{"id":1470,"date":"2020-02-08T14:33:21","date_gmt":"2020-02-08T22:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/?p=1470"},"modified":"2020-02-08T14:36:58","modified_gmt":"2020-02-08T22:36:58","slug":"dopamine-fasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/?p=1470","title":{"rendered":"Dopamine fasting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dopamine<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Taking a break from technology is a fine idea, but we don\u2019t need a pseudoscientific new name for it: dopamine fasting.  Launched with viral Silicon Valley memes<\/a>, online<\/a> reports<\/a>, and articles in the New York Times<\/em><\/a> and elsewhere<\/a>, dopamine fasting is now a thing.  Basically, the idea is to temporarily deprive oneself of the usual stimulations of life \u2014 largely electronic these days \u2014 in order to re-sensitize one\u2019s brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since several parties popularized the term, they wrestle over its definition.\u00a0 Some take an ascetic, global<\/a> view<\/a> of stimulation-avoidance, while others<\/a> limit the fast to electronic media.\u00a0 Getting too excited over these battles stimulates dopamine, of course.\u00a0 Perhaps it\u2019s best not to worry about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neuroscientists point out that the name is misleading.  Dopamine isn\u2019t uniquely implicated in habituation to stimuli or behavioral addictions (although it is certainly involved), and naming the neurotransmitter doesn\u2019t advance our understanding of the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, it\u2019s no surprise pundits debunk<\/a> the idea as repackaged common sense.  Sure, it\u2019s refreshing to step away from the rat race and attention-grabbing tech.  But we already have names for that: relaxing vacations, a \u201cmental health day\u201d, picturing your happy place, meditating, taking a walk to clear your head, the sabbath, sabbaticals, retreat weekends, and so on.  The concept is as old as humanity.  This, in turn, leads proponents to defend<\/a> their baby with heartfelt but not entirely rational distinctions between dopamine fasting and these other activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m in the debunking camp<\/a>.  I agree with one of the vocal proponents of dopamine fasting, Cameron Sepah, who concedes<\/a>: \u201cThe term is technically incorrect, but \u2018stimulus control 101 for dealing with addictive behavior\u2019 just doesn\u2019t have the same ring to it.\u201d  In other words, the term \u201cdopamine fasting\u201d is hype, referring (with false, dopamine-inducing excitement) to an old, well-understood behavioral practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also the latest example of misleading the public with whiz-bang neurobiological language.   This is rampant<\/a> in modern psychiatry, where the mere existence of functional brain imaging (allowing us to visualize metabolic activity in the brain) makes the field \u201cbiological\u201d \u2014 even though our biological treatments haven\u2019t improved as a result, and remain wholly symptomatic and empirical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attach a \u201cneuro-\u201d prefix or a brain chemical to your field of interest, and the world beats a path to your door.  I recently joked<\/a> that if we re-cast psychotherapy as \u201cverbal neuromodulation\u201d the field would enjoy newfound popularity and research funding.  This is essentially what the advocates of dopamine fasting did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selling products with pseudoscience isn\u2019t new.  Old-time cigarette ads<\/a>, believe it or not, touted their health benefits.  Athletic clothing has been over-hyped<\/a> to the tune of multimillion-dollar false-advertising settlements.  Cosmetic<\/a> ads frequently invoke essentially meaningless scientific terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference now is that social media has made the \u201cmarketplace of ideas\u201d a real marketplace.\u00a0 Popularizing ideas, and by extension oneself, now demands the same promotional tactics previously used to sell cigarettes and soap.\u00a0 Can you, in some convoluted way, tie your idea to neuroplasticity?\u00a0 dopamine?\u00a0 cellular regeneration?\u00a0 If so, you\u2019re well on your way to becoming an influencer.\u00a0 Yes, you\u2019ll be pandering to the attention economy, and presumably stimulating and thus depleting everyone\u2019s dopamine in the bargain.\u00a0 But don\u2019t let that stop you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dopamine <\/p>\n

Taking a break from technology is a fine idea, but we don\u2019t need a pseudoscientific new name for it: dopamine fasting.  Launched with viral Silicon Valley memes, online reports, and articles in the New York Times and elsewhere, dopamine fasting is now a thing.  Basically, the idea is to temporarily deprive oneself of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[80,52],"class_list":["post-1470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-events","tag-hype","tag-neuroscience","odd"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1470"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1476,"href":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1470\/revisions\/1476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.stevenreidbordmd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}