Dopamine detox

Practical Delightfully weird Slang health psychology self

Etymology

Popularized around 2019, partly from psychologist Cameron Sepah’s more careful notion of "dopamine fasting." The name is a misnomer: you cannot flush out a neurotransmitter, and dopamine is not a toxin. What the practice really does is reduce constant stimulation — flag the science as loose.

noun phrase · /DOH-puh-meen DEE-toks/
A wellness practice of abstaining from stimulating activities to supposedly reset the brain’s reward system.
What it names
A popular self-discipline ritual — and a lesson in how neuroscience terms get stretched past their meaning.
Example
She did a weekend dopamine detox — no phone, no snacks, no streaming — and felt sharper by Monday.
Related idea
Aimed at the hedonic treadmill, the tendency for pleasures to lose their kick; the detox tries to reset tolerance rather than actually detoxify anything.