Eliminate your ‘drug of choice’ (e.g., social media, video games, cannabis, alcohol) for a whole month. This allows your brain to restore healthy dopamine pathways and reset its reward system, making more modest pleasures rewarding again.
Embrace radical honesty by telling the truth about everything, not just major issues, but also small, everyday matters. This practice fosters true intimacy, helps develop a truthful autobiographical narrative, and strengthens the prefrontal cortex for better self-control.
Engage in activities that are challenging or mildly painful, such as getting off the couch for an unplugged walk outside for 30 minutes a day. This ‘presses on the pain side’ of your brain’s balance, prompting your body to upregulate its own dopamine production, leading to a more resilient and happier brain.
Create literal and metacognitive barriers between yourself and your ‘drug of choice’ to introduce a pause before use. Making access harder provides a crucial moment to decide against using, helping to break compulsive patterns.
Approach personal behavior changes, like a dopamine fast, as an experiment to gather data on how your system (body/mind) works. This allows you to observe the true cause and effect of your habits and gain empowering insight into what makes you feel better.
Ensure children under the age of 10, and arguably under 12, do not have access to their own personal devices. This protects their developing brains during a crucial period, allowing them to develop healthy social and coping skills in real-life interactions.
Protect children by creating an environment that fosters real-life friendships, engagement in sports, creative pursuits, and systems for sustained attention and organization. This foundation is crucial before potential exposure to highly stimulating digital products, which can usurp other types of learning.
Engage in important discussions with children about healthy digital use, appropriate online etiquette, and family values regarding device interaction. Frame the device as a potential ‘drug’ to emphasize its potent and potentially addictive nature.
If a child demonstrates an inability to manage device use responsibly, such as constant use or inattention in class, be prepared to take the device away. It’s important to acknowledge differing vulnerabilities among children and adapt accordingly.
Avoid bringing unhealthy, highly processed foods into your home to reduce the need for constant willpower. By removing temptations from your immediate environment, you create a ‘dopamine cave’ where quick, easy dopamine fixes are less available.
After resetting your dopamine balance, reintroduce rewarding things in modest doses and infrequently. Ensure enough time passes between uses for your brain’s pleasure-pain balance to restore homeostasis, preventing the accumulation of ‘gremlins’ on the pain side.
If you are at risk for life-threatening withdrawal from substances like alcohol, benzodiazepines, or opioids, do not stop cold turkey. These individuals may need medically monitored detoxification to ensure safety during a dopamine fast.
If you struggle to stop a substance or behavior, cultivate self-compassion and persistence, and don’t give up. Keep strategizing and remember there is always hope to make your life better by understanding the source of your suffering.