Nov 16, 2019

The growing trend of dopamine fasting

A man sitting in a relatively empty office.

Photo: Yasser al-Zayyat/AFP/Getty

When everything feels good, nothing does. That's the idea behind a growing trend of detoxing from dopamine, reports Nellie Bowles for the NYT.

What they're saying: “We’re addicted to dopamine,” James Sinka told Bowles. “And because we’re getting so much of it all the time, we end up just wanting more and more, so activities that used to be pleasurable now aren’t. Frequent stimulation of dopamine gets the brain’s baseline higher.”

How it works: Don't do fun stuff. No screens, no music, no exercise or sex. No work, no eye contact… The list goes on.

  • Ideally, after the fast, everything good starts to feel good again.

Go deeper: Deep Dive - Neuroscience

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