Recently, I tried doing a dopamine fast. You may have heard of the concept before. Some people claim for it to be life-changing, or at least that’s what their clickbait says.
So, I figured I’d try it out. A 24-hour dopamine fast. I’d begun to notice my dopamine consumption getting a bit out of control, so it couldn’t hurt. Before we look at what I found, here’s what a dopamine fast actually is.
What Is A Dopamine Fast?
First, we need to know what dopamine is. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in your brain, responsible for motivation and pleasure. It makes us feel good for doing certain activities, encouraging us to do more of those activities in the future. For example, food, sex, and gaming.
A dopamine fast, as the name suggests, is going for an extended period of time without any dopamine consumption. From the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep, your sources of dopamine are intentionally limited.
When doing research, I found that many people claim that doing a dopamine fast will rewire your brain. It can change the way you approach daily activities.
What Are You Allowed To Do On A Dopamine Fast?
The restrictions of a dopamine fast vary from person to person. How strict you are is up to you. Mine was quite strict.
These are some of the rules I followed during my dopamine fast:
- No food or drinks other than water
- No music
- No internet
- No screens
- No technology
- No gaming
- No reading
- No sex or masturbation
All I could really do was:
- Think
- Meditate
- Walk
- Drink water
- Journal or write, using pen and paper
I allowed myself to tidy my room and go through some old stuff, including clothes and belongings. Doing so really helped with my minimalism practice. Conversations were allowed, but I tried to avoid them.
Visualisation was also allowed and would be a great way to fill my time, if I could visualise. I have a condition called Aphantasia, which essentially means I’m mentally blind. So… yeah. That one was off the table.
My Experience
On Tuesday the 5th May, I began my dopamine fast. There were a few reasons behind this. I was seeing a lack of motivation and discipline in my life. I was spending too much time consuming rather than creating.
The biggest thing that I’d been struggling with was how much I was working, compared to how much I thought I could be working. As well, how motivated I was to actually work, compared to how motivated I thought I should be feeling.
But, I know now that motivation is fleeting. The dopamine fast would help provide clarity on this. Doing it for motivation alone, though, is wrong.
My time could be better used elsewhere; I thought doing a dopamine fast would help with this shift. A dopamine fast naturally came to mind, because a lot of my time was being spent on high-dopamine activities. These were things that ‘rewarded’ dopamine for little effort, primarily video games.
So, the fast itself. It was… an experience. It was certainly an experience. Here are my honest thoughts.
Most of the day on Tuesday, I was doing pretty much nothing at all. I was so limited on things that I could do that I didn’t want to do anything.
It was just a very boring day.
With the restrictions mentioned earlier, my options were few. I spent a lot of time outside; I’m grateful the weather was nice. I spent a lot of time thinking and planning; I now have a clearer idea of my life path.
I went for a walk, which was nice. I fed a sheep some grass! The best part about that day was actually taking a nap. With no food for fuel, after getting back from my early afternoon walk, I felt exhausted. That nap was more like a sleep… and was useful for knocking out two hours of the day.
After the nap, my family had dinner. I couldn’t eat so instead I took a multivitamin. How sad my life was at that point…
After dinner, I remember sitting around in my bedroom and watching the hours pass. I tried counting the seconds and the minutes. I broke down time into small chunks: seconds to minutes, which became 5-minute chunks, which became quarter-hours.
‘I’ve just gotta make fifteen minutes’ became ‘I’ve just gotta make 5 minutes, three times.’ That became ‘I’ve just gotta make 1 minute, 5 times!’ which was ’60 seconds’ over and over again. In the end, I powered through it and felt elated when I could finally go to bed.
The day itself wasn’t as enlightening as I thought it would be. I didn’t gain many new perspectives. My thoughts were the same as normal. I received no major insights or new approaches to things I thought I would have.
I think partly this is because of the hyperbole from YouTubers. Energy and exaggerations get views, so that’s what YouTubers share. They make it out that a dopamine fast gives you many insights and perspectives on how you should live your life. But in reality, I didn’t get any of that.
What Happened After The Fast?
The day after the fast was amazing. Food was the best thing in the world. I could listen to music, which I appreciated so much more. We take so much for granted. When they’re taken away, you miss these things. You can appreciate them much more once you’ve been without them for a time.
What I enjoyed the most about the dopamine fast was life after the fast.
I began to appreciate things more. Food, music, books all sparked gratitude. Further, I was becoming more conscious of what sources of dopamine I was consuming. That itself is useful for managing how you spend your time.
I then shifted this acknowledgement into a desire to learn more. I wanted to experience more things. I wanted to spend more time reading, growing, and trying new things. I wanted to get my dopamine from natural sources – from growing and experiencing small victories.
That, perhaps, was the biggest thing I took from the dopamine fast. I wanted to learn, grow, and improve more than before.
Before the fast, I’d been a little complacent. Since moving back in with my parents, I hadn’t been the person I wanted to be. That person is always seeking to grow. Always seeking to improve. Always seeking to become the best version of themselves. That’s what I preach through this site and my YouTube channel.
The dopamine fast helped to reawaken that person inside of me. If that’s all it did, I’m grateful. It was a worthwhile experience for that alone.
I’d like to think that now, after the fast, I’m doing more work. That the quality of my work has improved.
A Reflection On My Dopamine Fast
The dopamine fast, for me, wasn’t how it’s made out to be over different sources on the internet. If you type in ‘dopamine fast benefits‘ or just ‘dopamine fast‘ on Google, and have a read through some of the pages you find, you’ll know what I mean. It didn’t come across to me like that. I didn’t get the same outcome that a lot of people have had.
But, that makes me think.
With a dopamine fast, the change in your life – and there will be a change – is different from person to person.
It’s not as drastic as you think it is, but doing it is worthwhile anyway. I’d recommend it.
If you allow yourself to eat or to drink coffee, but you only take away technology, that’s a digital detox. That was also part of my fast. A digital detox is worthwhile doing every once in a while anyway, so that’s another benefit that resulted from my fast.
How You Should Approach A Dopamine Fast
Doing a dopamine fast is useful. It will change your life in a subtle way, but only if you allow it to.
You could do a dopamine fast for a day, then binge food, drinking, drugs, video games, etc. for a day. Doing so would defeat the purpose of the fast. Engaging in excessive dopamine activities following the fast means you’ve wasted a day.
From my understanding, the point of a dopamine fast is to cut down on dopamine consumption. This allows for more natural tasks such as working to feel more rewarding.
The main challenge and focus of a dopamine fast isn’t the fast itself. It is the controlling of dopamine activities in the days following the fast.
The stricter you are when you approach your fast, the more difficult it will be. But, it will also be more rewarding. At the very least, consider doing a digital detox. No technology for a day. You can eat and read, so it won’t be that hard. Give it a try.
Wrapping Up
A dopamine fast is something that you should try. It’s 100% worth the time. It’s a very useful way to put yourself back on track, particularly if you’ve been falling off the rails a bit.
Put some time aside to do it. Invest that time of doing nothing into an increase in the quality of your life; that is worthwhile. Just do it once, and see for yourself. The day itself is challenging, and you won’t enjoy it, but you’ll enjoy life afterwards.
Thanks for reading.
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