Note: you can find links to what I mention in the end of the video further down in the post

Are you wondering how you can fine tune your dopamine system by avoiding certain things in your day to day life? 

Curious about social media and your dopamine receptors?

Well this article if about how you can easily fine tune your dopamine system by navigating through your days in a bit more dopamine healthy way.

Let's get to it...

Social Media & Your Dopamine Receptors (7 Ways To Fine Tune Dopamine)

Scandinavian Bob here, hi!

Let’s take a look at how to prevent messing up your dopamine system and also how to increase your dopamine levels by doing natural dopamine healthy activities…

#1 Avoid looking at lights between 10pm and 4am

Yes, there are actually reliable studies out there showing how viewing lights in any wavelength in the middle of the night will reduce your dopamine production for several days. So do your best to dim the lights at night.

Now, don’t freak out if you have to go to the bathroom and you have to turn on the lights at night, that’s not going to do much, but let’s say you lie in bed and you watch a whole movie on your tablet at 12.30 in the middle of the night, well then you should know that your 

 dopamine production will suffer a few days after that.

#2 Avoid excessive social media. 

Yes, if you constantly, all day long go on Facebook, Twitter and similar platforms, checking your likes, checking notifications and chasing everything that pops up in your feed, you are definitely shooting yourself in the foot in terms of your dopamine and your dopamine receptors.

Put a 2 hour daily limit on your social media use...

I personally try to keep my social media use to under 2 hours a day precisely because of this and.

Again, don’t freak out here if you do more than that because it’s not like there’s a magical line that, once I pass 2 hours I’m desensitizing myself.

No, it’s not an on-off thing. It’s more of a spectrum and, to be honest, I would guess that 99% of people in today's world are at least a bit desensitized at times.

Dopamine receptors constantly adjust...

In fact, that’s the nature of dopamine receptors, they constantly turn down and turn up, like a thermostat.

And let’s say we only get to about a 94% healthy dopamine system, well, maybe that’s still good enough.

Because again, in today’s world, it is indeed hard for all of us to be 100% dopamine healthy.

Constantly spending time on social media will affect your dopamine receptors...

However, if you want to do your best to be as kind to your dopamine system as possible, then know that constantly spending time on social media will definitely decrease your dopamine function and downregulate your dopamine receptors. 

By the way, I think most of my subscribers already know that having low dopamine function is also going to give you less energy, low motivation and enjoyment out of life, but did you know that low dopamine also makes you less able to focus and concentrate?

Low dopamine increase risk of relapsing to addictions...

Yes, and not only that, low dopamine also increases your risk of relapsing to addiction, or bad habits in general. 

Related article: Dopamine fasting and its effects on addictions

Here’s an interesting way of looking at it...

Imaging a big symphony orchestra...

Well, if you have low dopamine it’s like some of the instruments are sometimes playing the wrong notes, and some of them are playing when they’re supposed to have pause. 

When this happens we experience it as cravings or distractions, making us lose focus on the important things and it can really take us off our game.

By using too much social media it is like you are training your brain to lose focus...

In fact, according to the neurobiologist Andrew Huberman, many people are giving themselves ADHD-like brain changes by constantly using their smartphone and jumping from one thing to another, only staying a few seconds on each thing.

Yes, by doing that we are literally training our brains to lose focus.

And by the way, Andrew Huberman also pointed out that at least trying to have a 2 hour a day limit on your social media use would be a good idea, precisely because of that and to help protect your dopamine system.

#3 Physical exercise and your dopamine...

Physical exercise is one of the absolute best ways to give your brain a healthy dopamine increase because it doesn’t down-regulate your dopamine receptors.

In fact, exercise has actually been shown to help up-regulate your receptors.

That’s like a double win, because that means it will help your dopamine both short term, but even more so long term.

#4 Cold exposure and your dopamine system...

Yes, taking an ice bath, or swimming in a cold lake or taking a cold shower are also incredible ways for instantly raising your dopamine levels, and here too, just like with the exercise, it will help up-regulate your dopamine receptors and finetune your dopamine system.

It’s actually quite amazing how powerful cold showers can be, and yes, I personally start every morning by first doing some cardio, followed by a shower where I turn the knob all the way to the coldest setting at the end of my shower.

#5 Making a to-do list

Making a to-do list with a few items you get to tick off over the course of your day is a great way to increase your dopamine

Every time you achieve one of these micro goals it raises your dopamine, in a healthy way, and that will feed your motivation and drive to go for your next micro goal.

I always end my days by writing the following day’s micro goals, well actually I call it my 'intentions'.

And then the next day I make a game out of attacking and achieving my intentions.

Try it!

Once you get it going it can make you much more driven, and of course that’ll help you achieve things faster as well.

#6 Intermittent fasting and your dopamine receptors...

Yes, intermittent fasting is another interesting way of hacking your dopamine system because it helps make you more sensitive to dopamine. I.e. up-regulate your dopamine receptors.

And so now some of you say, "Ok, but what the hell does that mean?"

Well it means that your perception of dopamine is heightened. In other words you need less stimulation to get the same effects.

This makes it easier to work on things that you normally feel aren't very exciting.

It’s kind of the opposite of watching adult sites, then eating a huge plate of junk food after you’re done - followed by a social media binge of 2 hours.

Yeah, good luck trying to work on your goals after that.

The next one is actually a supplement that increases both your testosterone and your dopamine levels.

#7 AlphaViril...

Now, I have made a post where I talk about this in detail (My AlphaViril review), but before you watch it, I have to let you know that this supplement is indeed very potent.

So, I highly recommend that you either use it in cycles or just on special occasions where you need to really be on top of your game.

This is what I personally do, just to make sure it doesn't mess with my own natural production. 

Ok, so if you understand that and you’re interested in discovering more then take a look at this post right here ==> AlphaViril review, my experience, as over there I talk more about just exactly why it’s so effective, how it works, my results from using it and where to get it you’re interested in giving it a try.

So just click that right now, and I’ll see you over there.

Thanks for reading!

-Scandinavian Bob

Related posts:

• Social media addiction (motivation)
• Dopamine and social media clicking (porn is the worst)
• What online activities are bad for your dopamine system
• This happens to your brain when watching too much porn (desensitization)
• NoFap and dopamine stimulation (how much is too much?)
• How much technology can your brain handle?
• Messed up dopamine from social media and porn? (fix it like this)