‘The two of us book a karaoke room for an hour. It’s like tiramisu for the soul’ What’s on your dopamine menu?
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From a ‘starter’ of dishing out compliments to a ‘dessert’ of smashing laptops in rage rooms, scientists and authors share 15 ‘portion-sized’ ideas for a positivity boost. Dopamine has a reputation as the body’s “feelgood” hormone, but it’s “really more about motivation than about positive affect”, says happiness researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky. This is the chemical that nudges you towards things you enjoy, helping you muster the effort required to attend a party you’re on the fence about, then showering you with a sense of reward when you actually have a great time. Dopamine works with other neurotransmitters like serotonin to give you a sense of momentum: do one thing to give yourself a mood boost, and the cascading effects of that decision can help you break out of a rut and resuscitate your zest for life. January, with its clean slate, is the ideal time to rev this process up.
![[A baked pie with the word ‘joy’ in the middle]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/509a5b04bbdd4c77c0d9ca8b172e8d3962795ba8/596_1117_6589_3955/master/6589.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Enter the concept of the dopamine menu: a fresh sheet of stimulating activities designed to lift your spirits: quick “starters” that take relatively little time and effort to pull off; more substantial “mains”; and subtle “sides” or indulgent “desserts”.
The phrase was coined on YouTube in 2020 and the internet is now full of people sharing dopamine menus full of curated tips. One of mine? Booking a private karaoke room for an hour with just my partner, singing as many songs as we want, as ridiculously as we want. It’s like tiramisu for the soul.
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