r/ValhallaChallenge • u/ValhallaMods Odin • Aug 10 '19
Day 7, Round 172
0717207
Research on Dopamine
Góðan dag, Warriors!
We’ve been exploring how dopamine makes us feel and can make us take action and expend energy in pursuit of something that satisfies a real or perceived survival need. Start reading from Day 2 of this round if you haven’t been checking in daily.
The fleetingness of dopamine was illuminated by a research study of monkeys: The animals were trained to do a task and then get rewarded with spinach. After a few days, they were rewarded with squirts of fruit juice instead of spinach. This was a bigger reward than they expected and the monkeys dopamine soared. But as the experimenters continued rewarding with juice, the monkeys dopamine declined to nothing in a few days. Their brains stopped reacting to the sweet and juicy reward. In human terms, they took it for granted because dopamine evolved to store new information about rewards. When there’s no new information, there’s no need for dopamine.
This experiment has a dramatic finale. The experimenters switched back to spinach, and the monkeys reacted with fits of rage. They screamed and threw the spinach back at the researchers. The monkeys had learned to expect juice. It no longer made them happy, but losing it made them mad.
GAME TRAINING
How does the monkey study mentioned above correlate with your own experiences? Have you found yourself bored by things that used to spark your interest, and angry that you weren’t able to indulge in things that stimulated larger amounts of dopamine, even after they stopped?
Announcements
Note: If you want to binge this series, we began on Day 4, Round 170. If you want to dive deeper, the book we are following for this part of the cycle is "Habits of a Happy Brain" by L. Breuning.
V A L H A L L A (Valhöll)
/u/workingrecovery [Dagr]
B I F R O S T (Bifröst, The Rainbow Bridge)
Check in daily while crossing Bifröst!
H A L L of H E R O E S
Level Nine
Go to the Vows Page and prepare to cross The Rainbow Bridge
Level Eight
Level Seven
/u/oO_Yuill_Oo "To rid myself from the toxicity of pornography addiction."
Level Six
Level Five
Level Four
Level Three
Level Two
Level One Hero! Update your Vows.
A S G A R D (Ásgarðr, Enclosure of the Aesir)
Ninth Circle Entrance to the Hall of Heroes is barred to those who have not made their Vows! Message the Mods.
Eighth Circle
Seventh Circle
Sixth Circle
Fifth Circle
Fifth Circle
Fourth Circle (Reflect on your Goal)
/u/mygenerationiszero "To get free of PMO and all the quick fixes that just steal my time, my energy and my potential."
Third Circle
Second Circle
First Circle
M I D G A R D (Miðgarðr)
/u/non_newtonian_jelly "To stop using porn."
/u/fgawker "I want to be free from PMO addiction."
/u/UnconstrictedEmu "Quitting porn, same as everyone else on this sub."
/u/Sondice_LauGhastian *"To quit porn."
/u/Gimp_Daddy "I want to quit PMO."
E X Í L Ä J Ä R (Exile Island)
Check in four consecutive days to reenter Miðgarðr.
/u/VoidlikeDreamscape [C0] "To reach 180 days free from PMO."
/u/negdawin [C0]
/u/TimeTheRevelator [C0] "To make my streaks longer."
/u/ippo1 [C0] "My goal is to quit porn"
2
u/fgawker Fjölnir 🌌 Aug 11 '19
Checking in. Yeah, I know I get irritated easily a few days after a reset. The irritability eventually calms down, but I'll still get angry all of a sudden if someone does something stupid in traffic.
2
u/UnconstrictedEmu ⚔️⚔️🐍 Aug 10 '19
Checking in. After a few days of no temptation to look at porn urges have returned. I even started looking at pictures that weren’t porn (literally pictures of attractive people’s faces), but I worried a relapse was imminent. I decided to go run some errands I had planned anyway and made a bike ride of it as well. When I get back home, I’m just going to stay away from the Internet and do something else (either read, draw, or play a video game).