TORONTO -- Life is filled with things that make us happy: music, food, funny memes on the internet. But what if we鈥檙e being desensitized to joy?
That鈥檚 the central question behind dopamine fasting, a new wellness trend that has prompted eye rolls among some psychiatrists and brain experts.
A dopamine fast is when someone abstains from anything that could potentially release the neurotransmitter often linked to motivation. Think phones, social media, shopping, Netflix, food, internet use, exercise, social situations, sex, music and books. Some even go as far as to avoid talking.
The phenomenon has been widely reported 鈥� sometimes -- and is often described as a Silicon Valley fad. The trend has been linked to Cameron Sepah, a clinical professor of psychiatry at UC San Francisco The term also appeared in with more than 1.8 million views.
Proponents believe that modern society is filled with dopamine-releasing factors that bring us pleasure and that, by avoiding these factors for up to 24 hours, they will feel more intense later and potentially 鈥渞eset鈥� our dopamine levels.
But does the brain work that way?
Stan Floresco, a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia, said he and some colleagues learned about dopamine fasting on Twitter and 鈥渂asically our hair has been on fire鈥� ever since.
That鈥檚 because the general public鈥檚 understanding of dopamine is widely misinterpreted, Floresco said.
鈥淚t is a myth that dopamine equals pleasure. Dopamine is often referred to as the pleasure molecule. It is not,鈥� he told CTVNews.ca in an interview from Vancouver.
In fact, dopamine is linked to a variety of feelings, such as stress, aversion and motivation. Floresco, whose research focuses on neurocircuits related to dopamine and the brain鈥檚 frontal lobes, explains it using pizza.
鈥淲hen you walk by a pizza joint and you smell pizza, that will cause an increase in dopamine release. But that dopamine release requires an incentive to go in there,鈥� he said.
But when a person bites into a slice of pizza, the pleasure they feel is related to a mix of other endorphins in the brain.
鈥淒opamine is more a kind of motivation or incentive to go get those good things,鈥� he said.
CAN YOU CONTROL YOUR DOPAMINE LEVELS?
To that end, suggesting that fasting from pleasurable things could reset a person鈥檚 dopamine levels is simply not accurate.
鈥淒opamine shouldn鈥檛 be wrapped up in this,鈥� he said. 鈥淒opamine is not pleasure. It gets you there, but it doesn鈥檛 make you like it.鈥�
Increasing dopamine levels will not necessarily increase a person鈥檚 level of happiness, and the premise of dopamine fasting vastly oversimplifies the complex systems happening inside the brain.
鈥淒opamine by itself will not take care of everything. It is one helper molecule in a soup of many neurotransmitters involved in our day-to-day lives. Increasing that by itself may throw other systems out of balance.鈥�
As for the idea that people can control their dopamine release to achieve greater joy, Cecilia Flores, a psychiatry professor at McGill University who studies the development of the dopamine system, isn鈥檛 convinced.
Even sitting alone in an empty room with zero stimuli 鈥� no food, no music 鈥� still wouldn鈥檛 be enough to limit the release of dopamine. That鈥檚 because we need dopamine for 鈥渙ur everyday survival,鈥� Flores said.
鈥淧reventing encounters with those stimuli does not mean that the next time, more dopamine will be released,鈥� she said.
鈥淢aybe the person feels like that. But what they cannot say is that it鈥檚 because of their dopamine. Even to make the link between the dopamine and pleasure is far-fetched, because what dopamine does is much more complicated than that.鈥�
Asked whether or not the idea of dopamine fasting is ridiculous, Flores laughed.
鈥淚t鈥檚 too simplistic, I would say.鈥�
Studies have shown that too much screen time is linked to a person鈥檚 brain development. Among preschoolers, more time in front of a screen can lower the structural integrity of the brain in areas related to language, literacy and imagination.
Efforts to unplug are hardly new. Apple, Facebook and Instagram have all introduced features that allow users to limit their screen time. The Canadian-made app Flipd encourages users to connect with others while they track their time spent offline.
