Silicon Valley's newest wellness trend, dopamine fasting, isn't what you think it is

We weren’t quite over the last trend Silicon Valley hit us with yet but here we go again - there’s another new “fast” being popularised by the tech town. It’s called Dopamine Fasting and no, it has nothing to do with weight loss or your diet.

First things first - what is dopamine?

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter as well as a hormone that occurs naturally in your body. It has many important functions like initiating movement and speech. It is also released during pleasurable situations - like when you eat your favourite candy, have sex, win a hand at cards, order a new pair of boots and even when your receive a like or comment on social media. Once it gets released, it relays to the brain that a particular action or item gave you pleasure and is worth repeating. [caption id=“attachment_7734361” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Image source: Getty Images.[/caption] This relay of information is what causes you to reach for another piece of candy. But it also makes you want to gamble or shop a lot more, which can lead to unhealthy addictive behaviours. Even worse, partaking in drugs also causes a release in dopamine which can eventually result in drug addiction. A fluctuation in the level of dopamine can cause very serious problems. While a lack of dopamine can result in Parkinson’s disease, an excess of it can result in hallucinations, mania and schizophrenia.

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How does dopamine fasting work?

The new trend of “dopamine fasting” focuses on your well-being by trying to reduce addictive behaviours. It was introduced by Dr Cameron Sepah who claims that Dopamine Fasting 2.0 is for people who have a particular habit that is causing them distress or addiction or is interfering with their daily life/performance. It is practised by depriving yourself of the dopamine-releasing habit during the fasting period (starting from 1-4 hours a day). Adding a “feasting period” is optional - in case your aim is to only reduce the habit, not completely eliminate it. A feasting period is a predecided time and duration when you allow yourself to indulge in the dopamine-releasing habit. For example - using social media. Receiving a “like” can release dopamine and bring a sense of relief to many people. But receiving a “like” is also accompanied by a notification sound. After enough time, the notification sound itself can cause dopamine release - whether it ends up indicating a “like” on social media or just another pointless mass text. With dopamine fasting, you would have to introduce periods of time in your day when you don’t use social media - that means avoiding your phone completely. Over time, you could increase this fasting time duration. The idea is for this to give you back some control over what stimulates dopamine release in your body.

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Can dopamine fasting work?

Dopamine fasting does not have anything to do with reducing dopamine levels - that would be unhealthy. The fasting is just about abstaining from an unwanted behaviour for short periods and gradually training yourself to indulge in it less often. This practice sounds like a great first step to resolving increasingly common addictions like ones associated with social media, shopping or gaming. Only a first step, though - there’s more work to be done when dealing with addictive behaviour like dealing with triggers and withdrawal and seeking out professional help and a support system. To clarify once again - dopamine fasting does not mean you quit everything that gives you pleasure all at once. You can still allow yourself to feel pleasure while fasting - just from other things than the habit you’re trying to reduce. Health articles in Firstpost are written by myUpchar.com, India’s first and biggest resource for verified medical information. At myUpchar, researchers and journalists work with doctors to bring you information on all things health. For more information, please read our article on Food Addiction.