What Is The Viral Dopamine Detox?

And should you try it?

I’ve been feeling a little overwhelmed of late.

Overstimulated, perhaps. Full and fizzy.

Now fizzy isn’t always bad, it can be great. And of course it’s unrealistic and deeply weird to expect to live a full, interactive life in this modern world and not feel overwhelmed sometimes. It’s a lot.

But, I’m aware I need some sort of break, and, while planning a social media blackout for August I came across The Dopamine Detox. (I am, clearly, very late to the party – the hashtag #dopaminedetox has over 100 million views on TikTok.)

Dopamine, as you probably already know, is the reward chemical in your brain that makes you feel SO FUCKING GOOD. A neurotransmitter, it plays an essential role in regulating pleasure, motivation and reward systems in the brain.

Every time we do something enjoyable (a good meal, a run, sex, play an instrument, experience a rewarding social interaction) we get a dopamine ‘hit’, whereby a little of the chemical is released in our brain. This tends to positively impact our wellbeing –both in the moment and more long term for our life and happiness levels in general.

Yet we also get hits from activities that provide instant gratification, such as gambling, gaming, social media, online shopping (including takeaways), and consuming alcohol, drugs, even sugar apparently. And these quick sources, though a brilliant pick-me-up in the moment, are more likely to lead to excessive dopamine release, which ultimately negatively impacts our overall wellbeing, happiness and focus. They also wire our brains to seek out instant gratification (i.e. a spur of the moment purchase) above more sustained (but effortful) forms of fulfilment (e.g. a long walk with a friend).

What is a dopamine detox?

A dopamine detox (also referred to as a ‘fast’) is not about cutting out dopamine altogether (it’s a very important chemical after all), but rather about reducing overstimulation by steering clear of the quick sources that spike dopamine levels.

The detox evidently invites you to take a good look at your relationship with technology (including podcasts, any apps and online news or newsletters, like substack!) but also to investigate the impulsive or mindless behaviours that we all turn to when bored or sad, and aim to reduce or eliminate those as well.

Ultimately, the goal is to break habits that are negatively impacting your dopamine levels and reset the brain's rewards system.

What are the benefits?

It’s purported to help you break free of the instant-gratification loop, which leads to improved self-control, a calmer mind, a clearer-head and less overwhelm.

With 90% fewer distractions in the form of technology, it’s likely you’ll find your productivity skyrocketing (or not, that’s also okay). And now that you’re no longer opening your phone to send a quick message and finding yourself 45 minutes later in an instagram black hole, you’ll probably have more free time, and may even be inspired to fill it with mindful, health-enhancing, slow-releasing activities (e.g. yoga, painting, reading, walks in nature).

Plus, without the continuous stimulation from dopamine-triggering activities, your focus and concentration are said to improve substantially.

Supposedly people sleep better, because they’re no longer glaring at a screen before bed (what a shock).

Finally, apparently it can lower cortisol (and therefore stress) levels overall.

Who should try one?

All of us, to some degree.

I would say, like anything, a personalised approach is important. Although there are general themes, we all rely on different things for quick fixes and all have different unhelpful habits that could do with being disturbed. For it to be effective for you, have a think about what your unhelpful habits are and decide what kind of fasting period you need to break them.

Some people like to do a full week cold turkey, others might go for longer but with more flexible parameters. It takes about 2-3 months, on average, to lay down the initial neural pathways for a new habit. If you want to wire your brain for healthier habits then think long term. One week will clearly help, but I think small, manageable changes are probably your best bet going forward.

Ultimately you want to take charge of your impulses, break the extent to which you rely on quick fixes for fulfilment and (as always!) create space to reassess your priorities to ensure your actions stack up with what you want from life and who you want to be.

I’m going to start with no phone for the first and last hour of everyday (I used to do this, but have slipped back) and then go in for the full social media detox come August. I’m going to use the ‘habit tracker’ in my journal to help me do this (you may like to do the same?) And I’m going to include Substack in my detox, so…

I hope you all have a beautiful, distraction free, slow-releasing dopamine summer.

I’ll be back in September.

L. x