What are dopamine menus, and do they actually work?
Curb your scrolling, stat
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Could TikTok’s dopamine menu break that doomscrolling habit? Here's everything you need to know about the dopamine menu trend, including how it works and what to add to yours.
Ever been three hours deep in a doomscroll and wished you could crawl out of it? Don’t worry, we all have.
And now, there’s a brand-new wellness trend surging through TikTok, designed to give us hits of dopamine that we’d usually seek through scrolling, but with a whole bunch more benefits.
It’s called a ‘dopamine menu’, and it’s swept the internet recently, being praised for its ability to pull us out of our doomscrolling habits and inject some much-needed satisfaction in our lives through some quick, efficient changes.
The Dopamine Menu trend, explained
Simply put, a dopamine menu is a curated list of things that bring us joy. Pretty simple, right? But while we might know that playing the guitar, going for a walk, or patting our pups can make us happier, when we’re stuck in a cycle where all we feel like doing is scrolling or binge-watching telly, it can sometimes be pretty hard to convince ourselves to get up and do something good for ourselves.
The dopamine menu aims to cure that paralysis, separating the things we like to do into different categories, kind of like a degustation menu.
Originally created for neurodivergent folk, especially those with ADHD, the idea of a dopamine menu has now been widely adopted for its easy, practical way to make us feel better, more productive, and get those dopamine juices surging – without the nasty hangover that comes with watching the entirety of Selling Sunset in one sitting.
Ahead, what a dopamine menu is, how to create your own and the scientifically-backed benefits of dopamine menus.
What is a dopamine menu?
Think of a dopamine menu like a degustation menu for happiness, where you can pick and choose activities that give you hits of dopamine in healthy and accessible ways.
Some of these activities might be quick and easy like lighting a candle or putting on a face mask. Other times, it might be more intensive, like doing a Pilates class or going on a huge hike, but with longer, more satisfying surges.
Much like dinnertime, a dopamine menu is broken down into a few categories: entrée, mains, sides, and desserts.
Entrée are quick activities that give us immediate pleasure and don’t take up too much time.
Mains, on the other hand, are activities that will usually take over an hour and might be more intensive, but the satisfaction and the dopamine release we get from them far outweigh any other activity.
Our sides are smaller, pleasurable activities we do alongside tasks that we might not like. While desserts are those addictive activities we do, like scrolling and watching TV, that give us little hits of dopamine, but should be used in moderation.
“The dopamine menu is based on the understanding that neurodivergent individuals (and people who may have ADHD) have lower levels of dopamine in their brains and therefore need more stimulation,” psychologist Carly Dober tells Body+Soul. “The menu format reminds us we need to ‘fill our bellies’ before gorging on desserts.”
The idea behind them is that you can pick and choose different activities from different menu sections depending on your needs. Like a good balanced diet, it’s important to diversify how you get your dopamine!
How to create a dopamine menu
When you’re creating your own dopamine menu, you want to split your activities out into a few different areas: entrée, mains, sides and desserts.
From there, really start to brainstorm what kind of activities you usually enjoy doing in your day-to-day life, then pop them into the category with the associated effort and attention it requires.
More intensive activities will likely sit in the mains section, while quick hits might be more of an entrée.
When you’ve figured out what activities you enjoy in each category and have curated your own personalised dopamine menu, consider writing them down and displaying them in a place where you can easily see it. That way, the next time you’re two hours deep in a doomscroll, you can easily look at it and figure out a different way to get your dopamine hit.
#1. Entrée
The entrée of a dopamine menu are those quick boosts of joy that can be done in under 10 minutes.
“What are those things you like to do that don’t take much time?” Dober asks. “Some examples might be gardening, going for a quick walk, dancing to your favourite artist or writing a letter.”
You might look at entrée as almost a circuit breaker, especially if you’re finding yourself stuck in a dopamine-seeking cycle without much reward. These types of activities help kickstart the dopamine releases and give a quick boost of satisfaction and happiness. They’re also activities that are quick and don’t necessarily suck you in.
Examples of other entrée activities include: going on a quick walk, journalling, having a nice cup of tea, or having a warm shower.
#2. Mains
The mains are those bigger activities that often take up more time and effort, but the positive benefits we get from them are often far bigger. These often take longer than an hour.
“That might be attending a dance or yoga class, strength training, going out to see friends, hiking, or reading a book.”
Mains are the type of activities that really fill your cup. They might be more hobby or interest-based and part of your long-term goals, like playing the guitar or working on that crochet project. Or they might be more social and where you really plan and carve out time to see friends or family.
#3. Sides
As with a good meal, we always need a side of chippies or salad to fully feel satisfied. The sides are those smaller activities that you can do alongside other activities that you might not enjoy as much, but make these activities much more palatable.
Examples of sides include: listening to music, playing an audiobook, wearing a hair or face mask, or lighting a candle.
They’re those easy things we can do to make those things we might not enjoy as much – like cleaning, folding our washing, or working – more bearable.
#4. Desserts
Then there are desserts. The meal we’re always the most excited for because it’s delicious, indulgent, and ideally, filled with chocolate. But we only get our dessert when we’ve finished our nutritious mains, right?
The same goes for the dopamine menu’s desserts – they’re those things that we know give us hits of dopamine, like a good scroll on TikTok, playing a video game, or swaddling ourselves away to binge watch our favourite show. Often, they can be our default dopamine source, especially in times of stress.
“These are things that we love to do, but too much of this can make us feel frazzled, time poor, yuck or unwell,” Dober says. “The menu format reminds us we need to ‘fill our bellies’ before gorging on desserts.”
The idea of a dopamine menu is that these things are still okay to do, but ideally, you want to diversify your dopamine-seeking activities so they rely less on these and more on rewarding ones.
Do dopamine menus actually work?
Originally created by neurodivergent people and especially those with ADHD, the dopamine menu actually has some pretty good science to back its use, even if you’re neurotypical.
“This framework can remind us all that short bursts of dopamine leave us wanting more and can, at times, impact our health negatively,” Dober explains. “Endless scrolling on social media is an example of an activity that leaves us with few or no rewards… every swipe or click leaves us chasing that next dopamine hit, like a border collie on a treadmill.”
But when we make an active effort to not just engage in activities in the ‘desserts’ category and realise we can get dopamine hits that are actually satisfying and rewarding, chances are you’ll find that you’ll feel better mentally in the process.
“We can benefit from dopamine menus when they engage in sustained activities that provide long term release of dopamine and not just sticking to ‘dessert’ activities,” Dober says.
“Exploring dopamine menus can encourage and remind people to engage in fun, joyful and pleasurable activities that they might not have made the time for or have forgotten,” Dober adds.
“The best thing to include on a dopamine menu would be activities that provide sustained, low-level release of dopamine so as to not habituate yourself only to the short sharp releases of dopamine,” Dober notes. “They feel good, but we need to have a ‘balanced diet’.”
Originally published as What are dopamine menus, and do they actually work?
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