The dopamine fasting course I mention in the end of the video can be found right here.

Scandinavian Bob here, hi!

What Happens If You Dopamine Detox For A Month?

I’ve got a question from a subscriber asking me, what would happen if you did a dopamine detox for a month?

So let’s take a look at this, because some really interesting results can start taking place, but before we do I want to address some other comments I’ve seen in regards to dopamine fasting, not necessarily on my channel, but on YouTube in general. 

Doing a Dopamine Detox For A Month

Some people like to say things like, “dopamine fasting is probably very powerful, but it’s much better if you live so healthy that you don’t need a dopamine detox”

Well, it’s not like I don’t agree with that statement. That would be in a perfect world, yes. 

But to the majority of you out there, if you’re being honest with yourself, have there ever been moments in your life where you’ve been engaging in a bit more low value dopamine activities than you know are good for you?

Almost all of us steps over the dopamine line, from time to time...

Been honest here now...

Have you ever spent a bit more time on social media than you’d like?

Or maybe gone for a bit more candy or junk food junk that you planned?

Have you had periods where you’ve played a bit too much video games.

What about alcohol, or weed? 

Or, have you ever relapsed and broken your intentions when it comes to staying away from adult sites?

Well, if we are being honest here at least 99% of people sometimes step over the line, at least a bit, and then implementing a dopamine fasting protocol can be an amazing tool to help reset the dopamine system and mitigate that damage.

Would doing a dopamine detox be beneficial for a Tibetan monk?

Now, would I for example recommend dopamine fasting to a Tibetan Monk? 

Hell no!

Because those guys are living such a dopamine healthy life that they most certainly do not need it, but in all honesty, it does not really reflect the world we live in.

And doing a longer dopamine detox for a month, or something close to that, can be very interesting because if you have any addictions going on in your life, 4 weeks is often a long enough time for your dopamine receptors to grow back quite significantly.

And for you to start feeling much much better. 

Depending a bit on the addiction, obviously. 

Dopamine fasting for a month can be enough to help upregulate dopamine receptors if having an addiction...

In the book Dopamine Nation, written by the addiction expert Anna Lembke, she says, “Dopamine transmission is still below normal two weeks after quitting. One the other hand, four weeks is often sufficient”

Now, do you guys remember when I shared a graph from back when I was addicted to porn and I was coming off a relapse binge. 

It was a graph showing how I felt.

2 weeks after quitting an addiction dopamine levels are still very low...

It was this graph right here…and mind you, I made this graph many years before the book dopamine nation was ever written.

And, as you can clearly see, my graph mirrors what Anna said, two weeks after quitting my dopamine was clearly still below normal.

But after 4 weeks, things had already started to change for the better.

Dopamine detoxing for a month is often sufficient in order for you to see good results. A Study on alcoholics...

She then mentions an example where they did a study on depressed alcoholics.

The depressed alcoholic went into treatment for 4 weeks. Where they received no treatment for their depression other than stopping alcohol.

After one month 80% of them no longer met the criteria of being clinically depressed.

This could imply that it was the drinking that made their dopamine system numb and thus giving them depression instead of the other way around, i.e that it was depression that led them to drinking.

But it depends on many factors, of course...

Now, there are a few things to keep in mind here.

It depends on what type of drug or addiction we’re talking about here and on the individual as well.

Just a mild dopamine 'numbness' will reverse much quicker...

For example, if you’re just a bit numb from having been on a video gaming bender for a weekend, you can probably expect to see results much much faster. 

And, also, what if we were to not only remove the stimuli that made you numb, like for example the alcoholics did, but what if we also were to remove several low value dopamine sources.

Speed up the results by removing several dopamine sources...

In other words, to a real dopamine fast,  while we at the same time incorporate things that have been shown to help upregulate dopamine receptors?

And then on top of that made sure to do a good amount of physical exercise?

Well, then it would not be unreasonable to think that we could significantly shorten the recovery graph as well, and if you’re struggling with procrastination and lack of benefits on your journey, this is something I recommend you start exploring.

Dopamine fasting helped speed up my porn addiction recovery...

Because faster recovery has certainly been my own experience on the streaks I had later on in my reboot and this is why I also wanted to incorporate longer fasting protocols in my online course Dopamine Focused Fasting.

For example…

• The Explorer protocol is 7 days long
• The Beast is 28 days long 
• The Warrior protocol is 35 days long
• And the Master Protocol is 84 days long

So, if you were to go for any of these 3 here, oh man, it would almost be like steroids for your NoFap recovery.

Even some of the shorter protocols can be helpful. For example, this is what J Robinson said after trying the Apprentice protocol, which is only 48 hours long…

“Just finished the 'Apprentice' protocol and I am now ready to get started on the ‘Explorer’. The first level was a much needed reset. My mind feels much clearer and I feel a little sharper. We will see what results conquering this next level brings!” -J.Robinson-

If this is something that could be of interest to you, you can find a link to this Dopamine Fasting course right here.

And, oh hey guys, by being a dopamine focused warrior you’re truly walking an amazing journey.

Dopamine is the secret to life, it’s both mysterious and precious and just as long as we keep focusing on the right stuff we have wonderful things to come for sure.

So keep it locked in to this channel, keep leveling up in life and I’ll see you in the next one.  

Thanks for reading.

-Scandinavian Bob-

Related posts:

• Does NoFap mane you successful?
• How to reduce cravings for dopamine (instant gratification)
• What's the purpose of doing a dopamine deotx?
• I was on NoFap day 52-53 and then this happened
• How my dopamine detox increased attraction