substances

Ever notice how caffeine tires you out?

Well that’s because of dvar. Caffeine will spike your dvar so give you the impression of elevated energy, but this is only illusory and temporary. Shortly after that initial elevation your tonic dopamine will begin to sink and you will feel sluggish.

So you counter it with more caffein! And more sluggishness. And it blocks you adenosine receptors so you can’t settle. So you wind up with low tonic and high phasic dopamine, in a body that can’t sleep. 

I was an 8-double-espresso guy so I should know. Oh and I was a 16-pint guy too. That one is more obvious in the harm it does to you.

Substances. How I loved my substances. But they were all of harm to me.

When you view things through the eyes of dvar it is a lot easier to see how something makes you feel great for a brief while but then leaves you empty and craving more shortly afterward. The phasic spike results in a downtrend in tonic and you rapidly become dependent on these spikes to get through the day.

How this plays into dvar over a lifetime is quite easy to see, but the cycle can be hard to break.

Addictions of all kind need substitution, but you need to be careful what you substitute with. You want to be targeting activities which lower dvar and increase tda.

This means that yes - exercise is a great way to stop being reliant on substances or abusive partners or masturbation.

But it needs to be the right kind of exercise.

Do not go and kill yourself at the gym. Do not do intervals and HIIT. Do not try for the ironman world championships.

Do, however, go for a long bike ride or a long walk. Do it in nature, and not in a room surrounded by sweaty people, loud music not-of-your-choosing, and screens full of distractions and data.

By all means start with a bit of a sprint if you need to get a little endorphin boost to clear your mind, but settle into a rhythm as soon as possible and hold that meditative timing.

All substances and addictive behaviours are the same. They *all* hit your dvar and cause the downstream shittiness that comes as a result. All of them. Every single one.

The way to break them is to do intentional training. You are breaking that addiction by *not* going too hard and by *not* punishing yourself. The fact that you are going at a steady pace, and focused on the motion, is in itself evidence that you are freeing yourself from the clutches of addiction.

Because dvar is the fundamental particle of addiction and it can latch to anything. Smoker becomes drinker becomes workaholic becomes ironman. And all the time the emptiness inside grows.

So don’t sweat which substance it is too much; just observe how it impacts your dvar both in the moment and afterward. 

Slow and steady wins the race.

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