side is taking control of your health mentally. And I think, you know, getting rid of the overstimulation is one of those things to do. So good information.