Addiction and You Part 3

So far in this series we have learnt why the common addictive substances/things are actually addictive. We have also learnt the damage they do to us neurologically and why they leave us feeling low and out-of-control of our own actions. In this post I will discuss how to overcome addiction itself, not simply overcome your addiction to one particular substance.

Because we are addicted to dopamine, not the substance that causes the dopamine spike, often addicts move from one addiction to another. They don’t overcome addiction, simply move the aim of their addiction. So, drug addicts become addicted to food instead and gain a lot of weight in a short amount of time, smokers become addicted to social media etc. But the underlying addictive behaviour is never dealt with – their craving of unnaturally high dopamine levels – and so the cycle repeats with different substances, but the result is the same, low mood and a feeling of being controlled by their addiction.

Fortunately, there is a way out, unfortunately, it is a slow process. Some people have coined the term ‘dopamine fasting’ and if you search this on YouTube you will find a number of people going through a “dopamine fast”, where they essentially remove anything that causes a large dopamine spike out of their lives for a certain amount if time. There is very little research behind the neuroscience of dopamine fasting, but it is a credible theory – stop experiencing high dopamine spikes for enough time to allow your dopamine receptors to repair/regenerate, allowing the everyday things which previously caused no pleasure, feel pleasurable again, as your tolerance of dopamine rebalances (there is some, scarce but interesting, research into the relationship between dopamine, glial cells and aromatase which tentatively support the dopamine fast theory (email me if you would like the nerdy neuropsychology)). In addition, we know that the types of things that would be limited in a dopamine fast, are exactly the types of things we should be limiting anyway to improve our mental health, not just for dopamine reasons but for a huge variety of reasons, much too complex to be viewed in a reductionistic way.

So, what are the things to reduce? How do you reduce them? And, for how long should you?

1.       Alcohol and non-prescribed drugs – Alcohol is a common addicting drug for a number of reasons beyond dopamine, so it is an easy replacement for addictions. Therefore, avoid it for the duration.

2.      Processed foods with high sugar or high fat – chocolate, biscuits, crips, cake, fizzy drinks etc. Start cooking more and preparing snacks for the day. If you find yourself craving such foods, drink a pint of water or go out for a walk (or both), or meditate on it (more on that in a future post).

3.      Social Media – All personal social media use. Delete the apps from your phone. It may be helpful to tell your close friends and family you are doing this and arrange to contact them via a phone call or face-to-face. If you use social media for business this may be tricky, but if you must ensure you are only using it for business use and nothing else.

4.      Phone – limit your time on your phone as much as possible. Notice your daily habits – do you check it first thing in the morning? If so, in the mornings leave it in the bedroom when you go downstairs to start your day. Do you scroll before you go to bed at night? If so, when you are ready to go to bed turn your phone off or put it on flight mode ready for the night.

5.      Television/screen time – Television releases dopamine. I would recommend limiting you TV time to only in the evening and a maximum of one hour.

6.      Caffeine – Without the sugary foods caffeine can fill the energy void. However, caffeine can become addictive too. Therefore, I would recommend keeping it to one cup of coffee a day, drank before 3pm. Don’t drink more than one caffeinated tea on top of this. Avoid caffeinated fizzy drinks such as Diet Coke, especially due to their aspartame use and other harmful substances. If you are used to consuming a lot of caffeine throughout the day, it will take 3 or 4 days for your reliance to fade. Make sure you are drinking plenty of water throughout the day, including a pint first thing in the morning.

7.      Pornography – None of this. Increased sexual stimulation produces large amounts of dopamine and, seemingly therefore, reduces the chemicals your brain needs to repair your neurotransmitter receptors. See next week’s post for managing boredom to help.

For advice on how to implement this fast, from duration, tips and advice, see my next post in this series.