Feasting on Dopamine Fasting

Can abstaining from all pleasures of life be the next productivity fad? Here's a look at the good, the bad, and ugly of this latest trend

- NOOR ANAND CHAWLA

Twenty-one-year-old Vishesh Thakur (name changed) was a social media and gaming addict. A compulsive gamer and social media scroller, he was caught in a cycle of digital highs and crashing lows—moody, anxious, and mildly depressed. After months of erratic behaviour, Vishesh’s parents brought him to Dr Sandeep Vohra, psychiatrist and founder of the mental health platform nwnt.ai, who began a carefully structured intervention.

“Dopamine enables nerve cells in the brain to communicate with the body and plays a key role in mood and attention regulation,” explains Vohra. He began by decreasing Vishesh’s screen and gaming time and added psychotherapy, family counselling and appropriate medication. “Over the next few weeks, I added daily yoga and meditation to his routine. Gradually, Vishesh started spending more time with his family. He has stopped gaming, his moods are stable, and the time spent on social media has significantly reduced.”