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> While dopamine does rise in response to rewards or pleasurable activities, it doesn’t actually decrease when you avoid overstimulating activities, so a dopami

> While dopamine does rise in response to rewards or pleasurable activities, it doesn’t actually decrease when you avoid overstimulating activities, so a dopamine “fast” doesn’t actually lower your dopamine levels. I'm having a genuinely hard time understanding the logic of this statement.

weird-eye-issue 5y ago
Probably it's referring to your baseline dopamine levels not decreasing
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chrisseaton 5y ago
> I'm having a genuinely hard time understanding the logic of this statement. Doesn't lower your level from a baseline.
- throwuxiytayq 5y ago
  Yes, but the other activities increase it from the baseline. I'm still struggling to figure out what's useful about the statement.
montroser 5y ago
I think it's saying there's a relatively constant nonzero floor, and that your behavior really make it peak, but can't actually lower the floor.
- gameswithgo 5y ago
  what about the state or number of receptors that it binds to?
patmorgan23 5y ago
The others being a bit too literally/missing th obvious that your baseline levels of dopamine are lower than when your engaging in the activities listed in the article and that's what people are referring to when they say a 'dopamine fast'. Not literally removing all dopamine from your body, but reducing your overall levels/staying at the baseline more. I haven't gotten through the entire article but I'm surprised no one's brought up the natural down regulation your body/brain does in reaction to elevated levels of any hormone. This tolerance the body builds up is one of the forces that cause people to become addicted to things because then they have not only the positive reinforcement but the negative reinforcement of needing the thing just to feel normal. Its the hedonic treadmill.
- bildung 5y ago
  > Not literally removing all dopamine from your body, but reducing your overall levels/staying at the baseline more. To my knowledge there is no evidence that more dopamine gets created when practicing unhealthy behaviour. Neurotransmitters are much more complex than the simplistic fasting model describes. If you don't have severe malnutrion (e.g. not enough tyrosine etc.) or Parkinson or ADHS or similar, the dopamine is just there in your brain, waiting to be released as needed. We don't create more of it just because we look at insta 50 times a day. And we can't use it all up through behavior alone (but things like amphetamines do, of course). The metaphor of dopamine levels working like battery levels is simply wrong. High levels of dopamine correlate with good mood, but also schizophrenia. ADHS patients' symptoms can both get better and worse when consuming dopamin produgs.
  - blindmute 5y ago
    The idea is to downregulate the receptors. Of course this doesn't happen quickly; see my other comment ITT

weird-eye-issue 5y ago

Probably it's referring to your baseline dopamine levels not decreasing

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chrisseaton 5y ago

> I'm having a genuinely hard time understanding the logic of this statement. Doesn't lower your level from a baseline.

throwuxiytayq 5y ago
Yes, but the other activities increase it from the baseline. I'm still struggling to figure out what's useful about the statement.

montroser 5y ago

I think it's saying there's a relatively constant nonzero floor, and that your behavior really make it peak, but can't actually lower the floor.

gameswithgo 5y ago
what about the state or number of receptors that it binds to?

patmorgan23 5y ago

The others being a bit too literally/missing th obvious that your baseline levels of dopamine are lower than when your engaging in the activities listed in the article and that's what people are referring to when they say a 'dopamine fast'. Not literally removing all dopamine from your body, but reducing your overall levels/staying at the baseline more. I haven't gotten through the entire article but I'm surprised no one's brought up the natural down regulation your body/brain does in reaction to elevated levels of any hormone. This tolerance the body builds up is one of the forces that cause people to become addicted to things because then they have not only the positive reinforcement but the negative reinforcement of needing the thing just to feel normal. Its the hedonic treadmill.

bildung 5y ago
> Not literally removing all dopamine from your body, but reducing your overall levels/staying at the baseline more. To my knowledge there is no evidence that more dopamine gets created when practicing unhealthy behaviour. Neurotransmitters are much more complex than the simplistic fasting model describes. If you don't have severe malnutrion (e.g. not enough tyrosine etc.) or Parkinson or ADHS or similar, the dopamine is just there in your brain, waiting to be released as needed. We don't create more of it just because we look at insta 50 times a day. And we can't use it all up through behavior alone (but things like amphetamines do, of course). The metaphor of dopamine levels working like battery levels is simply wrong. High levels of dopamine correlate with good mood, but also schizophrenia. ADHS patients' symptoms can both get better and worse when consuming dopamin produgs.
- blindmute 5y ago
  The idea is to downregulate the receptors. Of course this doesn't happen quickly; see my other comment ITT