How to take back control over your life?

Lets talk about dopamine? People call it a chemical of want and desire.

How dopamine works?

Your brain rewards you for anything that will increase your likelihood of survival by releasing a neurotransmitter called Dopamine in your brain. That’s the reason why it feels so damn good to have sex or to eat a delicious meal because our brain thinks that sex equals a reproduction of our species and food equals long-lasting satiation.

Example: As soon as you are standing in front of the fridge, and you have the choice to either choose a carrot or a piece of chocolate, your brain tells you to pick the one which releases more dopamine as it knows that it will make you more pleasure. You might say, "that’s not too bad to eat a piece of chocolate every now or then”. As soon as the brain releases more and more dopamine, it will stimulate the craving for that thing over and over again. And that’s when the addiction kicks in and we can’t live without it.
For this silly reason, people become overweight, alcoholics, or drug addicts. The thing is that Dopamine doesn’t know what’s good for us and what isn’t. For this reason, drug addicts are willing to let their whole life fall apart only to get that one hit of dopamine again and again.

There are millions of experts specifically designing their products and internet platforms to release as much dopamine as possible in order to make us come back over and over again. That’s why social media platforms switch from chronological feeds to algorithm-based feeds and that’s why video games have levels and ranking systems, to keep us coming back. They give us constant dopamine hits as we jump from one post to the next one and from one level to the next one. These all things don’t take any effort, we simply have to consume and instantly be rewarded with massive hits of dopamine.

This problem is much bigger than we think:

Dopamine Detox rules:

1. No social media apps (reduced social media, as some apps may have obligate requirements, but with the use of timers).
2. No digital entertainment (No Netflix)
3. No junk foods
4. No coke
5. No alcohol, drugs, or porn
6. No music This detox process requires at least 5-7 days.

Result of detox:

1. Replacement of harmful activity with some productive work.
2. You will start enjoying your environment. Some kind of boredom is really necessary for that thing to happen.
3. You can restore your daily routine by going for walks and working out. Things will make you feel present and alive.
4. You will become more productive and focused.
5. Also releases your stress and thus helps you to stay away from hypertension and other lifestyle diseases.

Thus detox is the first step to gaining control over your life.