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What do you think of a 'dopamine gym'?

I've recently grown interested in ways that individuals can work to optimize their brain's dopamine patterns for improving productivity, self control, and general satisfaction. Obviously, the neurology behind these aims is a bit more complicated than just dopamine but I've chosen that term given that it's generally understood as the crux for motivation, etc.

From a quick Google search, it's pretty clear that a lot of the information one can find on these topics is often non-scientific or outright false (e.g., brain-training games that have no effect). After some digging, I've found Stanford's Neuro professor Dr. Andrew Huberman (https://podcastnotes.org/huberman-lab/episode-39-controlling-your-dopamine-for-motivation-focus-satisfaction-huberman-lab/) to be a trustworthy source. From his work (and a few other blogs) it seems that there are some relatively minor interventions we can make in our own lives that can help us optimize our brain's dopamine patterns: avoiding short term satisfaction, eating healthy, avoiding stimulants, etc.

As a thought experiment, I've wondered if a gamified consumer app 'dopamine gym' of sorts might be a fun way for users to learn more about how their own habits are impacting their brain's dopamine patterns and small changes they can make to improve. For instance, a simple version may entail a survey across a few dimensions of daily habits (link here: https://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/7-straightforward-ways-to-strengthen-your-prefrontal-cortex-hint-the-most-important-part-of-the-brain/) which is followed up with recommendations on where a user should focus on adding positive habits or removing negative ones.

For discussion's sake, let's say the core problem here is that most people don't know what they can/should do to improve their brain's dopamine patterns but would like to. In a user story: Devin the developer would like to learn how he should change his habits to optimize his brain's dopamine patterns so that he can be more productive at work.

What do other IndieHackers think?

on December 31, 2021
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    I really enjoy the concept behind this. The hard part here is getting the functionality right in terms of not being "just one more app" installed in you OS, competing with far more powerful dopamine-producing apps.

    Have you ever thought of what an MVP of this could look like? I think FABULOUS app does very well the job of introducing you to their functionalities little by little, and they do that by making you drink a cup of water for a couple of days.

    The question in my mind is: "what is the one action that, if done, can display the biggest improvement in a person's live with the mininum effort?"

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      I guess one cool functionality could be to replicate the behavior of the news feed: a simple app that you open instead of instagram/facebook/youtube and it has a fake feed that you roll down and it displays random, useless gifs. That is kind of like "fake cigarrettes" or the technique of the "lollipop" for smokers: whenever you want to give in to the HABIT, you just resort to something similar, buyt less harmful.

      Then the app could display stats on how many times did you mindlessly scroll the fake news feed.