Dopamine fasting...yes it's a real thing.

It's Silicon Valley's hot new trend, but would you do it?

[ajmarr]

Why dopamine feasting is needed, not dopamine fasting
Emitted by clusters of neurons or ‘nuclei’ in the midbrain, dopamine is formally regarded as a ‘neuromodulator’ which activates groups of brain cells to center attention and facilitate thinking, and is subjectively felt as a sense of energy, elation, or arousal, but not ironically, pleasure. Dopamine is released upon the anticipation or experience of positive novel or discrepant events wherein moment to moment outcomes differ from what is expected. A primary role for dopamine is to change the importance or salience of moment to moment behavior, or ‘decision utility’. This momentary salience may or may not conform to the overall importance of an extended behavior sequence, but it does not and cannot predict the long-term importance of that sequence. For example, intermittent small wins on a slot machine increase the salience or moment to moment importance of each pull of the lever, and the decision utility of the moment may or may not conform to a winning jackpot, but it nonetheless cannot predict whether in the long run a jackpot will occur. Dopamine only influences the value of the here and now, but often sets us off in eccentric and wrongheaded directions, which causes unneeded stress, worry, and depression. Dopamine activity is something we all need, and indeed crave, and the real issue is arranging our lives so that it is coherent with meaningful (creativity, productive work) and not meaningless activity (social media). In other words, dopamine can be a source of joy or grief, it all depends upon how we arrange the circumstances that elicit it. Avoiding dopamine or ‘fasting’ is not the answer, using and enhancing it intelligently IS.
To illustrate, here is a simple procedure that can do that. Just follow a simple resting protocol (mindfulness procedure is best for this), and simultaneously pursue or anticipate pursuing meaningful behavior (e.g. cleaning house, writing poetry, exercise, etc.). Do this continuously for standard sessions of a least a half hour and chart your progress. As a result, you will be more pleasurably alert, engaged, and incented to continue being productive and resist distraction. Neurologically, this is due to ‘opioid-dopamine’ interactions, or the fact that rest is pleasurable due to the induction of opioid activity in the brain. Meaningful activity on the other hand induces dopaminergic activity, which is felt as a state of alert arousal but NOT pleasure. Opioid and dopamine neurons are located adjacently in the midbrain, and when both are simultaneously activated will also co-stimulate each other, resulting in enhanced feelings of arousal and pleasure. Indeed, when rest is accompanied by highly meaningful behaviors (creating art, athletic achievement), pleasure and alertness are highly accentuated, resulting in ‘peak’ or ‘flow’ experiences. So, there is my procedure to increase dopamine level, impart a sense of joy, and all without any fasting, give or take an hour!
I offer a more detailed explanation in pp. 47-52, and pp 82-86 of my open source book on the neuroscience of resting states, ‘The Book of Rest’, linked below.
This above book is based on the work of the distinguished neuroscientist Kent Berridge of the University of Michigan, a preeminent researcher and authority on dopamine, addiction, and motivation, who was kind to vet the work for accuracy and endorse the finished manuscript.
Berridge’s Site
also:
Meditation and Rest
from the International Journal of Stress Management, by this author

[JMKentzel]

Ahh the good ol uninformed talking heads opinion format. Entertainm…… I mean news at its finest. So informative 😝