Feb 6, 2024 1 min read

Dopamine Fasting Pitfalls

Does it make sense to practice dopamine fasting?

Controlling your dopamine for [[motivation]], [[focus]] & [[satisfaction]] by avoiding low-effort dopamine spikes makes a lot of sense in general.

However, maintaining a balance of low and high-effort dopamine is probably more beneficial in the long run than hardline avoidance of a [[cheap dopamine]].

Otherwise,

You eventually build up another form of addiction. Addiction to hard work
As an addiction, it displaces other sources of dopamine, which you avoid as low-effort ones
Hard work eventually exhausts you
You get in a loop where
- you can't continue grinding as before
- you don't have a habit of a proper rest
- you can't push harder to get dopamine
- you can't get dopamine elsewhere