The new trend involves the planned temporary abstinence from classes that bring pleasure. Adepts of such austerity believe that it stimulates the brain and increases productivity. We decided to check how reasonable this practice is from a scientific point of view.

Sites write about the benefits of dopamine starvation organizationsoffering personal and professional growth courses, online storesselling dietary supplements and vitamins, Mediadedicated to creative approaches in business, and sports sites. More carefully fit the topic Lifestail projects And Business publications. At large Moscow sites, thematic eventsWhere dopamine starvation can be practiced under the supervision of curators.

The concept of dopamine starvation (it is also dopamine diet, dopamine detox) arose In the late 2010s. Its inventor and main popularizer is the California psychiatrist Cameron Sepa. His clients, among whom were a lot of IT specialists from Silicon Valley, complained about fatigue from permanent stay at the computer and to cope with it independently. Within the framework of a psychological approach called “cognitive-behavioral therapy”, Sep invited their patients to analyze what exactly they distract themselves from work and how they spend their free time and determine those incentives that bring short-term pleasure, but increase the level of anxiety. At the next stage, customers were invited to replace these classes with something else-for example, instead of scrolling the tape of social networks to walk with friends and thereby let the brain rest. Sepa advised to allocate special intervals for this and gradually increase them - say, start from an hour at the end of the working day, then spend a day off, and then for several days in a row without an alarm. This approach is intuitive-for such “training” a relaxed evening of Friday is better suitable, a weekend with a family or a vacation with friends, and subsequently it will be possible to use the method during more intense working hours.

The key in the approach of Sepa was the definition of incentives, which, despite the short pleasure, subsequently lead to an increase in anxiety, and short -term abstinence from them. Psychiatrist Highlighted Six such classes:

emotional nutrition, that is, an attempt to seize stress;
excessive use of the Internet;
gambling and spontaneous purchases;
View pornography and masturbation;
use of recreational drugs;
Obtaining bright and/or new sensations.

And if the first five points are formulated quite clearly, then a lot can be attributed to the sixth with a certain desire. It is on this uncertainty that the concept of dopamine starvation perverted by the followers of Supa was built, which implies the rejection of almost any pleasure: eating delicious (not even harmful) food or its preparation, sex, communication with friends, hobbies, etc. Adepts of such a “diet” are sure that the same activity will bring much more satisfaction. Moreover, if Sepa used the word “dopamine”, probably only because of its wide fame, then these people directly associate the effectiveness of the proposed practices with the level of this substance in the body.

Dopamine - Hormone and neurotransmitterwhich is responsible for the transfer of nerve impulses between neurons, especially in the central nervous system, and plays a key role in regulating motivation, mood, motor activity and cognitive functions. In the brain, Dopamine participates in the remuneration system, providing a sense of pleasure and satisfaction (this, in turn, stimulates the repetition of certain actions). In addition, it affects the functioning of the cardiovascular system, kidneys, pancreas and digestive tract, adjusting the expansion of blood vessels, urine release, insulin production and intestinal peristalsis.

In the human body dopamine synthesized From the entering the amino acid of tyrosine. This process takes place in several areas of the brain, including black substance and the adjacent nucleus involved in the control of movements and the formation of motivation, respectively. Different production is stimulated by different internal and external factors: pleasant sensations, anticipation of remuneration, delicious food, physical exercises, as well as stressful situations and pain. These incentives activate in the brain Nigrostrian the path (he is responsible for motor activity) and Mesocorticolimbic The path (for motivation). Thus, dopamine not only provides a sense of joy, but also helps the body adapt to environmental changes and maintain vital functions.

Increase dopamine production Can in two ways: either saturate the body with a thyrosin, or to stimulate the corresponding parts of the brain. In the first case, it is worth consuming food rich in this amino acid - chicken, bananas, beets, chocolate, green tea, oatmeal, oranges or tomatoes. In the second case, there is no universal method - a person needs to do business that bring him pleasure (this can be, for example, physical exercises, meditation, yoga, massage, play with pets, natural walks or reading).

Psychologist Susan Albers in a commentary for the authoritative clinic Cleveland Explains: Many adherents of dopamine starvation believe that, thanks to the rejection of some actions, they reduce the level of dopamine in the body and that this is useful for the body. This misconception is based on faith in the tolerance to dopamine - supposedly its too frequent effect on the body causes a kind of addiction, and life from this becomes less pleasant. However, dopamine is not a stimulant, not a drug or a toxin, but a hormone, to force the body to produce it less necessary. Moreover, the low level of dopamine is observed in Parkinson, depression suffering from the disease, restless legs and ADHG syndrome, and also proven health problems - from chronic constipation to memory problems.

Doctor of Medicine Peter GreenSpun agrees with the colleague. In the material for the Harvard School of Medicine, he Writes: “While the level of dopamine really rises in response to pleasant actions or as a reward, in fact it does not decrease when you avoid excessive stimulating activity, so dopamine starvation has nothing to do with the real level of dopamine.” According to the expert, the perverted interpretation of Sepa’s methodology went so far that people, within the framework of the dopamine diet, refuse the classes that the author himself offered to replace unhealthy - for example, refrain from sports or communicating with friends, and also limit themselves in such neutral things as listening to music.

Experts express other fears regarding dopamine starvation. For example, Nandakumar Nandakumar Narayanan from the University of Aiova (USA) worry Food supplements promoted as reducing dopamine levels. There is no recorded benefit from such drugs, and what is actually in their composition and how it affects the body is unknown. Psychologist David Tsal sees Another problem associated with dopamine starvation: a sharp cessation of classes pleasant to a person can negatively affect his mental health. “The rebound effect may appear when the detoxification period ends and people experience a strong desire to do what they had previously limited. This leads to behavior similar to a binge and negates the goal of detoxification, ”Tsall said.

Finally, neurobiologist Stefani Borgland from the University of Kalgary (Canada) statesthat the dopamine system is simply too complicated for the "starvation" to change it. “In order for the brain to retrain, it takes much more time,” the scientist emphasizes, referring to the results of experiments with rats. Thus, in the framework of laboratory tests, rodents were “planted” on drugs, and after their cancellation, the dopamine system remained in a changed form for at least a month (with the total life expectancy of a rat of two to three years).

At the same time, experts agree that the original concept of abstinence from unhealthy classes, “sold” by sep under the sonorous, but not related to hormones, the name “dopamine starvation” is generally quite justified. In fact, this is a long-known and well-established method of cognitive-behavioral therapy, in the framework of which people reveal ineffective habits of thinking, behavior or relationships with loved ones and replace them with more useful ones. At the same time, this direction of psychotherapy does not promise and does not give any decrease in the level of dopamine, although it Effective For balancing compulsive behavior and behavioral dependence on, for example, gambling or sex.

Thus, there is no reason to abandon the joy of classes to reduce the level of dopamine. Firstly, the dopamine system is quite difficult, and it will not change it for several hours or even a week of abstinence. Secondly, in any case, it will not lead to a decrease in the level of this hormone. Thirdly, the reduced level of dopamine will not bring any return to life. At the same time, a gradual rejection of bad habits and replacing them with more useful - common (and quite working) psychological practice.

Image on the cover: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay