What Can Dopamine Fasting Do For You?

You know that famous neurotransmitter responsible for making you happy every now and again?

Yeah, dopamine, that neurotransmitter.

There’s an internet fad that becomes popular every November.

If you scrub the corners of the web you’ll find people using three letters to make reference to it: NNN.

This stands for “No Nut November” and it’s a challenge issued to mostly men where they must abstain from ejaculating altogether for the entire month.

The challenge is supposed to deliver positive benefits including increased testosterone and clearer mental health.

However, it is a form of dopamine fasting.

What is Dopamine’s Function?

Dopamine conveys signals related to motor control, memory, and of course arousal and reward processing.

Too little dopamine could result in disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, muscle rigidity, tremors, and changes in speech.

Obviously these are side-effects of dopamine restriction, but the goal of dopamine fasting is to restrict the reward system function.

Food, sex, and drugs activate the dopamine reward system.

This reward system learns overtime.

We associate cues in our environment with potential rewards which increase the activity of dopamine, even when there is no actual reward.

So, just thinking about chocolate or sex can activate our brain’s dopamine reward system.

The expectation and anticipation of rewards is known as the “wanting.”

One of the main symptoms of depression is lack of “wanting” pleasure, or interest in normally rewarding experiences.

Why Bother With Dopamine Fasting or NNN?

The theory is that dopamine is a culprit in unhealthy addictive behaviours.

Dopamine fasters believe they can reduce their craving for unhealthy and unwanted behaviours after reducing their dopamine levels.

They attempt to reset their brain in hopes to appreciate the simple things in life.

What Do Dopamine Fasters Do?

Well they avoid all alcohol, sex, drugs, social media, and even eye contact.

Banning rewards will not reduce the amount of dopamine activity, but it will reduce the stimulation dopamine provides.

This battles unhealthy cravings, but it will not stop dopamine production altogether, and it certainly won’t reset the brain.

Instead of restricting dopamine, try restricting social cues that lead to unwanted behaviour.

For example, if you want to reduce cell phone use at night, turn off your notifications.

And if you’re an alcoholic, stay out of bars.

Quick hits of daily dopamine build up our tolerance, in the same way a cocaine addict develops a tolerance and needs more of the drug.

Restricting dopamine levels can help find a new appreciation for simple pleasures, but it will not defeat addiction on its own.

But what do you think?

Would you partake in a dopamine fast, or are you comfortable with your pleasure centre?

Leave comments below and thanks for reading!