What To Do When Dopamine Fasting? (3 Part Series)

This blog post has two more videos embedded down in the article, so make sure to open up the whole post in order to not miss any parts. 

The theme of the series is...

• What to do when dopamine fasting
• How to do a dopamine fast
• How to stay sharp after the dopamine fast

What is a dopamine fast and should you do one?

Scandinavian Bob here hi,

What is a dopamine fast and should you do one? 

Well, this is what we are going to talk about today and in the later part I’m also going to share what the problems with a dopamine fast could be so stick around for that.

The main goal of a dopamine fast is to regain dopamine sensitivity...

The idea with a dopamine fast is to make you more sensitive to dopamine again.

You see, in today's world we have so many super stimulating things that we tend to become numb, and because of that we need more and more stimulation in order to be excited or get us going.

To make this easy to understand, let’s look at John. 

Enter: John...

John eats some really tasty junk food every single day with a lot of salt and sugar and a lot of seasoning.

He keeps eating this week after week and then one day, when he is visiting some friends out in the countryside, the family over there asks him to stay for dinner.

John gets to stay for dinner, but it's not good. John rates the food 2 out of 10...

And tonight they only have cooked potatoes, with some steamed broccoli, some leafy green vegetables and no sauce. 

Well, since John is used to all that super stimulating junk food, he doesn't like this food at all. It just doesn’t do anything for his taste buds - and in his mind he rates the food a 2 / 10

Enter: Steve...

30 minutes into the dinner there is a knock on the door and in comes a man who is all muddy and wet. His name is Steve.

It turns out he has been lost in the woods, wandering around for 5 days without food.

The family immediately invites him to join the dinner. So, Steve sits down, and even though the potatoes have become a bit cold by now, he eats the dinner and to him it tastes fantastic.

In his mind he rates the dinner a full 10 / 10 

Steve rates the same food a 10 out of 10...

It was the same food, but since Steve had been without ANY stimulation for his taste buds for the last 5 days for him it was amazing - and for John, who has been blasting his taste buds with all that junk food, for him it was awful.

Same food - different ratings. Enter the pleasure termostat, A.k.a your dopamine system...

You see,you have this pleasure thermostat in your head and the cool thing is that the thermostat is not static.

You can change the set point by doing certain activities...

...or avoiding certain things. 

Robin is a criminal who gets punished with isolation...

Robin is a prisoner who gets punished and thrown into a small isolation cell.

That’s awful because in that cell there is no phone, no TV, no books and no people to talk to - and there is absolutely nothing to do.

Oh man, imagine those hours, how long they must bee.

However, after about 4 months of no stimulation at all, a guard is able to smuggle a book into Robin's  cell...

Immense joy just from reading an old book...

And after all those hundreds of hours without anything to do, imagine the pleasure Robin gets just from now having an old book to read.

Now think of yourself, with your smartphone, playstation, your Netflix and video games....

....how often do you get immense joy from reading a physical book? 

Can you even read things like that or does it bore you out of your mind?

Do you even read books or do you even find them boring and perhaps….

...not stimulating enough?

This is the the whole point of doing a dopamine fast. To make you more sensitive to dopamine again.

And it’s not just about food and reading books. It's about all activities that release any kind of dopamine at all, like...

• Working on your goals
• Drinking water
• Listening to music
• Building something
• Reading
• Watching a movie
• Being intimate with your partner
• Writing
• Listening to music
• Dancing
• Etc. etc. etc.

Everything will become more fun if you are more sensitive to dopamine, but listen to this because this is important…

The pleasure thermostat is also about drive and motivation...

I called it a “pleasure” thermostat a minute ago - and that’s not really accurate, because it’s not just about joy or pleasure, but even more so about motivation and drive.

You see, dopamine is really the motivation chemical and by becoming more sensitive to dopamine you will also significantly increase your motivation and drive to work on different tasks. Even tasks that you previously found boring.

Check this out...

Changing the dopamine set point...

What happens on a biological level when the set point changes is that you either upregulate or downregulate your dopamine receptors.

If you look at the picture here (see video), those small dots are dopamine and dopamine can only do its job by binding to those small receptors. 

Now if you look on the scale here, here comes the interesting part.

Super stimulation downregulates dopamine receptors...

Whenever you do something super stimulating for a long time, your reward system responds by downregulating some of those receptors.

This means that you are now less sensitive to dopamine and this is why you need more and more stimulation to like what you are doing and get your juices flowing.

With less dopamine receptors, normal things can no longer deliver any enjoyment...

So reading a book, eating healthy foods or working on your project seems boring to you simply because with less receptors, you have a hard time feeling the effects of dopamine. 

Here comes the cool part though...

...if you were to reduce the stimulating activities for some time down to zero (don't even have to go down to zro), the reward system would respond by upregulating those receptors.  And you would become more sensitive to dopamine again.

Pain and effort can speed up the regrowth of new dopamine receptors...

But here comes something even more interesting, what if you were to go down even further towards the negative side, which is pain...(see video)...

... Well, then the dopamine receptors would upregulate even faster than with zero stimulation.

Now, a warning though, it should not just be any form of pain, but healthy painful activities like...

• Physical exercises - for example high intensity interval training
• Cold showers
• Socializing if you have social anxiety,
• Perhaps doing a presentation at your job...
• ...etc

...these things are all unpleasant in the moment, but they make your dopamine receptors upregulate even faster than with zero stimulation. (or low stimulation).

What to do when dopamine fasting in general...

So, the idea of a dopamine fast is to temporarily remove / reduce  stimulating things, and perhaps even incorporate a few of those painful things, in order to change your dopamine set point.

A better dopamine balance in life after a dopamine fast...

But understand that the dopamine fast should be only temporary and after the fast is done, it would be great to find a better balance in your day to day life. 

You see, it’s important to know that in everyday life this is a spectrum. 

Sometimes we perhaps get too much stimulation by playing video games and using adult sites for a few days, but perhaps we still do physical exercise. 

It's a spectrum...

And then maybe we also have a few hours here and there with no stimulation, so it’s not like one person is constantly up here and another person constantly down here (see video).

We keep moving up and down and so the receptors also turn on and off.

Both ends of the spectrum is bad if constantly spending time there...

And no one should be constantly without stimulation, that is absolutely not healthy either.

And on the other hand, no one should constantly be up here either as that would really fry your reward system.

However, in today’s super stimulating world, we spend a bit too much time up here, so it would be great if we could cut down a bit and spend most of our time around here (see video)...

...just visiting the more extreme parts every now and then.

Who should do a dopamine fast then? 

Should you do a dopamine fast, then?

Well, it is not something you have to do, but it can be a great thing to do to help reset your reward system.

Especially if you feel you have been using a lot of simulating technology or other super stimulating things for the last couple of months or so. 

Most dopamine fasts are too short to do any good...

Now, the problem is that most of the videos you can find on YouTube are just showing you how to do a dopamine fast for one day, and while that’s good and all, that is not really enough time to do any good. 

In my opinion, you would have to go a bit longer than that.

And another problem those YouTubers forget to mention is that ,if you go back to living exactly the way you used to, the effects won’t last that long - as your dopamine receptors will just downregulate again after a few days. 

How to do a dopamine fast the smart way...

This is why I have created a dopamine fast series in two parts.

Part one will show you how to do a proper dopamine, i.e. what do when dopamine fasting, and part two is going to show you how to make the results from that fast stick around - even after you go back to your normal life.

You can see part one one the screen right here...(see video below)

Scandinavian 

Welcome to part one in the series what to do when dopamine fasting.

This will be a step by step short guide on how to do a dopamine detox.

Make sure to watch part 2 as well (further down the page) to make sure how the positive effects stick around, after you've done your dopamine fast.

If some of you wonder what the point is with a dopamine fast, I’m not going to go into that here, as I already explained that in the intro video to this series (the video at the top of the page), so if you haven’t seen it go watch that right now and then come back here.

Alright let’s get started...

What to do when dopamine fasting...

This dopamine fast will be divided into three levels.

The further you go, the more intense it will become and the more you will have to endure boredom.

And the cool thing about this is that you can choose how far you want to take it.

You decide how far you want to take the dopamine fast..

If you just want to do level 1 then that’s perfectly alright.

You will see positive results from just doing one level, and then if you are more ambitious, and really want to reset your brain, you take it up one more level or two.

Remember, in the introduction video when I told you that just one day is not really enough?

Well, this is why each level will be two days,  which means that if you go for all three levels you are doing a 6 day dopamine fast in total. 

Dopamine fasting level 1

Ok so during Level 1 

You can have no...

• No Internet besides work

(This means you won’t be on any social media platforms at all, so let your friends know in advance. If you need to talk to any of your friends you need to call them and TALK  to them on the phone, but not through comments on social media or anything similar.)

• No spanking the monkey
• no adult sites
• No video games
• No junk food

Some examples of some good activities to do during levels 1 are,,,  

• Meditating, 
• Making a good meal  (and doing it in a mindful way)
• Writing (for example writing down your goals and planning)
• Walking in nature
• Reading a physical book
• Cleaning your house
• Do some creative work (or for example Building or “fixing” something)

Ok, so are you ready to go more hardcore?

Well if so, let’s move on to level 2...

Dopamine detoxing Level 2:

Now you really have to become tough, because on level 2 the same things that were forbidden on level 1 still applies...

...but now you  can’t even have...

• Music  
• TV or movies
• Processed food
• Warm / heated food 

Yes, you may only eat real food, like for example fruits and vegetables if you are a vegan or a salad with cheese and olive oil if you are into keto or something similar, but no warm food as the point here is to deprive yourself even further.

 You can do all the same things as on level 1 here, but now physical exercise is mandatory.

Remember in my introduction video where I talked about how painful things can actually make your dopamine receptors upregulate even faster than zero stimulation?

Well, now it’s time to incorporate those. 

Also, mediation is mandatory here. 

Level two is getting pretty hardcore, but if your up for it, let’s take it up one more notch...

...and go to level 3.

Dopamine fasting Level 3

Of course the same as level 2  applies, but here we even add...

• No food until 4PM

That’s right, you are going to fast all the way until 4PM, and after that you can eat your non heated food like you did on level 2.

Just remember to drink water and remember to get your salt in during your eating window. The minerals are really important, especially since you are going to fast until 4PM the next day as well.

The intermittent fasting we added here will speed the upregulation of your dopamine receptors even further. 

But it does not end here because we will add one more thing.

• No socializing. 

That’s right, if you have to go to work, then that’s ok. Do all your normal talking there, but as soon as you get home, you will not spend any time with any friends whatsoever.

If you have a family and live with them then obviously you should spend time with them. So they do not count as socializing here. 

What to include...

Ok, let’s move on to what you should do....

Here on level 3 you should do...

• Same as level 1
• Physical exercise
• Meditation
• Cold showers

You probably saw that one coming right?

Yes, during the last level you are going to do one or two cold showers on both days. They are pretty painful, but man do they reset your dopamine system.

Alright, try this dopamine detox regimen out and remember; you are the one who should choose how far you want to go.

But at the very least I recommend level 1. You will see some nice benefits from just doing one level.

For those of you who are a bit more ambitious, go for level 2 or even level 3.

And speaking of benefits, let’s now go to the video “how to do a dopamine detox part 2”...

 to discover how you make the positive results stick around after you go back to your everyday life. 

You can see that video down below...

How To Do A 

Let’s continue where we left off.

How do you make the positive benefits stick around after you have done a dopamine fast?

Well there are a few steps you need to take so make sure to stay with me to the end of this video and if you do not know what I’m talking about then after this video, you need to go watch the introduction video and part 1 as well, in order to get a good understanding.

You can find the first one at the top of this page, and the second one above this one that you are currently watching.

How to keep the positive benefits after a dopamine fast...

Ok, so you can’t just keep blasting your brain's reward system like you do in your normal life if you want to keep all the benefits from your dopamine fast, so you will have to make some sacrifices. 

And here are a few helpful tips for you.

Tip #1: Enable gray scale more on your phone...

Enable gray scale mode on your phone.

This is something you can do both on Android or your Iphone and it really helps.

Turning your phone to gray scale mode means that everything you see on your app will lose the vivid colors.

All the apps lose their color, all the videos you watch are grey scale and most important, all the bright red notifications lose their biggest dopamine spiking effect. 

The great thing about this is, you can still use your phone like normal, but since the vivid colors now are gone - all those hundreds of dopamine hits you normally get from it every single day becomes milder. 

To put your phone in gray scale mode, just search for “Enable gray scale mode” on google or YouYube. It’s pretty easy to do and you don’t need to download an app in order to do so.

Tip #2:  Operation blackout...

Have you heard about intermittent fasting when it comes to food?

Well, one way of doing that is by eating your last meal of the day a bit earlier and then pushing your first meal of the day a bit later.

For example, you stop eating at 7PM and then you have your first meal the next day at 11PM.

This would give you a 16 hour fast every single day and comes with a lot of health benefits, and guess what?...

...you can use this for dopamine too!

Operation blackout is kind of an 'intermittent' dopamine detox....

Most nights I turn off my internet and my phone at 7Pm.

I call it 'operation blackout' and during operation blackout I’m trying to be as mindful as possible.

Reading a book, writing, I can even watch a movie on TV as long as I’m not connected to the internet. 

Now it does not have to be 7PM.

You can choose what time suits you best, but at the very least try to make room for 1-2 hours without any phone or internet at all before you go to bed.

The world is not going to go disappear just because you're not online...

You don’t need to be connected to the world 24 hours a day. It’s not going to end if you go dark for 2 hours. 3 hours is even better, but hey, do what you can.

And then in the morning, try to not rush to your phone as soon as you wake up.

Keep mobile data off in the morning...

Keep the mobile data off while you prepare for your day.

Personally I do my morning routine first before I turn it on, and sometimes I even keep it off until about 10AM.

This has helped me tremendously with my brain health.

It’s like a mini dopamine fast every single day and it helps me keep my brain focused and sharp.

I highly recommend you try operation blackout. Just do some experimenting to find a time-frame that is suitable for you.

Tip #3: Meditate...

Ok, if you haven'r made meditation a daily habit yet, now's the time to do so!

Just 10 minutes a day will be extremely helpful.

Think about it, if you put all the high stimulation stuff on this side (see video) then what would be something you could do that would be the absolute opposite of that?

Well, it would be something you do for a while that means zero stimulation...

...something that even slows down your thoughts a bit...kind of like...

...meditation?

Yes!

Just 10 minutes of meditation a day will keep your dopamine system healthy for a longer time...

Start meditating 10 minutes a day as it will give you significant brain benefits.

I’m telling you, there are a lot of studies showing how wonderful mediation is for the brain, and it will really help you keep your dopamine system functioning on a high level for longer time after a dopamine fast.

Ok, so of course there are other things you can do to help you as well, you know all the normal healthy stuff, like...

• Physical exercise
• Limiting junk food
• Cutting down a bit on the high stimulating video games
• Etc...

...so keep those in mind as well, but the three tips I shared today really are the big ones - and if you make sure to do them most days of the week, you will have more drive, pleasure and happiness in you life as your dopamine system will keep functioning on a high enough level for you.

Alright, I hope you have enjoyed the dopamine series and if I ever helped you in some way and you feel that you’d like to help me by giving a little something in return, you can always buy me a cup of coffee.

It’s a one time fee and a 100% secure donation system so if you’d like to support my work you can find a link right here and if you choose to buy me a cup of coffee, thank you so much, :)  

Thanks for reading,

Scandinavian Bob

Related posts:

• Why do a dopamine detox?
• Different ways of doing a dopamine fast / detox
• Dopamine fasting and its effects on addiction