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Dopamine menus: How to regulate dopamine and boost motivation
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Dopamine menus are the latest trend taking social media by storm, emerging after dopamine detoxes and the dopamine diet. These menus aim to enhance your brain's reward and pleasure system through carefully curated activities designed to boost dopamine levels. Let's explore this concept in a short dopamine menu guide and discover what science tells about how to regulate dopamine and its building block tyrosine.
Ordering pleasure from the dopamine menu
A “dopamenu” is a personalized list of activities organized like a restaurant menu, designed to equip you with ideas of pleasurable activities. Out of a bunch of them, you pick one from each category to implement. Created by an actress, writer, and YouTube personality Jessica McCabe in 2020, this tool was initially developed to help people with ADHD manage their dopamine levels and find stimulation when needed. She presented a few dopamine menu examples in a YouTube video on her How to ADHD channel. Read more about dopamine and ADHD.
What is an example of a dopamine menu?
Each dopamine menu includes starters, mains, sides and desserts which should give you ideas on what you should do to get stimulated. Each person should build their own dopamine menu by keeping in mind that each “menu dish” provides a different kind of dopamine release boost. What stimulates dopamine the most? Activities that give you pleasure like hobbies, good food and sex are great natural dopamine boosters. Existing literature highlights that your brain has its own "feel-good" compass - a brilliant system that guides you toward things that make you feel very good. Your ancestors survived because of this reward system[1 Trusted Source 2023 - Biomedicines Research evaluation From Reward to Anhedonia-Dopamine Function in the Global Mental Health Context ] . As humans evolved so did the dopamine system. Even though food, sleep, sex and physical contact are still the primary stimulants that support it, any kind of behaviour that rewards you in feeling good like exercise, for example, helps to release dopamine[1 Trusted Source 2023 - Biomedicines Research evaluation From Reward to Anhedonia-Dopamine Function in the Global Mental Health Context ] ,[2 Trusted Source 2019 - Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society Human study Exercise increases caudate dopamine release and ventral striatal activation in Parkinson's disease ] .
Here are a few dopamine menu ideas that you can incorporate into your personalised dopamine menu.
1. Starters
Similarly to a small dish that you get as an appetizer in a restaurant, starter activities are those that are quick to do and give immediate pleasure. When designing your dopamine menu, focus on activities that last 5 minutes or less. Here are a few ideas.
- Dancing to your favourite song
- Cuddling with pets
- Quick stretching
- Standing in sunlight
- Making a cup of tea
2. Mains
When someone asks what you want for dinner, you usually first think about the main course. Consider main activities as those that are the centrepiece of your day. They last longer than starters, around 1 hour or even more. They are ultimately more rewarding compared to a small starter. You can try these ones if you’re out of ideas:
- Going to the gym frequently to do some aerobic exercise[2 Trusted Source 2019 - Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society Human study Exercise increases caudate dopamine release and ventral striatal activation in Parkinson's disease ]
- Cooking your favourite meal
- Reading a book
- Going for a walk in nature
- Reorganizing spaces
3. Sides
Some say side activities make the biggest difference once you start implementing them. They should be paired with less enjoyable activities to make them more pleasurable, ensuring the release of dopamine. Let’s say you need to do chores around the house. Try making the process more enjoyable by:
- Playing podcasts, audiobooks or music
- Lighting a scented candle in the space you’ve cleaned
- Dancing
- Teaming up with flatmates, partner or family
- Making up a film plot
4. Deserts
The cherries on the top, dessert activities, provide enjoyment and should be done in moderation. Instead of binging, do them from time to time or for a limited period of time.
- Online shopping
- Social media scrolling
- Gaming
- Enjoying a sweet treat
- Watching your favourite show
A dopamine menu can be a great way to help your brain release your pleasure and reward chemical. Before it can do that, dopamine has to be produced.
How do I raise my dopamine levels?
Making sure you’re sticking to a dopamine diet will allow your brain to produce enough dopamine that will get released when you’re enjoying your dopamine menu. What gives the most dopamine naturally? Protein-rich foods that are full of dopamine’s building block tyrosine will support the production of your reward and pleasure chemical[3 Trusted Source 2011 - Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics Research evaluation Tyrosine Hydroxylase and Regulation of Dopamine Synthesis ] . What food is highest in l-tyrosine? Foods like meat, tofu and eggs are great choices, parmesan cheese, however, tops them all with 2300 mg of tyrosine per 100 grams[4 Trusted Source My Food Data 3rd-party source Foods Highest in Tyrosine ] . Since cheese is also high in saturated fats and salts, there are better options to incorporate into your diet than stocking up on cheddar as your dopamine source. Let’s take a look at some meal ideas that can enrich your dopamine menus.
What is a dopamine diet example?
Low-carb, high-protein dishes are the way to go, so something like a tofu and edamame brown rice bowl with peanut butter sauce would do the trick. Here’s a dopamine diet menu to help you out on your pleasure journey.
|
Starters |
Mains |
Sides |
Desserts |
|
Pan-seared beef carpaccio with spinach and pine nuts |
Grilled beef steak in mushroom and parsley sauce |
Green beans with bacon crumbles |
Cottage cheese mousse with toasted pumpkin seeds |
|
Goat cheese and egg quiche with fresh herbs and roasted pumpkin seeds |
Paneer and spinach curry with toasted wheat germ |
Roasted sweet potatoes with ricotta |
Greek yoghurt parfait with wheat germ, granola and berries |
|
Crispy tempeh cubes with sesame seed dressing |
Kung Pao tofu with mixed vegetables and edamame |
Sautéed spinach with pine nuts and garlic |
Chia-hemp protein pudding with roasted pumpkin seeds |
Since your diet can sometimes fall short when it comes to ensuring an adequate intake of dopamine from food, tyrosine supplementation can support you on those days. brain feed developed the world's 1st 800mg natural tyrosine capsules from fermented corn.
Build your pleasure menu out of meals and activities that’ll support your motivation by following this simple guide. Learn more about dopamine’s function and benefits.
References
[1] Dresp-Langley B. (2023). From Reward to Anhedonia-Dopamine Function in the Global Mental Health Context. Biomedicines, 11(9), 2469. https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/11/9/2469
[2] Sacheli, M. A., Neva, J. L., Lakhani, B., Murray, D. K., Vafai, N., Shahinfard, E., English, C., McCormick, S., Dinelle, K., Neilson, N., McKenzie, J., Schulzer, M., McKenzie, D. C., Appel-Cresswell, S., McKeown, M. J., Boyd, L. A., Sossi, V., & Stoessl, A. J. (2019). Exercise increases caudate dopamine release and ventral striatal activation in Parkinson's disease. Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society, 34(12), 1891–1900. https://movementdisorders.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mds.27865
[3] Daubner, S. C., Le, T., & Wang, S. (2011). Tyrosine Hydroxylase and Regulation of Dopamine Synthesis. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 508(1), 1–12. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S000398611000514X?via%3Dihub
[4] Foods Highest in Tyrosine (n.d.). My Food Data. https://tools.myfooddata.com/nutrient-ranking-tool/tyrosine/all/highest/grams/common/no
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