The Dopamine Detox Challenge *(Science Based)*

Day 2

 

Day 1 was fine. I didnt binge on anything, but I still wasn't as productive as I wish I was. Cant wait to remove all the cheap dopamine, and resensetize my neurons again.

 

@Bihari I'm on board on this journey, captain! For months I've been trying to implement
this project of Dopamine Detox and never get to it properly. I'll try a moderate approach:

Abstaining for:

0. PMO/P-Subs/edging (baseline)
2. YouTube (only for educational purposes)
3. All social media
7. Disturbing news media (and mindless internet surfing)

Activities reinforced:

1. Meditation
2. Reading
3. Journaling
4. Exercise

Today is day 0/30

 

day 3

 

@Bihari

I'd like to join.

Mode: Extreme

Abstaining from:
0. P/P-Subs/edging. (Will try to abstain from MO as well but still allowing it at first.)
1. Movies/ T.V. series.
2. Useless YouTube.
3. All social media.
4. Carby/ sugary foods.
5. Video games.
6. Music.
7. Disturbing news media.

For: 31 days starting today

 

Activities reinforced:

1. Meditation
2. Reading
3. Journaling
4. Exercise

I especially need to focus on reading (books) and journaling because those are pretty much missing completely right now. Everything else needs improvement.

Good luck everyone!

 

Actually, I'm going to allow music if I need it for exercise but I'm going to try to avoid it.

 

@Innervision I like your post, I've been abstaing from the same things. I also like your reinforced activities section, I must do the same. Btw how do you go about putting these things in practice? Do you design some system, or do you just hope you will follow your rules?
I am asking cause I've been struggling with this a lot too. And although most of the times I know what I should do, I found myself often unconsciously wasting time. So I am hopping be more intentional about my actions in the future.

 

Day 2 for me btw. I wasn't as productive as I wish I was, but I still abstained from the main time wasting activities so will count it in.

Btw how do you all go about dopamine detox, especially since nowdays almost everything is closed and we spend most of time in the house. How do you fill up your days? And how do you avoind binge watching YT?

I hope it would be helpful if we could all share some of the tips we've been using.

 

Day 4

 

Hello friend! I've been on this same spot for months, trying to implement this project of Dopamine Detox and always getting off the trail. One thing that helps me is to trace my desirable habits on some sort of system. I've been using a simple app called "Habits" that provide some accountability on this topic. For some activities I've felt it helps a lot to maintain focus and consistency (exercise and meditation, for example). My weak point on last months has been YouTube and internet surfing. I'll see how this 30-day challenge goes on that matter and hope to share some successful strategies. all the best!

 

Day 1/30 completed

On this first day of the challenge I managed to stay away from those restricted activities.
It was easier than I'd thought it would be. I spent my time with some reading and watching
a really good and instructive scientific TV-serie (Cosmos - with Neil deGrasse Tyson). Let's see
how it will be tomorrow. My plan is to focus on study, exercise and meditation.

 

@ola501

What I do is I make a schedule and I try to stick to it. I've had a lot of different ones and through trial and error (mostly error) I've created one that works pretty well for me.

It's the same for every day, so it's easier to stick to and make it a habit, but you can experiment with it if you want to give it a try. I just write it out in a Word document and have an activity for every hour of the day so that if I'm wasting time, I can always see what I'm supposed to be doing.

I still struggle to stick to my schedule but it's made me more productive than I was before and I seem to be getting better at it all the time. At least I get the most important things done every day. My hope is that this challenge will help me stick to my schedule fully.

If you want to get rid of YouTube all together, you can give this app a shot: https://getcoldturkey.com/

But YouTube is a tough one because there's so much helpful info on there as well. Whenever I try to block off YouTube, I always end up unblocking it because there's something beneficial I want to watch. I guess maybe it's a matter of being mindful of what you're watching but I know it's tough because the algorithm wants us to stay glued to our screens.

Anyway, hope this was helpful. Good luck!

 

Day 1

This was more just a day to orient myself towards this challenge. I had a bad relapse last night after a day spent marinating in dopamine and I stayed up too late but still woke up early so I wasn't in the best shape.

I still spent the day doing only meaningful things. I mainly did a lot of journaling and preparing for this challenge and some meditation but not as much as I would've liked to.

I did almost give in to watching useless TV because I was so exhausted I felt there was nothing else I could do, but instead I came here and at least spent my time getting myself more oriented towards this challenge and taking NoFap seriously again.

 

Indeed! We all have been on this situation many and many times. Every relapse, though, is a chance to evaluate what has gone wrong and what can be improved. Failure is part of the same path to improvement and development. Keep focused!

 

Dopamine Detox Day 1 - April 26 2020 (Continued):

Instead of going to sleep with my laptop, as I often do (talk about addiction), I put my laptop away when I prepared to go to sleep, did another short meditation session, and finished the book that I've been trying to focus on for months! I'm going to read it again though, because it's an easy book to help me build the habit of reading before bed, and it's a book I really want to internalize. It's a book about the lives of meditation masters and it's very inspiring to me. They're all very short chapters so it's easy to put down and make sure I get enough sleep.

 

Day 5

 

Dopamine Detox Day 2 - April 27 2020:

It seems like this challenge was exactly what I needed to get my act together. Today was not a perfect day but it was a far better day than it would've been if I hadn't joined this challenge. I was a lot more focused and productive. More able to stick to my schedule. Looking forward to improving every day! Cutting out all the useless distractions was exactly what I should've done all along.