Different Ways Of Doing A Dopamine Detox (Intermittent Style)

Instead of doing a hard dopamine fast, you should know that there are many different ways of doing a dopamine detox. 

Why not try intermittent dopamine fasting, for example?

Here are some of the benefits that many people notice, even if not doing a so-called full dopamine detox...

• Deeper and more restful sleep
• Increased concentration and ability to focus
• Less procrastination
• Increased motivation
• More self control

Different ways of dopamine detoxing...

Maybe you are familiar with dopamine and perhaps you have watched some videos on how doing a dopamine fast can be something super powerful.

Well today I’m going to share something interesting that I do myself and that I call intermittent dopamine fasting.

Ok, let’s talk about something that I personally call intermittent dopamine fasting.

Intermittent dopamine fasting...

Most of you have probably heard about intermittent fasting by now. Which is an eating pattern where you, instead of fasting for many days straight, you fast for a part of the day - and then you have a short eating window where you eat all you food for the day.

There are many variations of this, but one variation is fasting for 16 hours every day, followed by 8 hours where you are allowed to eat…

Now, in a similar way, I call it intermittent dopamine fasting when I take a short time out from all high stimulating activities on a daily basis. 

Let me first explain how I do it and after that we are going to talk about the benefits, and why I do it. 

How I do intermittent dopamine fasting...

Most nights at 7pm I go “operation blackout”. This means that I take the sim card out of my phone and put it in a time lock safe I have.

That safe will remain locked until the next morning when it is set to open at 4.30. And I have set it in a way that it will lock again in just 30 minutes so if I want my phone back, I better make damn sure to get my ass out of bed and start the day.

So now you say, "Ok great, but what’s the point, why all this trouble?"

Well, my phone is my internet hotspot, and when I take the sim card out I kill the internet connection in my house. Thus I can no longer do aimless browsing on social media in the hours leading up to bedtime…

...but it’s not only social media...

...by unplugging from the internet 3-4 hours every night I get a small dopamine detox.

Why?

Well, you see, the internet and your smartphone is very stimulating for your brain’s reward system.

All the social media platforms are built in a way that every like and notification you get will give you a small dopamine hit.

And aimless browsing on the internet where you for example keep following what's suggested to you does the same. 

Dopamine Desensitization from social media and the internet...

The problem is that too much dopamine release, from high stimulating activities, causes a numb reward center and downregulated dopamine receptors over time.

Now, don’t get scared, it’s not that big of a deal, like...

..."Oh my God! I have to stop using the internet NOW!!!"

No, listen...

...just know that we have A LOT of those stimulating things going on in our lives nowadays and all of them add up, so yes, the reward center can suffer in the long run.

Things like...

• Highly stimulating video games
• Online adult sites
• Facebook
• Snapchat
• Netflix

Everything adds up....

It all adds up, and this is why it’s so good to unplug from time to time. 

Let me ask you this, as you go about your day, how often do you just spend time with yourself and your thoughts? 

I would guess it doesn’t happen very often at all.

You're never -fully- spending time with yourself...

In fact, I’d be willing to bet that as soon as you have a moment of extra time on your hands…

…like if you're waiting in line for 2 minutes you instantly take out your smartphone to distract yourself.

• Waiting  for a friend => smartphone!
• Waiting for the cab => smartphone!
• Stopping at a red light => you need to check a notification!

Now, I’m not saying that it’s bad every single time you do this, however, if you always distract yourself, escaping into dopamine driven activities, and you never spend time with yourself and your thoughts, it’s a problem.

Relapses caused by not being able to spend time with yourself...

For example, I know many of you are doing NoFap, well, did you know that most relapses, and this is true for ANY addiction, happens because you are afraid of discomfort.

You are unable to just be with yourself and listen to your thoughts. So you escape.

This is called 'escapism' and it’s what often, not in all cases, but most often gets us into addiction related stuff.

Here's the deal, though...

You Can't escape forever...

You can’t escape yourself forever. And if you are afraid of discomfort, and if you haven't learned how to spend time with yourself, then you will never get very far on your NoFap journey before relapsing.

This is true for everything... not just NoFap.

It is because you will try to escape as soon as discomfort sets in, and yeah urges = discomfort. So you escape to online adult entertainment...

...God damn!

And you have to start again....so how about not so much of that, ey? 

Ok, back to the dopamine fast and the benefits.

Operation blackout  forces you to be more mindful because without the internet you are not aimlessly drifting, surfing from one video to another. 

You are forced to slow down and let your thoughts catch up with you and probably face some form of discomfort. Either in form of boredom, or negative emotions from listening to your anxious thoughts, but listen....

...IF you want to become a grounded man with self control, who does not relapse all the time you have to be able to do this. You have to be able to spend time with yourself without running away and escaping.

Dopamine Detoxing may help you recover faster from addictions...

You should know that, if you are or have been addicted to fapping and adult entertainment then doing intermittent dopamine fasting will help you to regrow your dopamine receptors.

So doing it might help speed up your recovery. 

And, of course, if you take a timeout from high stimulating activities the hours leading up to bedtime, your brain will calm down and you will sleep so much better.

Don't develop a dopamine phobia...

Now some of you are probably thinking that operation blackout means that you have to sit and meditate for 3 hours every night...

...no no no!

It’s not about not getting any dopamine at all. So don’t develop a dopamine phobia here.

Dopamine isn't bad for you. We need dopamine. Heck, even drinking a glass of water increase your dopamine slightly...

...the point is to spend a few hours doing things in a mindful way, being aware of yourself, and shutting down the most stimulating stuff, the internet. 

Remember when I told you that I take my sim card out? The reason for this is that I just want to shut down the internet.

You see, I still use my phone to, for example, listen to a podcast that I downloaded to the phone earlier.

Using technology in a mindful way...

But the difference is, NOW I listen to the 45 minute podcast mindfully, without getting distracted on having to check something on the internet several times during the podcast.

And because I listen to some educational stuff,  it’s now a healthy activity for the brain. ‘Mindful’ is the key word here.

Here are some other activities I do during operation blackout...

• I make dinner and sit down and eat it in a mindful way without distractions.
• I practice and try to become a better trumpet player, all while I spend time with my thoughts.
• I make a to-do list for tomorrow, and again, I’m really in touch with my thoughts here, and that also helps with coming up with smart strategies to get to my goals. 
• I journal (This is an act of being very mindful .because now you are even writing down your thoughts on paper so you are really spending time with yourself when journaling).
• Sometimes I write down ideas and take notes from podcasts I listen to....again planning and using my thoughts.
• I read books, real physical books.

All those activities are done mindfully and it is the very opposite of mindlessly browsing before bed.

And hey, if you are doing NoFap, then doing operation blackout 4 hours every night will prevent you from relapsing to adult entertainment...

...especially if you have a time lock safe.

Now, of course you can do this without a time lock safe, you certainly don’t need one. But personally I find it feels so good because I don’t have to spend one ounce of energy on willpower trying to resist turning the internet back on. 

Once the sim card is in the safe, locked and put away, my brain fully accepts that; "Ok, now there is no internet until 4.30 next morning!"

Alright that’s it for today, remember this is just one way of doing a dopamine fast, and it is on a daily basis, hence the name intermittent dopamine detox. 

Thanks for reading,

-Scandinavian Bob- 

Related posts:

• How to maintain dopamine fasting results (social media and other traps)
• Is dopamine fasting really worth it?
• How to do a dopamine fast and what to do?
• Can dopamine fasting speed up NoFap / pmo addiction recovery?