Dopamine diet: why Silicon Valley refuses pleasures - ForumDaily
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Dopamine diet: why Silicon Valley refuses pleasures

A temporary rejection of technology, food, narcotic substances and even communication reloads the brain and allows you to enjoy your daily life more, supporters of such diets say. What does science say about the next fashionable chip of a technological hub? This publication found out with the BBC.

Фото: Depositphotos

When James Cink goes on a dopamine diet, he removes as many external stimuli as possible from his life. He does not eat, but drinks a lot of water. He refuses a phone, laptop and other gadgets and avoids communication with people, even eye contact.

“I'm lucky to have my friends, family and partner supporting me,” says the Silicon Valley entrepreneur. - I warn you in advance: on November 17th I have a dopamine fast, so, sorry, you won’t hear me. It's not because I don't love you, I just have to do this for myself. At first they didn’t understand, but then they got used to it.”

There are many people like 24-year-old Senka in Silicon Valley. The technology hub has always been at the forefront of new trends in healthy living. But is the dopamine diet just a fancy name for old meditation?

Limitation is worth it

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, that is, a substance that transmits messages between brain cells. Dopamine is incorrectly associated with pleasure, because in fact it is responsible for the motivation to act.

“The release of dopamine is triggered by a variety of external stimuli, especially unexpected and striking ones,” explains Joshua Berke, a professor of neurology and psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco. “These can range from unpleasant loud noises to stimuli that we associate with reward through previous experience.”

Supporters of dopamine starvation believe that we have become victims of the excessive amount of stimuli that cause dopamine jumps, such as social media, technology and food.

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They say that deliberate limitation of these stimuli, which seem pleasant to us, reduces the amount of dopamine in the brain. Because of this, after the end of fasting, our brain gets more pleasure from these stimuli, and our life becomes better.

According to Cinco, constant doses of dopamine make us insensitive to it, just as the effect of cocaine decreases if you use it too often.

Psychologist Dr. Cameron Cepa, whose clients mostly live in Silicon Valley, says the dopamine diet is based on behavioral therapy. Her goal is to develop “stimulus control,” which helps drug addicts. And at the same time improve the quality of life.

“Their work requires constant activation, and this causes stress, so they are susceptible to various addictions that help them overcome it,” explains the specialist.

Her customers cannot completely abandon social networks and technologies, but he offers them to refrain from them for a while.

According to the doctor, her patients report an improvement in mood, focus and performance. Which also allows them to devote more time to other useful activities.

Cink recalls his first accidental fasting in childhood. He could not eat anything for three days, and then he felt a pleasant lightness. From time to time, he fasted at the university, and now he regularly resorts to this practice.

He also refuses technology for a certain period, and in the last year, he arranges for himself a dopamine post every three months.

“The dopamine fast for me is just a combination of other types of fasting that I have done in my life,” he says.

During fasting, a person reduces irritants in three areas: environment, behavior, and chemical stimulants.

He does not listen to music, does not use electronics and does not talk to anyone. He also avoids artificial light, where possible, does not eat, does not use drugs or additives.

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The hardest part is finding the time to do it given his workload. “It’s not an easy task and it requires a lot of effort from us, but it’s worth it,” adds Mr. Cinca.

Is the new the well-forgotten old?

However, not everyone is convinced of the benefits of the dopamine diet. “Firstly, dopamine is not directly related to pleasure or happiness,” explains Professor Berke.

He adds that he knows of “no evidence at all” that cutting out technology and food can reduce dopamine levels in the brain.

“It certainly makes sense that taking a break from compulsively checking smartphone messages or partying every night would be beneficial. But it is unlikely that this has anything to do with dopamine,” says the professor.

In addition, this practice is very similar to the Buddhist Vipassana meditation, which has been known for more than 2500 years. Before starting meditation, you must abstain from “killing, stealing, sexual activity, lying and drugs.”

Another condition is to avoid intoxication, not only alcohol or drugs, but also artificial additives in food. This last requirement, together with the desire for asceticism, allows us to draw parallels between the two practices.

“It looks like it's just a rebranding of an old famous meditation,” says Dan Lyons, a technology journalist and author and screenwriter for the HBO series “Silicon Valley.”

“The trend last year was microdosing. For example, smoke herbs, but not much, so that you can work effectively. That's what they said in the 1960s,” says Lyons.

Sexism also plays a role. “Gwyneth Paltrow, for example, gets laughed at, but the same pointless things proposed by rich white men become trends.”

According to Cinco, what he does is a form of modern meditation. People criticize what they don’t understand. But his dopamine diet helps him to feel the joy of life again.

You can call it anything you like, not necessarily dopamine fasting. But actually it helps to feel control over your life.

“This is an important feeling for us. If you feel that you are in control of your behavior and are successfully coping with problems, you will feel better,” the researchers conclude.

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