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The Dopamine Detox Challenge *(Science Based)*

Discussion in 'Events & Challenges' started by Bihari, Apr 22, 2020.

  1. ola501

    ola501 Fapstronaut

    Hey Guys
    Day 1
    I am ready to start, will be going hard mode for the next 10 days. For now no cheap dopamine or binging.
    Daily update on NF.
    This will be the first thing I will be updating before anything is allowed.
    First time 100% in. This may be rough. Bear with me. I'm ready to go. Lets see how intentional I can stay.
    At 10 days will be reevaluating.
    #StayStrong brothers!
     
    Last edited: Apr 19, 2021
  2. ola501

    ola501 Fapstronaut

    Day 2,

    Hey folks, day has been good. Went over my news reading limit today, and briefly skimmed through social media. But everything was under control. No porn or erotic thinking/substitutes. Food was a healthy intake. Will call today a success, but obviously still tremendous space for improvement.
    #StaySharp everyone!
     
  3. ola501

    ola501 Fapstronaut

    Day 3/10

    Today is a success, didn't breach the limits set forth above, but definitely was relaxed. Need to get more aggressive. #StaySharp Everyone!
     
  4. Sebbrix

    Sebbrix Fapstronaut

    I'd love to jump into this challenge, I've been really bad at sticking to things recently so having somewhere to stay accountable would be really useful! I'm not going to track PMO on this because I feel more confident about going far with that, and mixing it with this could cause me to relapse more often. Instead I'll abstain from Movies/tv series, youtube, and video games. The only other one I would consider would be social media, but telling myself to abstain from that would be a guaranteed failure about 20 times a day... I'll cut back on it and eventually I hope I'll add it to this list, but for now I'll just do those three. I'll put today as day 0 since I played some video games this morning, and I'll try to pop up most days to check in :)
     
    til_im_free likes this.
  5. til_im_free

    til_im_free Fapstronaut

    301
    2,749
    123
    Hi there! I entered the nofap community today, after getting frustated with an ugly relapse. I'm entering a few challenges threads to keep me motivated. This one sounds amazing, and I have already been working on this low dopamine stimulus for some months.
    I'll abstain from 1,2,3,5,6 and 7. (I can't live without cake and also don't have a gf, haha)
    I'll work on: meditation, journaling, writing (I like writing poetry) and running.

    Hope to nail this!
     
    Overcome Fear and Sebbrix like this.
  6. Sebbrix

    Sebbrix Fapstronaut

    1 day without, I found myself hovering over the Youtube button on the google dashboard a couple of times but then I stopped myself - I didn't have anything I actively wanted on YT, it was just a force of habit
     
  7. Day 30/30. Now that it's over, I will make sure to not get so carried away with all the dopamine releasing activities. I like how I'm so sensitive now to food and music. Water and plain salad tastes delicious. Even music I don't like sounds heavenly.
     
    ola501 likes this.
  8. InnerMan

    InnerMan Fapstronaut

    227
    813
    123
    In!

    Moderate mode.

    1) Disciplined Youtube use (for study/learning and no mindless video surfing).
    2) Completely abstain from two time-killing websites that I go to
    3) Limit nofap.com to once a day for max 30 mins.
     
    Overcome Fear likes this.
  9. ola501

    ola501 Fapstronaut

    Day 1, resetting, definitely went over my social media limits this weekend, and didn't keep my sexual desires in check.
    New week, starting again with a more serious approach!
     
  10. ola501

    ola501 Fapstronaut

    Hey Friend
    Can you post a longer update on how you feel now that 30 days have passed, what have you learned and what were your main challenges along the way. I am sure we will all find it informative. Do you think you will go again? Why yes/no?
     
  11. fuck I feel bad that I quit when I had 90 days of detox guess I'm doing it tomorrow but what should I do with my time because I have an easy time doing homework this semester than last any ideas?
     
  12. Sebbrix

    Sebbrix Fapstronaut

    Back to day 0, I got drunk with my housemate last night and we played mario kart until like 2am, it was a reset but damn it was a fun one
     
  13. Innervision

    Innervision Fapstronaut

    Hey, fellows! I'm joining this challenge once again. I've had some success with it on the past, but never fully accomplished the 30-days mark.

    Moderate mode

    Activities avoided
    - P/M
    - Mindless internet surfing
    - Social media (allowed just 1 check for day)
    - News over-consumption

    Activities reinforced
    - Reading
    - Meditation
    - Exercise
    - Watching good stuff (movies, lectures, series)
    - Studying/Playing Chess

    Today is Day 0/30
     
    Overcome Fear and ola501 like this.
  14. ola501

    ola501 Fapstronaut

    Day 2, Same as above. No cheap dopamine through intentionality in all my actions.
     
    Overcome Fear likes this.
  15. This was my second time finishing the challenge. I don't think I'm going to do it again as I didn't really learn anything new (already understood what I've posted below) and just went through it to see how much easier it is now than the first time.

    I've been living without PMO, video games, movies, TV, sugar, junk food, and music for some time now. So it wasn't much of a change from my normal lifestyle. I just added in other stuff like avoiding high carb food, social media, and internet use for the extra challenge.

    The main thing I learned is when I removed my main coping mechanism whether it happens to be PMO, food, sugar, alcohol, gambling, or any other compulsive activity, my brain quickly re-wires and finds other substitute activities to latch onto. That's why when I first quit PMO some years ago, I immediately latched onto video games, then I quit that and then it became movies, then I quit that then it was music, then I quit that and then it was junk food, etc... It keeps going that way because I wasn't attacking the underlying problem: I was attacking my ineffective solution to the problem.

    I didn't know it until recently, but these compulsive activities is how I learned to cope with having grown-up in an alcoholic home without parental love or emotional support, having been physically and sexually abused, and never having a girlfriend nor any friends to talk to. Some of these happened a long time ago, but I never dealt with those issues nor came to terms with them. When I'm isolated from pretty much everyone, it's easy to feel like crap and believe the world is against me and so anything which immediately changes how I feel becomes a new compulsion. This is why junk food, video games, drugs, and PMO are so powerful because they quickly change how I feel and they are things I can do alone.

    Using those compulsive activities as my way of coping, I wasn't learning how to sit alone with my problems and allowing myself to feel angry, frustrated, sad, jealous, and other painful emotions which I was taught to suppress as a child. These feelings aren't bad as long as I don't do anything under their influence. For example, my jealousy of others was my justification for using PMO because I believed it was not fair to me that I can't attract a girlfriend nor make any friends as easy as others because of growing-up in a dysfunctional family. So instead of doing something with my painful feelings, I just learned to sit there alone, accept that no one is going to help me but me, and let the feelings bubble up without judgment; they then dissipated on their own. I did this for days at a time. Meditation and cold showers helped bring them up.

    After doing this for some days, my compulsive activities slowly stopped being interesting. I no longer feel the urge to engage in them. I can still do them if I want to, but I no longer crave them as I did before. Now when I "relapse" in my streak, it is because I choose to and not because I gave in to urges. I have no urges so I live in flatline pretty much all the time. Flatline has its own problems, but it does destroy all urges.

    In case anyone is interested, my strategy was derived from advice I learned from reading this article: https://www.menprovement.com/masturbation-addiction/
     
    greenishmoon, ola501 and Innervision like this.
  16. Sebbrix

    Sebbrix Fapstronaut

    I had an awful day today - totally unproductive and I watched a favourite comedy sketch on youtube this morning so it's another reset for the counter. However it was wonderful to have my dinner party this evening - really good company, really good food, and a wonderful atmosphere. That is the good kind of dopamine that I wish I could get more of, instead of this crappy youtube, social media filth

    So yeah day 0 again
     

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