Wellness trends like sophrology and body combing come and go, but some stick around longer than others, particularly if they’ve got a natty term attached to them.
So it’s no surprise that when we first heard about dopamine fasting - the new trend taking over Silicon Valley that encourages you to take a break from certain stimuli - we were instantly intrigued.
Dr Cameron Sepah, executive psychologist at UCSF Medical School who also has a private clinic in Silicon Valley, posted the original Dopamine Fasting 2.0 protocol on LinkedIn in August and in the months since people have been increasingly wondering what it is and whether they need it in their lives.
Intermittent fasting - cycles of fasting and eating normally - is already a big health trend, and was popularised in the UK in 2013 with the 5:2 Diet (which involves five days of normal eating and two days of fasting on restricted calories). Proponents claim that it aids weight loss, improves metabolic health and even makes you live longer - hence why the tech elite in Silicon Valley and celebrities including Beyoncé and and Miranda Kerr are such advocates.
So why has the focus now shifted to dopamine fasting? And what does it actually entail?
Here's everything you need to know about dopamine fasting:
Where did the term 'dopamine fasting' come from?
According to Dr Sepah, dopamine fasting is based on evidence-based therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) which he uses to help clients battling addictions.
‘I specifically call my practice "dopamine fasting 2.0" because it is a standardised, science-based protocol, which I popularised in Silicon Valley for those dealing with a mildly problematic behaviour,’ he tells ELLE.
'The primary purpose of dopamine fasting 2.0 is to spend less time engaging in specific behaviours that have become problematic (e.g. it bothers you that you do it so much, it interferes with school/work/relationships, or has become hard to stop).'
This could be anything from emotional eating to constantly reaching for your iPhone to check Instagram.
What is dopamine?
'Dopamine is a brain chemical or a chemical that our brains release to record when something is worth doing again,' explains Catherine Price, author of How To Break Up With Your Phone and founder of Screen/Life Balance, a project which promotes a life where you control technology and not the other way around.
So, for example, when you eat food your brain releases dopamine, which reminds you to eat again.
But according to Price, dopamine has been mischaracterised.
'People conflate it with pleasure, but it’s more salient than that,' she says. 'It’s more like "that was important, I should remember that so I can repeat that behaviour"…it's the same with sex and reproduction.'
Put simply, dopamine is key to teaching us to do stuff and create habits.
'The issue now,' says Price, 'is that it’s really easy to hijack the dopamine system and use it in product design to get us to compulsively do things'.
Things that aren't always good for us, and that in time, we crave more and more of.
Why is dopamine fasting important?
‘We live in the age of easily-available addiction,' says Dr Sepah. 'It's not just addiction to substances anymore, but behavioural addictions like internet/gaming, pornography, emotional eating, gambling/shopping, thrill/novelty seeking - these have become much easier to access with a smartphone that's with you nearly 24/7.'
On top of this society has become increasingly isolated and individualistic. 'This is fertile ground for behavioural addictions, which I increasingly see in my private practice in Silicon Valley,' adds Dr Sepah.
The technological revolution and growth of social media over the past decade has fundamentally changed society and the way we behave within it.
Price adds that, when it comes to tech, the way apps, for example, have been designed is similar to slot machines, which she says are widely considered to be the most addictive machines ever.
'They are designed to trigger as much dopamine as possible, which activates that circuit in our brains and makes it so hard to put down your phone,' she explains.
This is hugely problematic in terms of what it does to our perception of the rest of our world, according to the expert.
'It makes real life seem dull because you’ve gotten so used to this higher level of dopamine,' she says.
'Because of the constant stimulation from our phones and technology, just walking down the street and not listening to music, or not doing three things at once, suddenly it feels less satisfying.'
How does dopamine fasting work?
'Dopamine fasting 2.0 recommends scheduling fasting periods (e.g. one to four hours at the end of every day, one day a week, one weekend every quarter) where you withdraw from behaviours that are specifically problematic,' says Dr Sepah.
So if you spend too much time endlessly scrolling through Instagram and it leaves you feel rubbish about yourself, but at the same time craving more, you would try to schedule periods of time (for example, 5-15 minutes after every meal) to check Instagram.
What are the benefits of dopamine fasting?
According to Dr Sepah, his clients who do dopamine fasting say that they regain control and flexibility over their behaviours, and improve their ability to maintain focus, and generally feel better as a result of the process.
However, he's also very clear to define what dopamine fasting is not.
'We are not trying to restrict dopamine or pleasure, both are necessary and important parts of life,' he explains. 'We are time-restricting problematic behaviours, so that we don't automatically and impulsively engage in them whenever we feel bad (hungry, angry, lonely, tired, stressed, or bored), which makes them addictive as a maladaptive coping mechanism to soothe ourselves.'
Price thinks screen time is a 'great idea for people to try to get used to a lower level of stimulation and to recognise what technology is doing to us in the sense of habituating us to expect this level of constant stimulation and constant excitement'.
She adds: 'It's important for people to realise that if you're really caught up in this dopamine cycle, it can move your stress levels and make it harder for you to make rational decisions.'
How does dopamine fasting affect your day-to-day life?
For those wanting to involve dopamine fasting into their routine but worried it'll involve adopting a nun-like life, fear not. As Dr Sepah says, fun and enjoyment are key to life.
'The point of dopamine fasting is not to encourage monasticism or masochism,' he explains, emphasising that we should never engage in the behaviour we enjoy.
Instead, he suggests doing things 'in a controlled manner, rather than an impulsive manner than can be addictive'.
For Price, one of the easiest and most effective things you can do is to minimise the dopamine triggers on your phone by turning off all the notifications except for ones you actually want to receive.
Dopamine fasting isn't about completely shutting yourself off from pleasure, but becoming much more aware of your behaviours around certain stimuli, whether that's your phone or a fridge full of food.
It sounds sensible enough to us. When can we start?
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