When I was getting my master’s degree, I noticed something was off. My ability to concentrate, my focus, my willingness to follow through on commitments, and my ability to function without a cloud of anxiety hanging over me were all suffering.
So, I went to a psychologist to seek answers.
After a few meetings and long discussions about my life, the psychologist administered a very simple test in which a series of letters would flash on the screen for 5 minutes and I was required to hit the corresponding letter on the keyboard. Simple enough.
Well, I failed the test…
This test, in addition to other evaluations led the psychologist to conclude that I likely have adult ADHD.
We can argue about whether ADHD and other neuro-atypical “disorders” are actually disorders or just a natural configuration of the brain for some people, but that’s irrelevant. It’s not something that I identify with necessarily because the fact is that some people are naturally wired to have more relaxed impulse control and executive function than normal, leading to higher likelihood of chasing dopamine inducing experiences.
It is what it is... but it’s not an identifier that dictates my lifestyle, nor is it something that I accept as uncontrollable.
So rather than using terms like ADHD, I’ll just describe it as “having a dopaminergic mind.”
The dopaminergic mind manifests in different ways for different people. Some people develop strong addictions while others become hyper-fixated on things that they find interesting while completely disregarding things that don’t provide the stimulation their minds desire.
People confuse the dopaminergic mind with having a lack of “focus” or an inability to pay attention when it is really just a brain that disregards the ordinary and mundane, while hyper-fixating on much more highly stimulating information and experiences.
In many respects these are good traits to have. Society as a whole benefits when a portion of the population possesses these qualities, as they are the qualities that are associated with discovery and exploration, taking risks, and being on the pioneering edge of new frontiers that advance society forward.
The key is that society benefits when only a small portion of the population is wired in this way. Society cannot function properly if everyone were this way, as there also is a downside to having a dopaminergic mind. In a society where adults are expected to fulfill their adult responsibilities, the person with the dopaminergic mind that has less impulse control may come across to society as being somewhat deficient in basic adult skills or even as having child-like tendencies.
In more tangible terms this looks like short-term memory loss and forgetting where you put things, losing track of obligations that you’ve made, forgetting to pay bills on time, trouble paying attention while others are talking about less interesting things, and keeping a cluttered home. Additionally, anxiety, mood imbalances, and other emotional hypersensitivities also come with the territory.
Therefore, many of the ramifications of the dopaminergic mind can leave people with serious financial complications, legal troubles, addictions, and strained relationships among other issues.
What’s alarming about this, however, is that modern society seems to be converting the masses into a population of dopaminergic minds that suffer from the same issues that used to be reserved for a small percentage of the people. What was once the exception is becoming the norm.
Society is collectively shifting towards one in which anxiety, shortened attention spans, addictions (phone addictions especially) are par for the course.
The fixation on dopamine-inducing experiences with an inability to hit the “off-switch”, which was once a quality reserved for a small handful of people, has become the status quo for society as a collective.
The hyper-stimulated lifestyle normalized by modern western society has introduced endless sources of easy and cheap dopamine that cause major disruption in our lives. It is to such a degree that a silent majority of people today are struggling to manage with even life’s essentials, like mental health, daily movement, proper nourishment, fruitful relationships, etc…. in other words, society has developed an inability to focus on the things that bring us joy, health, and wealth due to a world full of dopamine-inducing stimuli that overwhelms our senses and provides for easy distraction.
Social media, noise and light pollution, vibrant colors everywhere, exotic flavors, infinite music and TV streaming, endless retail options, etc. have created a climate in which constant stimulation is the benchmark from which we experience life. And this constant stimulation is altering our minds to become desensitized to experiences that would otherwise trigger a dopamine response.
And so, the struggles that may have been unique to the rare dopaminergic personality are now becoming a fact of life for most. The qualities that we have previously associated with ADHD are increasingly prevalent across the broader population.
Just think about it, today we MUST maintain schedules and set various alarms and notifications to remind us of meetings and obligations that we need to honor. This is a symptom of overstimulation which introduces so much noise into our brains that it is impossible for us to mentally keep track of our lives.
We take several vacations a year to temporarily escape from our existing lives and live in an alternate reality (food, drinks, music, etc.). This is a result of a growing insensitivity to stimuli leading us to seek out ever more exotic experiences to satisfy our dopamine appetite.
We experience chronic stress and overwhelm from life in general thanks to the many different responsibilities that we juggle, along with the doom and gloom news cycle, and constant connectivity to the world.
The main takeaway here is that most of us stand to benefit from a conscious effort to slow down and hit the “off-switch” so that our minds can have some time to detox from stimulation overload and reset.
And this made me think…. There is very little opportunity for us to reset in the modern world.
From the moment we wake up, to the moment we go to bed, we are more often than not in a state of overload.
Modern humans rarely have the opportunity to fully shut their minds off while still in a conscious or wakeful state. The only exception is sleep, but this is a totally unconscious state of being.
Very few people will ever experience what true silence feels like. Even in a “silent” home, the appliances, the AC, and artificial background noise from the outside environment (cars, leafblowers, etc) still permeate the auditory experience.
Darkness is becoming increasingly rare as well. With the proliferation of artificial light, humans experience visible light for more time and at greater intensity than in the past. And now with mobile devices in the bedroom we’re getting even less exposure to real darkness than even just a few years ago. Lack of darkness is one of the many factors that contribute to the rising epidemics of insomnia and sleep deprivation.
Many of us, particularly those of us who live in large cities will rarely experience true tranquility and solitude where the busyness of civilization and the abundance of on-demand entertainment completely cease to exist, leaving us only with ourselves, our thoughts, and the discomfort of true boredom.
In my health and fitness journey, I have learned that finding a way to regularly block out all of these stimuli for a brief period of time is key for detoxifying the mind, thus allowing for more peace, more gratitude, more creativity, more focus, etc.
Meditation plays a significant role for me because it allows me the time and space to focus inwardly. However, meditation can be difficult at times because I am still subject to the happenings in my immediate environment … so lately I’ve been practicing something a bit different, known as sensory depravation therapy.
I find this form of relaxation to significantly amplify the meditation process to a completely different level.
As a way to directly counter the constant overstimulation of the modern world, I’ve begun incorporating regular sensory deprivation therapy sessions which give me dedicated time to completely shut out the world, and truly hit the off switch.
Sensory deprivation, also known as float tanks or isolation chambers, entails a pod filled with skin-temperature salt water that provides natural buoyancy for the human body. In this pod, one lays down on top of the water with no clothes, and floats for an extended period of time – 60 mins, 120 mins, etc. This setup provides a sensation of weightlessness or floating in space with virtually no stimulation from the external environment.
No lights, no sound, no touch, no smell, no taste, no external stimuli. It is just you alone with yourself, deep in your thoughts. And just like how turning down the volume on one thing allows you to hear another thing even more, when you turn off the external stimuli, your internal experience becomes amplified.
Research has shown that sensory deprivation therapy can help to mitigate the effects of sensory overload by creating an environment that calms the mind, reduces anxiety, boosts creativity, and allows for greater focus and mental clarity.
The lack of sensory input is effectively a form of dopamine detox which gives your mind and body an opportunity to reset.
In addition to the meditative benefits, sensory deprivation is also known to have physical health benefits as well by improving sleep quality, relaxing muscle tension and relieving headaches, extracting toxins from the body (thanks to the salt), reducing inflammation, and so much more.
Plus, there is the added benefit of absorbing magnesium from the salt into your skin. If you’re not aware, magnesium is not only an extremely important mineral for proper body functioning, but it is also one of those nutrients that humans tend to have a deficiency in.
I won’t harp on this topic for much longer, however in my experience, I do think this is yet another tool in the toolbox that people can use to stay balanced, grounded, and connected while trying to survive in an overstimulated world.
For your own health, mental, and physical, it is important to find ways to unplug.
Whether it’s sensory deprivation tanks or some other means, this is my reminder to be cognizant of how much your environment is overly stimulating the mind, and to actively take steps to hit the “off-switch” every once in a while, to give your mind time to re-set.