There are so many delicious, amazing things, so much pleasure around us isn't that happiness? The line between pleasure and harm, happiness and unhappiness - has ceased to be noticeable. We have learned to enjoy everything that surrounds us, replaced everything useful with harmful, became addicted and made it an everyday norm. We have learned to exploit happiness, without understanding its algorithm, we have learned to harm and kill ourselves.

The arrangement of our happiness hormones is remarkably simple: we become happy when we are satisfied. Social networks, games, movies, series, fast food, sex - all this allows you to feel instant pleasure, creating the illusion of continuation of life, believing that this is all that is needed for life. We are animals that are too arrogant to admit it to ourselves and take this into account when planning our actions. Someone thinks that he controls himself, but in fact, we all live as the brain commands.

Dopamine system

The dopamine system controls us, and we abuse it. Billions of people live on automatism - in exclusive consumption mode. Moreover, any industry is built on this, a surge of dopamine causes almost everything, only in different volumes - this is our internal drug that can be manipulated, and that it is so profitable to exploit by any company. It's the opposite of progress that can't be stopped!

Excessive amounts of fast carbohydrates, fat, sugar, preservatives and flavor enhancers in the diet, an endless feed of social networks of fast-consuming content, smoking, alcohol, soda, TV shows, movies, fast food - this is a very fast and easiest access to dopamine.

Every day we are faced with the choice of our consumption: do all the work in an hour or linger for the whole day and instead of work, spend time on the phone, cook yourself a healthy snack or eat fast carbohydrates. Our imperfect human brain does not see a threat if we eat a burger or a ton of chocolate instead of a healthy breakfast, because the brain is looking for carbohydrates for the body to survive, and the sooner we get it, the easier it is for the brain. Due to the imperfection of this system - addictions, bad habits appear, people become drug addicts, alcoholics, gambling addicts. This is the paradox of the dopamine system - the faster we get dopamine, the more harmful it is for us, but the brain does not understand this and wants to get it as quickly as possible, thereby forcing us to look for fast sources of dopamine, and this is a cyclical circle.

The trouble with this circle is that our dopamine receptors are similar to tongue receptors. If you burn your tongue with boiling water, you will not be able to feel the taste palette of other products for a long time, because sensitivity decreases and in order to feel something you need something richer and brighter in taste. Endless consumption leads to the fact that we burn this tongue again and again, not allowing it to recover. As a result, everything that we liked before - like less.

Overcoming dopamine addiction

To overcome dopamine addiction, first of all, you need to review all your habits and change them. Try to get your phone out of your morning routine. Most people pick up the phone in the morning, getting a dose of low-quality dopamine, for many this is already familiar. If you wake up to an alarm clock on your smartphone, then keep it further away from you, and the only thing you can take the phone for is to turn off the alarm clock, or rather buy a physical watch with an alarm function.

The same goes for music. Our brain, while listening to music, tries to predict the next notes and chords. And when it gets what it wants, it gets bursts of dopamine. So, you should accustom yourself to silence and periodically, especially in the morning, be in it.

Both in the morning and in the afternoon use your phone to a minimum. Change the habit to another: drink a glass of water with lemon, meditation, warm-up, replace music with podcasts or audio books, devote time to learning something new, take up your hobby, etc.

During a snack or a substantial meal, exclude viewing YouTube and any entertainment content. Replace all sweets with fruits and nuts, replace fast food and any other junk food with a full meal and slow carbohydrates and gradually reduce everything harmful to once a month or exclude from the diet. Sugar, various additives should also be excluded and not added to coffee or tea.

You need to create your own stable sleep and eating schedule, following your own diet, regularly consume fruits, vegetables, nuts and other healthy food. Because, it is possible to cope with bad habits and come to conscious consumption only when the body does not work for exhaustion and does not ask you to stuff it with all sorts of filth to make up for the abundance to which you have turned a blind eye. Therefore, people who consume little food during the day or lack enough sleep are more prone to fast food and a harmful lifestyle. One of the most important aspects of a healthy body is water balance, so, you should drink as much pure water as possible, excluding carbonated and sugary drinks (Albert, 2022).

Avoid alcohol, smoking, drugs. This is a short list of things to do to cut down on bad quality dopamine. It is important to understand that everything that surrounds us is an addition to happiness. Conscious consumption and dopamine detox teaches us to use it as a supplement, not as a primary source of pleasure. After all, excess pleasure is the path to misfortune.

Dopamine detox practice or dopamine fasting

The essence is clear to anyone: give up simple pleasures during the day. No games, no music, no gadgets, no social networks, no junk food. Stay alone with yourself. This is a serious test for a modem person who has surrounded himself with technology and entertainment. It is also very important to start everything gradually. By reducing the amount of cheap dopamine on a regular basis, over time you can try to introduce a new habit into your life. For example, once a week, on weekends after work, to give up all gadgets and sources of pleasure, try to get out, walk around the city, parks. In this way, we really begin to recover, relax, and begin to understand that life can be enjoyed without any additives, in a natural way. Also, apart from that, we reduce our desire to eat junk food, scroll social networks and touch the phone. We understand that we are no longer so worried about the notification and how much time they take from us (Albert, 2022).

People are very funny creatures, because they create something for their comfort, exploit and become dependent on it, turn it into a problem, and then feel free when they get rid of it.

References:

1. Albert. (2022). Ty - narkoman. Dofaminovaya zavisimost. [You are an addict. Dopamine addiction] YouTube. Retrieved November 4, 2022, from https://youtu.be/Ldv04eMFWxI.
2. Albert. (2022). Kak my sebya ubivayem. Dofaminovyy detoks. [How we kill ourselves. Dopamine Detox] YouTube. Retrieved November 4, 2022, from https://youtu.be/OM9L41PS7OU