Are you curious about dopamine fasting and its effects on addiction? 

• Can dopamine fasting help you overcome addictions?
• Can dopamine fasting  help you stop relapsing 
• And can dopamine fasting even help speed up recovery after an addiction?

These are all things you will learn in today's video, so make sure to stay with me until  the end here.

Dopamine Fasting And its Effects On Addiction

Scandinavian Bob here, hi!

I’m going to show you something interesting about dopamine. 

Remember the Richard Solomon’s Opponent process graph? 

This one here…

And how if you for example go out and get really drunk one night, you sail high up here on the pleasure curve, but then there’s a counter process after that - making you feel really bad with very low dopamine the following day

Which probably most of you have experienced at some point, right?

Well, did you know that there are several versions of that graph and that this takes place on a micro level as well? 

Yes, on a minute to minute basis.

Say you drink a milkshake and eat a donut during your break today. 

A lot of sugar and fat combined which is going to spike your dopamine.

How a mini dopamine deficiency state causes cravings...

Well, actually, as soon as you see that donat and start anticipating it the dopamine starts rising a bit and then it rises a bit bore during the minute you're eating it.

But here comes the important part…

As soon as you are done there’s a mini counter reaction. You go into a mini temporary dopamine deficient state where you go under your baseline for a few minutes. 

And listen up now, it is actually when you’re down here when you are craving a second donate the most OR even more importantly, or you start craving anything that will give you instant dopamine.

Knowing that the dopamine drop can be problematic is valuable info...

Now, this is very important to understand for you if you have any addictions, but even if you don’t it’s super valuable info.

Because by knowing this you can take advantage of that knowledge if you at some point want to structure your day in a way that you are least likely to doing stupid stuff that you’re trying to avoid.  

Like...

• Fapping to adult sites
• Going for alcohol
• Weed
• Junk food
• Or whatever you at that point are trying to avoid

Is it high or low dopamine that causes a desire for more?

Now, over the years you may have heard experts saying something like, when your dopamine is high you go for more. But then you heard somewhere else that when your dopamine is low it’s then you crave more dopamine. 

So, which one is it?

Well, it’s actually both.  

Whenever you deviate form your baseline.

When you want the feel good feelings to continue...

Let’s say you drink a bottle of beer tonight and you instantly feel the effects of alcohol, and so you get a small spike here.

Well many people are going to feel a desire to keep that good feeling going. And that’s why they have a hard time stopping at just one. 

However for most people it is more common to relapse or to go for some low value dopamine when you’re on this side of your baseline here, because it is here that you feel a void. 

When you want to get out of that low feeling...

You feel that “meeeh, feeling” and that things are not really good the way they are right now and that you are lacking something. That darker kind of craving.  

This is that void I’ve been talking about in some of my older videos.

And this one is even nastier I believe. 

Because this one gives you those powerful cravings to go for some instant dopamine, in whatever form, and if you’re addicted to something you often have some kind of emotional triggers right then as well.

An addicted brain is most likely going to go for its addiction as the quickest dopamine source...

And, of course, if you are addicted to something then the closest thing to instant dopamine your brain knows is your very addiction. So relapse risks are high.

And by the way, this void I’m talking about here is on a shorter time frame, but if you’re trying to quit porn, or any addiction, you are probably familiar with the big void that often happens during the second and third week - where you’re really feeling down almost all the time. 

The longer void and the low dopamine...

This is because you’re really down here on that bigger graph, you know that longer time frame, and so you have painfully low dopamine levels for several days in a row. 

But back to the micro level; so, on this side of baseline it’s more like a happy craving to keep it going, but on this side it's more like that longing, that void craving. 

And again, for most people this one is much harder to deal with when it comes to making them relapse.

Dopamine fasting can help you overcome addictions...

Now, what about dopamine fasting and its effects on addictions? 

Did you know that dopamine fasting can actually help you overcome an addiction?

And so, why is this? 

Well, you’ve probably heard about how low glycemic index foods may help you lose weight because they cause less spikes and crashes in your blood sugar levels - and thus you don’t get as many hunger cravings. 

Less dopamine crashes means less risk or relapse...

Well, same thing here, if you dopamine fast you get less of those mini dopamine deficient crashes, and thus you get less of those void cravings. 

And obviously that is going to make you less likely to relapse as well.

Now, remember here, all dopamine raising activities are a problem, for example going for a run in the forest raises dopamine, but that’s only healthy and it’s not going to create any kind of crash after you’re done.

Not all dopamine releasing stuff is going to be a problem - far from it...

It's just slowly goes back to baseline and it doesn't dipp below. It’s a high value dopamine activity. And with those you never get any mini deficient states.

In fact, you can actually use those to quickly get yourself out of a mini deficit state. 

On the other hand, if you try to go for more donuts, porn, or alcohol to get yourself out of a hole, well then you’re only digging that hole deeper, by creating another deeper crash after that.

So, dopamine fasting can help with addiction by eliminating a lot of those small dopamine holes.

Dopamine fasting can help with addictions by upregulating your dopamine receptors...

But the second way dopamine fasting can help with addictions is even more powerful in my opinion. 

Dopamine fasting can help to overcome addictions because dopamine fasting can help to upregulating your dopamine receptors. 

And when that happens your perception of dopamine changes.

Now, you will still have fluctuations in dopamine, of course, but when you go down here, it doesn't feel as bad.

And thus it reduces the strongest cravings...

You no longer feel that strong void or that you lack something in life.

You know, if you’re familiar with Gary Wilsons site, your brain on porn you have maybe listened to his radio shows over there as well.

And in one of those shows Gary interviews a brilliant man named Todd Becker. 

And he talks a lot about the positive effects of upregulating your dopamine receptors. And here on YouTube he has some lectures as well where he says that would be one of the biggest things he would focus on if he was to try to overcome an addiction.

Too little dopamine relentlessly longing for something to lift you up...

Because with low dopamine receptor density you're almost relentlessly craving something to make your life feel brighter and normal day to day activities just can not seem to deliver enough for you.

So, I do recommend you check that guy out. 

And the third way dopamine fasting and its effects on addition is interesting is related to what I just told you.

Dopamine fasting can help speed up brain recover after addiction...

If you proactively do things to upregualte your dopamine receptors, then you obviously also help to speed up your brain recovery after having had an addiction. 

Since the addiction knocks out your dopamine receptors and makes your reward system numb, then obviously speeding up the reversal of that is the same thing as speeding up your brain recovery after addiction.

So, dopamine fasting can help brain recovery after addiction. At least when it comes to one of the brain changes.

And also, if you want to find out  the state of your dopamine system I have made a free dopamine quiz you can take by using the link under the video (See bottom of the page)

It’s obviously meant to be a bit playful, but I really put some serious work into it, so go check it out. 

And if you really want to take your dopamine system to the next level, then make sure to check out my new online course Dopamine Focused Fasting.

This is Scandinavian Bob signing out for today. 

Thanks for reading!

Related posts:

• How to know if you have low dopamine levels caused by porn addiction?
• Can dopamine fasting help you overcome a porn addiction? (my experience)
• When to do a dopamine fast?
• Can dopamine fasting speed up NoFap recovery
• How to do a dopamine fast (what to do)
• NoFap streaks getting shorter (why?)
• How long does dopamine fasting take?