Speaker 1: Hi, welcome back to Bounce Forward with me, Tip Paul,
Speaker 1: I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodi into the land
Speaker 1: on which I'm recording this podcast, the Wundry people of
Speaker 1: the Coolin Nation. I pay my respects to elders past
Speaker 1: and present. Kylie had a great question. Hey, Tiff, I'm
Speaker 1: doom scrolling in bed all the time and I know
Speaker 1: it's affecting my sleep. I'm always looking for that hit
Speaker 1: of dopamine. I guess what can I do to stop
Speaker 1: this bad habit? Any ways of bio hacking my way
Speaker 1: out of it? Oh, such a good question. Oh we
Speaker 1: all do it, doom scrolling in bed. It's totally addictive.
Speaker 1: I do it occasionally and I slap my wrists. I say, Tiff,
Speaker 1: stop it like it's so bad. And I even tell
Speaker 1: ed if you see the blue light happening, like, just
Speaker 1: rip the phone out of my hand because it's so
Speaker 1: bad for your sleep. You mentioned biohacking, and there is
Speaker 1: something you can do. Actually, you can try a fast,
Speaker 1: a dopamine fast.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Dopamine is a really powerful neurochemical that gets released in
Speaker 1: areas of the brain that gives you feelings of pleasure.
Speaker 1: Satisfaction and more importantly, motivation, and it is also it
Speaker 1: also has a role to plane functions such as memory, learning, mood, sleep, concentration,
Speaker 1: and movement. So it's pretty epic, right. So if we
Speaker 1: aim to detox from certain activities or bad habits that
Speaker 1: spike our dopamine levels and you mentioned dopamine, we can
Speaker 1: sort of recalibrate our brains and help reset our bodies
Speaker 1: natural dopamine levels. And you know, in order to dopamine
Speaker 1: detox effectively, it's important to first understand really how dopamine
Speaker 1: functions at a cellular level. So we're trying to not
Speaker 1: get those fast hits of you know, on Instagram if
Speaker 1: someone likes your post, you're like, that's a hitter dopamine. Know,
Speaker 1: you want to sort of earn your dopamine and recalibrate
Speaker 1: your brain that way, Dopamine can be negatively affected if
Speaker 1: we're constantly doing stuff that creates those spikes and we
Speaker 1: don't allow brains to really balance and come back chemically. Right,
Speaker 1: It's similar to addiction because your mood drops, but you
Speaker 1: can chase and top up on the dopamine with instant
Speaker 1: gratification that takes less effort. For short bursts, and this
Speaker 1: then triggers a need for more and more and more,
Speaker 1: increasing frame frequency and intensity of the stimulus in order
Speaker 1: to get the same hit right. It can really wreak
Speaker 1: chaos on our brain chemistry and create even dopamine depletion
Speaker 1: if you're not careful, and I find like I've banned
Speaker 1: myself from Internet shopping, for example, because I know that
Speaker 1: is a spike in dopamine that is just me click click, click,
Speaker 1: and even when it arrives, I'm not even excited. I'm
Speaker 1: just like, ah, it was the action of buying it
Speaker 1: online and clicking it through that was the dopamine hit.
Speaker 1: A dopamine fast works by withdrawing from stimulus stuff, that is,
Speaker 1: from stimulating stuff to restore our brain chemistry. So think
Speaker 1: shopping on your online you know, Stoom, scrolling Instagram, other
Speaker 1: instant gratification app sugar Fasting from these can restore your
Speaker 1: brain chemistry to a healthy baseline so that you're better
Speaker 1: able to regulate your mood and have normal release of dopamine.
Speaker 1: One way of really challenging yourself is to set yourself
Speaker 1: a hard goal and then go and try and achieve it,
Speaker 1: and by reward by getting a reward and hit rather
Speaker 1: than engaging in the cheap hits of dopamine online over
Speaker 1: and over and over again.
Speaker 2: So try This is where fitness comes in.
Speaker 1: Try a fitness challenge like a half marathon or an
Speaker 1: eight week challenge at your gym, or you know, a
Speaker 1: planking challenge where you're going to build up over a
Speaker 1: certain amount of time to doing.
Speaker 2: A five minute plank.
Speaker 1: Try these challenges and then you can build up and
Speaker 1: work hard and then achieve a goal. And that is
Speaker 1: a good dopamine hit over time. It's not the quick
Speaker 1: hits all the time. So what are the signs that
Speaker 1: you're low in dopamine? Well, it can be a lack
Speaker 1: of motivation, tiredness, feeling anxious or depressed, difficulties sleeping, low
Speaker 1: sex drive, moodiness, anger, low self esteem, even having issues
Speaker 1: with memory and concentration.
Speaker 2: Not cool, No thanks, you don't want any of those.
Speaker 1: So doing the hard work of abstaining from quick fixes
Speaker 1: like doom scrolling in bed can really help to restore
Speaker 1: your brain, your mood, your energy, your sex drive, your sleep,
Speaker 1: your concentration.
Speaker 2: It's amazing.
Speaker 1: So whilst I recognize that dopamine, you can't fast completely
Speaker 1: from it because it naturally occurs in our brains, right,
Speaker 1: But be creative and think of other ways you can
Speaker 1: feel good rather than doom scrolling and the quick hits.
Speaker 1: So what about grounding your feet in grass for a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes feels beautiful, Being outdoors in the shining sun,
Speaker 1: Crossing off a to do list that's a dopamine hit,
Speaker 1: or a not to do list.
Speaker 2: You can make a not to do list.
Speaker 1: Exercising, having a long bath, reading a good book, doing
Speaker 1: something social with friends. These are all things that you
Speaker 1: can build into your life and they're not instant gratification,
Speaker 1: but you know they're nourishing and helpful for you and
Speaker 1: you'll get to the end of your day and your
Speaker 1: brain will be really, really really happy by hacking. You
Speaker 1: absolutely can do it with a dopamine fast. You can
Speaker 1: try that and try setting that hard goal. Think about it, now,
Speaker 1: what can you sign up to? What can you do
Speaker 1: that is hard and challenging and delays gratification and practice
Speaker 1: that you need to practice things. It's like any muscle
Speaker 1: you need to strengthen, you need.
Speaker 2: To practice it.
Speaker 1: So practice not having instant gratification, and it's hard, it's
Speaker 1: super hard. It takes me forever to even think of
Speaker 1: things that don't give me instant gratification, because you know,
Speaker 1: we're in a society where we want it now, we
Speaker 1: want it now, we want it now. I think it's
Speaker 1: so important to try and look after our brain chemistry,
Speaker 1: minimize the dopamine quick hits, and really strive to have
Speaker 1: those long term goals and the long term gratifications, and
Speaker 1: to look after ourselves. And you know, just put your
Speaker 1: phone away at night in another room, use an old
Speaker 1: school alarm that isn't attached to your phone so you
Speaker 1: get up in the morning and it doesn't affect your alarm,
Speaker 1: and just don't have your phone in your That is
Speaker 1: like number one rule. Thanks so much for listening to
Speaker 1: Bounce Forward. I love having your company, So please DM
Speaker 1: me on Instagram at tifhaul Underscore XO and let me
Speaker 1: know all the.
Speaker 2: Questions you'd love me to cover.
Speaker 1: Don't forget to rate and review me on your podcast
Speaker 1: out Speak soon.
Speaker 2: Happy Days,