How to Use a Dopamine Loop to Your Advantage

When I refer to a Dopamine loop, I’m talking about the thing that makes us keep doing something without even thinking about it. Think playing candy crush or angry birds for hours and hours without regard for the time. There are triggers in those game that give you a little reward, and with it, a little shot of dopamine to keep you going. Suddenly, you are hooked. By the time you look up, it is tomorrow.

Sometimes this dopamine loop gets us to keep doing things that are bad for us.  Think of the people that never leave slot machines. You may find yourself eating too much junk food or binge watching TV later than you meant to. The strongest example is drug addiction, but even compulsions that are not nearly as strong as that are able to have a significant impact on our life. Some of the smartest people in the world make a living out of activating this dopamine loop.  They are good at what they do. Almost everything you see on a cell phone is intricately designed to keep you staring at that screen.  

Dopamine is the brain chemical that makes us desire things. It makes us anticipate. While you are in a dopamine loop, even when you get what you are anticipating, it is never quite satisfying. We keep doing the one thing, so we can get the reward, but the reward just makes us want to keep doing the one thing.

I figure since we all have this predilection for addiction, we might as well use it to our advantage. This is why I like video games for working out. Most games have a little dopamine loop built in to make you want to keep playing. You get the points or the stars or the stats and you want to keep getting the points or the stars or the stats. We like a reward, even a meaningless one. With a good workout game, I’m not thinking about the workout. I’m not thinking about anything really. I just keep pushing myself to get the reward. The ultimate satisfaction comes from getting into good shape.

Even if games aren’t your thing, the reward doesn’t have to be video game related, it can be anything. Have a smoothie and take a sip every tenth of a mile. Listen to music, text a friend, hell read this blog if that makes you a happy. Just add a small reward every time you do a workout you want to build into a habit. Soon enough you’ll find yourself working out without even thinking about it.