What a Dopamine Detox Told Me About Myself

Dopamine Detox refers to refraining from all the activities that cause an unusual spike in the dopamine levels of your body. Such activities include- scrolling through social media, watching movies, self-pleasure activities, etc.

The picture on Unsplash.com by @louishansel

As an ardent follower of the Internet, I heard about DOPAMINE DETOX via a YouTube video. I have been writing seriously for three years now, and it brought an inevitable exposure to all kinds of devices for me. “In the beginning, you have to give more than a 100%”, I told myself. But it didn’t seem to work out. I was tired all day and sometimes, I even overslept.

Fast forward to 3 years, in the COVID-19 times, I finally decided to try the ‘DOPAMINE DETOX’ thingy to see if it works for me. I didn’t expect any positive results; I was just curious to know if it was even a ‘thing’.

One fine Saturday at midnight, I switched off the phone and set up a timer in my head for 24 hours. the next day, I woke up and did the following things for the whole day (as I didn’t have to write too, the day was kinda boring)

• Woke up late at around 9 AM. Did all the necessary chores.
• Ate breakfast.

(at this point, I didn’t even turn on my phone, laptop, or listened to any song)

• Took out my kindle to study and read some papers. I can tell you, I felt sleepy after 30 minutes only.
• I slept. I didn’t know when it happened.
• I exercised in the evening and went for a walk.
• Had some tea and read the leftover newspaper from the morning.

So what? seeing from a distance, the day was not productive at all. As a person who writes all day long, it was a disaster. But as a lazy lad inside, I was satisfied. It was something my lazy self would be proud of.

Here are the things I learned from the first-ever dopamine detox of my life.

• It is okay to do nothing for a day. It’s okay to take a break. Even if you feel you haven’t done anything monumental, it is completely fine to break the boring cycle you participate in every day.
• Little things do make a difference in your life. When I was sleeping or even reading, I was in the moment. I didn’t feel the tension of ‘what to do next’ or ‘meeting the deadlines’.
• Your body is the only home you have. How you treat it physically, mentally, and virtually makes a difference. In the age of social media and pseudo-clout, it is very hard to listen to yourself. All the sense organs have become so sensitive that they provide less information and more distraction.
• Staying away from a certain thing for some time is good for your health. The next day when I was using the Internet, my whole point of view changed forever. Now I know how much time to give and how much time I can save.

I have done it 4 times now. Mostly on weekends. Try it out and see the difference for yourself.

Ping me if it worked out for you. Maybe I can learn more from it.