The truth about Dopamine Detox
Does it work? (my honest experience)
So, in this note, I will honestly share my own dopamine detox experience. But first, what is dopamine detox?
Well, it is a fancy term found trending on the internet in recent times, which refers to controlling oneself from dopamine producing activities, aka, pleasures. It is believed to be effective to replace short term rewards with long term benefits.
Dopamine detox involves one to fast from certain compulsive behaviors like emotional eating and binge usage of the internet. During the process, the practitioner avoids dopamine triggers for a set time period.
The purpose of this process is to make oneself more involved in activities that actually matter in the long run. For instance: learning to drive instead of watching “The Magnificent Century.” Or simply going out for a walk instead of cluttering the mind with the brand new Ferrari pictures of Tom’s cousin’s uncle’s…you get the point.
This whole idea seemed interesting to me. Seeing this everywhere on the internet, I decided to try it for seven days. And here I am with the results, which are somewhat similar to what it promises.
To start off, I decided to completely avoid these things in those seven days:
For your information, here I have noted the things that I think are not highly beneficial for me. I like to keep tasks that bring in more results in all aspects of my life. In case you are wondering, I always listen to music, even when I do something important like researching.
Note that, even though I couldn’t leave social media completely because it is a part of my work and passion, I avoided random scrolling and only logged in whenever I needed any information.
Finally, after those seven days, I have carefully noticed that my thought process performed a complete reset. It felt like I was meditating for a week straight. I was thinking clearer and better. My overall focus has dramatically magnified. I noticed my productivity increase and I had several extra hours.
Honestly I felt bored at times, for not being able to listen to music or watch YouTube, but I went out to meet people and had some wonderful times together.
To conclude, my habits got better by taking the detoxification. However, there is a catch!
Dopamine Detox is not a scientifically proven method, but rather an internet trend. After those seven days, I felt the tendency to revert to my older self, which is pretty valid, right? Because medically speaking, you cannot trick dopamine by starving it.
Dopamine detox, being literally impossible, is simply another way of practicing mindful controlling of the negative activities for a better life. The secret recipe here is discipline, not some fancy trends of hacking dopamine.
Speaking of discipline, a community full of amazingly disciplined people awaits you. Follow Myndset Academy on Instagram.
