When you start to recognise that bored or drained feeling signalling that you’re in need of a boost, are your habits really helping you?

I have ADHD. For my brain, doom scrolling is actually a whole lot more than procrastinating, getting distracted, or an example of “kids these days and their phones” – it’s stimulation seeking. I admit that I know this isn’t healthy, but it can be really challenging to think of something else in the moment when that ‘quick fix’ is so easily accessible. “Dopamine Menu’s” can help to break these unhelpful habits, so let’s break down what it all means and how to create your very own Dopamine Menu (with some examples provided).

What is Dopamine?

Dopamine is the fun, feel good neurotransmitter that regulates our body’s pleasure and reward centres.

Dopamin’s key functions are:

Producing feelings of pleasure and reward,
Regulating mood and emotion,
Reinforcing learning and memories,
Regulating hormones,
Managing motor control and coordination, and
Enhancing attention and focus

Healthy levels of dopamine can help you feel focussed, motivated and energised, while lower levels tend to make us feel unmotivated, drained and even sad.

Dopamine and ADHD

ADHD is associated with the dysregulation of the dopamine system in the brain. Reduced dopamine activity in ADHD brains makes stimulation seeking, or dopamine-increasing, behaviours extra gratifying. Unfortunately this often means that any concerns about time or consequences are overruled by the pursuit of pleasure, and the following surge of dopamine we get from these behaviours just reinforces the idea that this behaviour = feel good.

So what’s a ‘Dopamine Menu’?

You know when you go grocery shopping while really hungry and accidentally come home with chocolate, chips, a million snacks, and missing the thing you were supposed to buy? This is a pretty good comparison of how it feels trying to make good dopamine choices when you’re already low on dopamine.

So much like making a grocery list before you get hangry, curating your own ‘Dopamine Menu’ ahead of experiencing these lows can be a really good solution to healthier stimulation seeking.

A Dopamine Menu is a sustainable list of activities or healthy habits that help to elevate your dopamine levels. As opposed to a regular list, Dopamine Menus are organised to cater for different situations and needs. Exactly like your usual restaurant menu, a Dopamine Menu is divided into “entrees”, “mains”, “sides”, “desserts”, and “specials”.

Entrees

Entrees are quick, easily accessible activities to produce some extra dopamine without completely diverting our attention. They can be enjoyed throughout the day when you need a break, and shouldn’t be time consuming.

Mains

Mains are activities that you need to allow more time or planning for, but the trade for extra time is that they should recharge you more than the entrees.

Sides

Sides are things you can do simultaneously with other tasks (the boring but necessary ones) to make them more stimulating.

Desserts

Desserts are best enjoyed in moderation. Desserts are the activities that we love but can be easy to overdo or could become unhealthy without appropriate balance.

Specials

Specials aren’t always available. They might be more expensive, inconvenient, time consuming, or require a lot of planning, so you only enjoy them occasionally but they are different and exciting.

Making your own Dopamine Menu

Each section of your Dopamine Menu should cater for different situations and needs, and should be based on activities that bring you joy. They are completely customisable to suit whatever works best for you – you might even consider separate Dopamine Menus for work days and weekends, or for mornings and evenings.

Dopamine Menus aren’t going to suddenly transform all your bad habits. However they are an incredible tool for people with and without ADHD, and by having it prepared in advance it lessens a large mental load and helps us to see more available options when we need them.

You can use the following template to make your very own Dopamine Menu, and we’ll break down the steps including some examples below.

If you don’t feel up to jumping straight in, it can help to start off making a list of things that bring you joy. While you should be realistic, try not to over think it. It could be as small as drinking coffee, reading a book, all the way up to travelling overseas.

Next, separate your list into their corresponding menu categories, and you can add and remove activities as you go. If you find it really challenging to develop a list of options or feel like you don’t really know what you like or what brings you joy anymore, this could point to signs of burnout or depression. At this stage consider checking in with your GP or therapist – we have an incredible group of therapists here at Indigo who can help you.

Entrees

If you have 5mins or less

Meditate
Make a cup of coffee
Cuddle with a pet
Stretch
Stand outside in the sun
Eat a snack
Have a shower

Mains

If you have an hour or more

Exercise
Watch a movie
Bake/cook your favourite food
Have a power nap
Read
Reorganise your wardrobe
Journal
Work on a hobby

Sides

When you need to stay focussed and make a boring task more enjoyable

Listen to your favourite playlist
Listen to an audiobook or podcast
Light a candle
Use a fidget toy
Try body doubling
Turn the task at hand into a challenge or game – e.g. timing how long it takes you to complete something

Desserts

Things you love but their effects aren’t as long lasting, or too much can make you feel worse

Doom scrolling
Playing a video game
Online shopping
Ordering takeaway
Going out for drinks with friends
Binge watching a TV show

Specials

Usually the biggest dopamine boost, but can only be done occasionally

Have a picnic
Go on a date night
Get a manicure
Get a massage
Go on holiday
Attend a concert or show
Redecorate or renovate a space
Buy an item on your wishlist

Once you’ve set up your Dopamine Menu keep it somewhere easily accessible – it’s best to print it off and have it somewhere you know you’ll see it to remind yourself (if you don’t have a printer try writing one by hand, or keeping an electronic copy on your desktop or home screen). When you catch yourself feeling drained, bored or unmotivated, refer to your Dopamine Menu, choose something that will fit the situation, and get that dopamine fix!