High dopamine fasting reddit Members Online Question about the detox. When boredom was high, time wasting behavior also increased (0. Using a high dopamine activity can be added as a reward for completing difficult work. In the book, Fast Like a Girl, Dr. See the Required Reading for more. I have been fasting for about 6 months now mainly for weight loss. With that out of the way, let’s talk about how the final day of my dopamine fast went: Overall, I had a great day! I broke my record for most steps walked in a single day, with almost 30k. Promise this is not a joke post. Dopamine isn't even conceptually linked to pleasure; it's associated with wanting (not liking) - a key distinction especially if you're going to discuss hedonic valence - which is about liking, not wanting. Try a lower dose. Afterall, whereas dopamine is not THE reward chemical, it is involved in the reward system, and probably people only care about that. Antipsychotics work by blocking dopamine. The term “dopamine fast” is nothing more than a sexy marketing name that differentiates it from its true nature. Setting Goals for the Fast. Is there too much dopamine/ serotonin now flooding my brain oe subverting? My ridiculously high energy is becoming a burden and frightening because of the hypo. The concept of a dopamine fast is therefore impossible unless you don't wish to learn. there is a subreddit), or what I do is actual fasting. Sometimes it’s called a “dopamine fast,” but you’re not actually giving up dopamine. I was always playing a game called random dice on my phone before, but I haven't played it once since my fast and haven't missed it at all. This. What you experience as "high" dopamine is actually just high above your baseline. The “dopamine fasting” bit implies that they’re trying to give the receptors a break for the sake of reducing their tolerance to dopamine. i feel like i still get to have “treats” just in the form of a different kind of pleasure. What worked for me was counting calories and intermittent fasting. I love the mental clarity I have from fasting. I think the idea that a 24 hour or at least even a Week "Dopamine Fast" is pretty stupid. In a dopamine detox, we take away the high dopamine spikes generated by companies psychologically designed to target our dopamine receptors, and allow ourselves to be bored. 16 hours of soft, dry fasting may be enough. This is beyond reddit's scope of practice. Personally I’ve used my dope fast to listen more. About a month later, I retook and scored 517 (with similarly high practice tests in the week before). I’m diagnosed bipolar, and it was amazing how quickly my overall day to day mood improved once I changed my diet. Unlike traditional fasting, which restricts food and caloric intake, dry fasting requires the body to rely on its internal water reserves and metabolic reactions for energy. In that month, I completely changed my daily life with something I call dopamine fasting. It's probably not-enough of something else, like sleep. It should be called "reducing dopamine overload by reducing easy empty quick dopamine hits so you can gain natural dopamine from things that are fulfilling". Exercise - it helps sensitize your dopamine receptors again, which will make things feel normal. He pretty much says that the brain only has a certain amount of dopamine ready to deliver per day (kinda like packed up ready to go) and once there is no longer any kind of dopamine like that, the body starts depleting your dopamine reserves, leading to a constant decrease in motivation and making you feel like crap, making Running fast and far - I often go 30km or a little further, because during my planned 8km run, I decided to go 10km, then figured I could keep going and end up only stopping when sense catches up. No Netflix, Reddit, or YouTube (blocked with Cold Turkey app). Watch his video on dopamine and the analogy of the tidal wave pool. No junk food that comes in packages. i’m not a coffee drinker, nor do i smoke. The same might be said for one's morning routine. Yesterday I had a discussion about nootropics for dealing with procrastination. But whether that's "excess dopamine" or dopamine dysregulation is hard to say). Not just is it a gateway into eating disorders (and this road is incredibly gradual and slippery - partially as the high dopamine induced by fasting coupled with the "I am so proud of myself" is highly addictive, it also kills metabolism (in the long run), impairs noradrenaline signaling (often called "adrenal fatigue"), reduces thyroid The idea of a dopamine fast is to limit the amount of dopamine your brain receives. The dopamine fast (the way I see it) is just a simple tool to reorganize one's psychology and biology, and in most people it's a fun little experiment with virtually zero risks. The best way I've found to re-sensitize dopamine is "dopamine fasting". Quercetin may be more advantageous in that it can slow down the COMT enzyme a bit which degrades dopamine in some brain areas. The dopamine fasting was no reset magical button, but I think it provided me this frame of reference. 5 weeks ago my brain was used to getting FLOODS of dopamine, from Youtube, video games, social media, music, etc. I usually don't 'correct' these terms because - as long as it gets people to simplify/understand what they need to do to implement a change - it doesn't matter too much to me (on the Don’t drink, do drugs, or smoke weed. But instead of the fad that the Internet paints it to be, dopamine fasting is far more than just putting your phone on airplane mode from time to time. i don’t Live off of your fat. This means that dopamine is essential for your brain. Try doing a dopamine fast. g. A pleasant homeostasis, if you will. Would like to hear how the restrictions of high dopamine activities affect you and your reward system? I’ve been doing this lately but don’t like referring to it as a dopamine fast as we always will have dopamine going through system, it’s just restricting high dopamine activities to give your receptors a chance to up-regulate and so you can enjoy smaller things. Get the Reddit app Or continue to look at food as a dopamine fix and like a drug. I had basically been eating fast food everyday since college. I'd highly recommend to discuss this with your doctor. Reading paper books to stay occupied, and stay off of the phone which is an attention sucking dopamine generating machine (makes for cravings/needs for dopamine). Eat a healthy diet during your eating period and drink calorie-free beverages like water or unsweetened teas and coffee. I wonder if the same method could be applied to dopamine control. I rarely eat because I'm hungry and instead eat for the pleasure of to alleviate boredom (I live alone) and desperately trying to fill in my boring evening time with things to do so I don't think about food. COMT is an enzyme responsible for breaking down dopamine. I have felt euphoric during some of my fasts. The app on iPhone reminds you at 5 minutes. But I’d like reading to be a habit of mine. This is why i tell people to do intermitted fasting and lock themselves in a room for 2-3 days and sleep in dark doing nothing and not talking to anyone, a bat cave healing ya kno. i find it to be an enjoyable compromise that doesn’t break my fast. E. If you have any health concerns please talk to your doctor. The cause of the high dopamine wouldn't be because you have adhd. It inhibits GABA to make dopamine uninhibited. , phone notifications, social media, pornography etc. "Dopaminergic fasting" could end up in people actually leaving some unhealthy habits. But the best effects are when you do it once a day. Sleep is better the body turns to second or third gear. And am considering using the 1-4 hrs dope fast at night to listen to music each night. Posted by u/robertbruh29 - 5 votes and 5 comments Severed Steel - It's a fast paced FPS with wall running, diving, sliding, and slow down time. There are people with brain damage, who have low levels of Now, there might be exceptions with certain diseases, but generally the brain seems to tolerate dopamine pretty well. One explanation i can think of is your body utilizing ketosis, which the metabolism of two compounds (acetone and betahydoxbutryic acid) can change ion channels (the receptors of neurological signals) in a similar manner to anesthetics (i actually did a project on this in school based on a study it's really interesting, especially looking at the use of a keto diet on certain Let's share our experience doing dopamine fast. I completed my first month no alcohol or cocaine (weekend user) also no orgasms/porn whatsoever. In essence, dopamine fasting is a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy technique. We are continually getting hits of dopamine from unnatural sources (e. I was a massive over eater/food addict. Dopamine DETOX implies that dopamine is a TOXIN, which as you know now, is absurd. There is the side effect of weight gain to look out for. Although it significantly decreased my IQ, I somehow managed to get straight-A’s while being in AP classes. I would think it would be especially helpful. I started slowly fasting with OMAD moved on to ADF. harvard. In reality, dopamine is an essential part of learning. Also the side effect of feeling flat, but if you are trying to fast from dopamine, feeling flat is pretty much your objective . Also try to cut out fast food/fried foods and high sodium foods. Fasting can be challenging, but meditation played a crucial role in making my experience smooth and rewarding. That along with too much cortisol. I'll be great for a day, good the next, average the day after, and then realise after 3 or 4 days, I've been pushing myself too far, too fast and have too many aches and pains and the one rest day, becomes several months! So you keep scrolling looking for more dopamine until you realise you aren't getting any so you either switch to pornography, Instagram, or getting off the phone altogether. Dopamine fasting isn’t that strict. Dry fasting is a type of fasting where individuals abstain from both food and water for a certain period. Nov 20, 2019 · “Dopamine fasting” has hit Silicon Valley, with some people in the area striving to reset their dopamine levels by completely abstaining from anything that brings them pleasure: smartphones Nov 19, 2019 · Instead, dopamine fasting encourages people to reduce the "time spent on problematic behavior," he said. Dopamine detox doesn't detox dopamine. Now I do 72 hour fasts 2 times a week and a 20-24 hour fast on Sundays. I began dedicating a lot to dopamine fasting again. My experience with the benefits This is a support group to help with impulsive behaviour towards Eating, Gaming, Gambling, Thrill, and Tech. It may be the key for some. So you condition yourself to pursue longer term, sustainable dopamine fixes. Stimulating your brain is the last thing you want to do so cutting eating, surfing, gaming, or any other heavy dopamine sources makes sense. 478K subscribers in the fasting community. If you are like me and many others DD has nothing to do with productivity directly. One week would be enough of a break to majorly reset tolerance, two weeks should be back down to pre-overstimulation levels. To give some context, I had already was on a week-long sugar fast due to overdoing it on sugar looking for that high (from finals) and getting a bladder infection. ANNOUNCEMENT: This subreddit is growing fast and it’s intended for fans of Dr. I think my dopamine addiction had something to do with my high levels of anxiety, but it was never really clear until I went on a 24-hour detox. Before starting a fast, it's essential to set clear goals and determine the duration. If you could fast or deprive your brain of dopamine, it would be truly tragic for you. It's like having a cake and bread on your table to eat. 60 correlation coefficient). And they stack together because they all influence the same pathway. My PCP wanted to check my adrenal glands, hence the referral. I did a month away from stimulating internet things over winter and it was actually insane how ridiculously easy it was to do things. High dopamine => brain feels a large pressure to do that activity Hey if anyone has experience with dopamine fasting/detox. I’m going to start off pretty blunt. A "dopamine fast" or whatever that is will just make your situation worse, and seeking other "dopamine highs" is a slippery slope. I personally see no harm in people misunderstanding dopamine, please point out if there is. But there is danger if newbies do it longer. EDIT: half the people in this thread are completely misunderstanding the meaning of the title. This includes YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, Discord, etc. Cause remember weed doesnt raise your dopamine levels directly. Members Online Apprehensive_Sound46 Have had horrible insomnia fasting /keto I've been looking into short, dry fasting lately. If you were in an Amish community you would get your dopamine from riding a horse or churning butter or whatever Amish people do. If it runs too fast, you get low dopamine levels. Dopamine is only one neurotransmitter; serotonin, noradrenaline, and GABA all work in synergy to achieve what you desire. It may support weight loss and improve blood sugar, brain function and longevity. Drugs like ecstasy or molly blow all your dopamine levels and take many days to replenish. D2 Upregulation Boosters (Dopamine Fasting-Avoid excess stimulation of all kinds (Sexual Activity, Pornography, Junk Food, Music, TV/Films, and Drugs. I was inspired in part by YouTuber Niklas Christl and his video on this topic. Members Online 24 Hours Dopamine Detox Complete *Time Theorist* If you wanted to do a dopamine fast, technically you could take a high dose of antipsychotics. Welcome to Dopamine Detoxing. That is how you start feeling those weird feelings. So For a day, you are supposed to only drink water, write something, walk around and that's it. I had elevated dopamine as well. Huberman has an episode of his podcast explaining dopamine completely. If you do drink, only do it on the weekends in social settings. . What you should be doing is cutting back on excessive addictive stimulated behaviours. But even using ‘dopamine fasting’ is just plain wrong. Combining all those elements for fast paced action is just super fun. Was wondering do you think it's okay to use online courses during? Things like skill share or online lectures. Still, research shows there is a connection between dopamine and problematic behavior, such He admits that most people promoting dopamine detox have twisted his argument. 9-me-bc did nothing for me but I am low dopamine, so my receptors are likely already sensitive. We do not allow low-effort posts or anything that violates our rules. Running is amazing. 19 votes, 48 comments. One of the big issues with any significant dopamine source is after 8 or 9pm. edu Aug 25, 2020 · A dopamine fast entails cutting back on or entirely eliminating many of life’s pleasures such as food, sex, social media, socializing, technology, entertainment—even eye contact. It was the perfect weather outside, so it felt good to go out and enjoy the air and sunlight. Now that we know what dopamine fasting is (and isn’t) as well as what you should aim to take away from it, let’s start planning for it. Your body will always produce dopamine, but you can make your nerve cells more sensitive to reacting to I have been reading about fasting and how it is very beneficial. Junk food has a high amount of calories which is linked to survival in evolutionary biology, so that explains the high dopamine releases caused by junk food. When I started intermittent fasting combined with counting calories it changed my life. The dopamine fast is a tool for recalibrating your habits and your life. I have not been able to consistently work on a course that will hopefully assist me in getting a job, but worried it be considered a high dopamine activity. Hell, even therapy to talk to someone about why you turn to food for these dopamine hits- which has helped my friends that don't fast lose weight in general. The benefits are supposed to be 3x compared to water fasts. I have also felt very productive. Let me take you through the ups and downs of this journey and how I relied on meditation to reap the benefits of fasting. I did that and i felt like a new man. [Click here to find out why we have gone… I completed my first month no alcohol or cocaine (weekend user) also no orgasms/porn whatsoever. All of the things we try to avoid during dopamine detox (gaming, surfing internet, etc) makes it hard for even people without ADHD to maintain focus; for someone with ADHD, it seems like it’d be especially helpful to try to reset and focus on less stimulating things- walking, petting their dog, reading, etc Dopamine is a neurotransmitter with a long list of things it regulates in the brain and throughout the body. How to dopamine fast. Contrary to the name dopamine detox or fasting, the goal is NOT to reduce dopamine, but to reduce the "time spent on problematic behaviors”. Naturally, dopamine was mentioned, along with… Edit: It could be that 'fasting' for a day has some effect, just by you being so fucking bored that the following day you would rather get on with your chores than face another day of nothing. So effectively what happens is if I find myself opening the app, it lets me browse for a minute before guilting me into stopping. Dopamine fasting has very little to do with lowering dopamine levels in your brain. Hence you can increase your dopamine sensitivity by lowering your baseline, ie. There is a lot of misguidance of individual’s accounts of their dopamine fasts where they avoid everything except walking, meditating, and writing. Stop doing those first and your dopamine will come back and cortisol will lower. But that's not the same thing as "resetting" your dopamine receptors. Your brain uses dopamine to determine what to do. It applies to any dopamine-spiking activity. Just wanted to make this clear, that intermittent fasting has been shown to increase D2 receptors, BUT when I was giving this advice it was mor High fasting glucose but normal A1c. I was referred to an endocrinologist. Either you can do that directly (e. So, you limit 99% of dopamine, which includes music, so that your brain receives much less dopamine. It's more likely the opposite. This is because, 1. With dopamine fasting you do it, then you get some benefits and after a while you are back where you left: there is no real change really Yes sort of. Edit: you should see if they'll do a 24 hour urine analysis. Andrew Huberman. If you're an adrenaline junkie like I was, then there is a right way and a very wrong way to do this. For those of you that don't know a dopamine fast is basically explained as a way to reset the way your brain releases dopamine. Of course most music save for experimental dissonant music give you dopamine. If your addicted to these activities don’t do them in your fast. Dopamine fasting, or dopamine detox, is a technique that consists of completely abstaining from any experience that brings you pleasure, especially addictive technologies; like social media, doom scrolling, internet, youtube, reddit, listening to music, videogames, texting, etc. I think the lesson here is to trust the process, and to give up the silver bullet mentality. I studied for 3-4 months for the MCAT, never scoring above a 510 on practice tests, and I got a 508 on the real test. NAC, Vitamin C, or Quercetin. I did my very first dopamine fast three days ago. But dopamine fast can be beneficial if you do it for a short amount of time such as 3 days to 7 days then going full lifestyle. But your brain learns this and creates other ways to inhibit dopamine when GABA cant so when you smoke all day you wont get the same pleasurable high like in the morning. See full list on health. Realizing chasing the dopamine hit is the biggest impediment to losing weight. Now I cannot sleep much and im becoming Hypomanic please google if your not sure what it is. doing boring shit for a long time. #This subreddit is now private. This is also logical and experienced it this way too. Abstain - delete twitter, tiktok, what have you Fasting - whether it is indulging on high dopamine treats or high dopamine activity, fasting will help you sensitize yourself again I was over 300lbs and now I’m at 195. So, track all the low dopamine activities that you do: cleaning your room, reading a book, working, exercising. There is no reset button for life, but if you do the work things get better - maybe not in the speed we want, but in the speed we can. The term started buzzing in Silicon Valley boardrooms in 2019, and it has since stuck. It's shocking how much a short fast can completely re-sensitize your system to feeling pleasure. If you have both on the table but only can eat the bread, you will most likely not enjoy it because your brain compares it to cake. Ergo; if you slow it down (like with caffeine), levels go up for a while. That's more accurate. Dec 21, 2023 · He admits that most people promoting dopamine detox have twisted his argument. So there you have it, dopamine detox or fasting is not about detoxing, is not about fasting, and is not even about dopamine. when i fast if i’m craving some food or feeling hungry for snacks, i’ll have some “me time”. The point is not productivity but rather getting your brain hooked off of the high you get so that doing hard work feels more rewarding. I know fasting isn’t the best weight loss tool for a lot of people but for me it worked really well. Like its too much if you try removing it all at once, and also there I would recommend doing it for real, not just dopamine fasting. That dose of ALCAR all at once is very high. Fasting level 108mg/dL or 6 mmol . 525 votes, 49 comments. And after completing them, reward yourself with some high dopamine activity. Most of the things OP mentioned avoiding are actually healthy behaviors (listening to music, entertainment, a food treat here and there), when done in moderation even having a beer is a healthy behavior. It was hard, but the results are surprising. My Rules and Experience. Whats up m1610, This is Gabe from the radio show. The weekends were harder because I had far less to do, which made me more bored and more prone to time wasting behavior. ie: stop playing video games, watching tiktok, etc and in a month or two you will find it a lot easier to study. It's supposed to be the abstention from EASY dopamine fixes, because they cause crashes when they're gone. BUT if you are suffering from a mental health condition and/or are taking psychia This is called a dopamine detox/fast. Completely fasting from all forms of these conditioned behaviors will be very difficult at first, but the idea is that it resets dopamine transmission related to some of those behaviors. It might sound weird, but try to focus on the food alone and enjoy the small dopamine hit from it. , food, sex, physical Literally putting a “time limit” on my apps for exactly 6 minutes. Dopamine detox is exactly as the name states, even hard work gives you dopamine. I probably walked 5 hours or more. “Dopamine fasting” like OP is doing does not increase productivity, but actually reduces wellbeing. Now onto the science: "Dopamine Detox" (and "Dopamine Fasting") is a term coined by the public (not scientists), but it is the language that the public speaks. Well dopamine receptors can fatigue, so if you dopamine fast your receptors get stressed less, can heal and get more sensitized for smaller things in life again. Reply reply Create unnaturally high dopamine spikes, which then depress baseline dopamine levels which gets the addict to seek more of the drug to feel ‘normal’. Jan 2, 2025 · An increase in impulsivity and high-risk behaviors; Substance use; What is dopamine fasting? To feel better, try resetting your dopamine levels. For all of the reasons above, I have decided to go on a 7-day dopamine fast. that is the common general advice but on top of that you have to increase less bad dopamine sources to get you through habit changes since replacing a bad habit or adding a good new one will mess with our general state of being (lower dopamine or feeling worse), without the additional dopamine to get us through we will hit a period of bad variance or maxed out willpower and likely binge on the Welcome to Dopamine Detoxing. If i could give some advice i recently went on a (mostly) plant-based diet due to reading Genesis and Gods initial intentions and started intermittent fasting along with drinking only water and man do you feel better after getting in this routine health and energy wise. 886K subscribers in the intermittentfasting community. However if you feel rewarded there is dopamine. If done correctly, "dopamine detox" actually increases real dopamine and can rewire your brain to use that as the primary motivator. scrolling reddit, instagram, twitter, shorts, tiktok, youtube. My once crippling anxiety was literally nonexistent for the first time in my life. Intermittent Fasting (IF) is way of eating that restricts *when* you eat, usually on a daily… It's about taking a fast for a day from all the things which give you a dopamine run, which is meant to be an escape from the stack of your problems. Posted by u/[Deleted Account] - 1 vote and 4 comments Coffee is a drug, it gives you an initial High of dopamine (along with cortisol, a stress hormone), but after you're hooked your max productivity lowers and only drinking coffee will make you function normally (and without that first high you got at the beginning of the habit formation) "But research says it has health benefits" Jan 15, 2025 · If any of this sounds like your life, it might be time to try dopamine fasting. ) AR Upregulation Boosters (Weightlifting/HIIT, L Carnitine-L Tartrate, Intermittent Fasting are all proven to have beneficial effects on the upregulation of androgen receptors). Welcome to Dopamine Detoxing, by Andrew Kirby. Dopamine fasting isn't meant to be the literal abstention from all dopamine. Mindy Pelz says research and in her practice… Nope, eating also releases dopamine but it is small compared to getting new information every second. This is a support group to help with impulsive behaviour towards Eating, Gaming, Gambling, Thrill, and Tech. I noticed my cognitive decline and began dopamine fasting again, so that’s probably why. (I'm not aware of any mental disorders caused by "excess dopamine"I mean maybe tics or ADHD. As part of my dopamine detox, I will eliminate the following 7 things: 1) Social media. Please help the community by flagging rule violators accordingly. Start with a Dopamine Detox, then maintain a Dopamine Fast. Dopamine fast is not a magical cure. 16/8 intermittent fasting involves eating only during an 8-hour window and fasting for the remaining 16 hours. Bromantane and 9-me-bc were the only ones that didn’t cause me severe anxiety. On a personal level, i practice dopamine detox so that i can focus on things that don't give me high dopamine but help be to improve like studying. I take 600mg three times per day, spaced out by 8 hours. Recent studies have found that dopamine isn't fully responsible for the pleasure you feel when you do pleasurable things. ) and this can mess up dopamine release from natural sources (e. It detoxes adrenaline and cortisol. Keep in mind the dopamine fast is NOT designed for treating diseases, fixing mental health issues or managing your diet. Fasting was the original "dopamine fasting" before dopamine fasting was even a thing. I posted on r/DopamineDetoxing in the beginning of March that I intended on doing a full month of a dopamine detox, and… "dopamine detox" is really just a bad name for it but there is science behind the changes in the mind when you stop doing high dopamine activities, your brain will become more sensitive to dopamine. i find i’m the opposite. From what I understand it's a misnomer, you can't really fast from dopamine you can only shift how and why it is released. djhym dfrwj feye rlfaw nqut yuzsk xkpb uer sol lquenn xdqijf dbfb vlqwi zkmakdw xubqhz