Wellbeing Wednesdays: dopamine menus

Dopamine menus have gone viral over the past few months over social media with many raving about how these menus have helped to ensure wellbeing practices are added smoothly into their lives. But many of you might be wondering what a dopamine menu actually is and how it works. Dopamine menus were first created back in 2020, the height of the pandemic, by a YouTuber named Jessica McGabe. Exactly like the layout of a restaurant menu, you have different sections with different types of wellbeing activities to incorporate weekly. Creating a dopamine menu will help identify the things you like to do. You can choose what to do when feeling low and the menu also helps you to choose the amount of time you spend doing it. For example, an ‘appetiser’ will be a short, easy way to increase your dopamine, whereas a ‘main course’ may be more time-consuming and therefore become a weekly activity rather than daily. This article will take you through each of the sections, how to incorporate them into your lives and give you some ideas of what to add to your own dopamine menu.

‘Mains’ could also be spending an hour doing one of your favourite hobbies or practising something you love to do

Starters – quick dopamine fix 
Just like starters in a restaurant, these activities are a way to start your weekly wellbeing, and they only require a short amount of time. This could be a quick meditation exercise; I would suggest around 10 minutes. Instead, it could also be something as simple as making your bed properly in the morning or taking time to stretch when you wake up. Choose a few things that you consider generally quite easily attainable and make you feel good.

Mains – bigger breaks 
Now, onto the ‘main course’ which is something that requires a longer time frame and perhaps slightly more effort. I like to include going to the gym in this section as it is something I love to do but is definitely not always easy and requires a bigger time frame. ‘Mains’ could also be spending an hour doing one of your favourite hobbies or practising something you love to do. It ensures that you are blocking out time to do something that boosts your wellbeing.

Desserts – occasional treats
Desserts tend to be my favourite section on restaurant menus, and I think it might be the same for my dopamine menu. For the dopamine menu, this is something that should be done as a special treat and should not be an everyday activity. Usually, it involves spending more money than other wellbeing activities. This could include going out for dinner with a friend or ordering your favourite takeaway. Think of something that makes you happy and would be a treat at the end of a couple of weeks and add it to your dessert section.

The ‘specials’ section has the clue in the name: it is something uncommon and rare that is a big activity and way of improving your wellbeing

Sides – alongside other tasks 
The ‘sides’ section for your dopamine menu should be done to help motivate you alongside tasks like completing some work or cleaning. In short, something that is quick and does not solely rely on completing the activity. I have been trying to listen to more podcasts recently but, as a final-year student, I don’t tend to have the time to listen to podcasts on their own. So, by adding podcasts to my ‘sides’ section, it ensures that I can get some cleaning or other productive tasks alongside it. That way, I am still spending time doing something for my wellbeing and I can also be productive in other ways at the same time. This could also be making yourself a new drink before starting some work or lighting a candle.

Specials – special and usually more expensive ways to get your dopamine fix 
The ‘specials’ section has the clue in the name: it is something uncommon and rare that is a big activity and way of improving your wellbeing. This could be booking a spa treatment or going to that concert you’ve been looking forward to. Or, if you want to go a step even further, it could be booking a trip away. Of course, this is expensive which is why it is a ‘special’ and only a treat once in a long while.

Hopefully, the breakdown of these sections has given you inspiration to set up your own dopamine menu. Start off by listing a few things for each section and then go onto Canva or another design app to create an actual menu. You can design the menu how you want and print it out to put up as a reminder of activities to do for your wellbeing. I also use Pinterest to get some ideas for both the activities and the way I want my menu to look. I hope this has been useful and enjoy creating your dopamine menus!