Have you ever wondered why you lack motivation to work, study, or read the book that has been sitting on that table for months? Do you ever wonder why you don’t mind scrolling your phone for hours, but you keep on saying you don’t have time to exercise or read? And is there anything you could do to change this?
This article aims at answering these questions by looking into the brain neurotransmitter: Dopamine. Referred to as the pleasure molecule, Dopamine makes us desire things when released and gives us the motivation we need to do them. But why doesn’t this happen when we’re working, even when we do love our jobs? The answer is simple. Dopamine is released when we know that there is an immediate reward following our behaviors, like a text message from someone we like that makes us look at our phones every two seconds, or the haunt for entertaining gossip on our Facebook feed.
More seriously, dopamine is released by the brain of a drug addict whenever they are about to consume drugs, because they anticipate the pleasure it would generate. It is important to note that nearly everything causes the release of some amount of dopamine, even a bite you have when you’re hungry, but the Dopamine release is high when we expect an incentive or reward to follow.
When we regularly perform activities that generate the release of high Dopamine levels, our brains gradually get used to receiving these amounts and then develop a tolerance to it, that means that we don’t get as excited about social media as we did the first time we used it because of habit and consistency, the high levels thus become the new normal.
This is clearly a problem because it means that we lack motivation in doing the things that don’t give us the high levels of Dopamine we’re craving. The good news is that we can still change this by performing a “Dopamine Detox”, meaning that we act in a way that makes the dopamine levels released by our brain get back to their “normal” state.
All we need to do is to avoid activities that generate the high levels of Dopamine, such as spending hours on social media platforms, playing video games, or doing shopping. Set these Dopamine stimulators aside and have some time with no “fun” in its usual sense. The longer you manage to do this, the better results would be as you’ll help your Dopamine receptors recover by embracing boredom. You can of course still perform activities you like such as listening to music or going for a walk but none of the stimulators that generate an immediate reward are allowed.
Not only will this help you reflect on life and priorities, but it will help you get rid of the dependency on activities that generate high Dopamine, until the ones that are less satisfying become desirable (such as working, studying or reading). This detox exercise can be extremely useful when performed occasionally and can help us lose old habits and find proper replacements for them. What is even better is that we can still consciously reward ourselves with a highly stimulating activity every time we complete a difficult task!
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