Psychiatrist Ha Ji-hyun, PD Jeon Hong-ryeol of “The Secret of Birth, Aging, Illness, and Death,”
PD Koo Beom-jun strongly recommends "Time to Change the World."

“SNS, shorts, food, shopping, gambling…
“It’s time to take back control of your dopamine-controlled life!”

On the way home from work, I exchange direct messages (DMs) with friends on social media and watch YouTube videos at full speed without stopping.
You order delivery food before you get home, and you blindly pay for things you don't really need on websites lured by advertisements.
You lie in bed before going to bed, trying to watch a short form for “just 5 minutes,” and before you know it, it’s already 2 AM.
I promise myself that I won't do this tomorrow, but it's still the same.
It's a life literally soaked in dopamine.

As the expressions “dopamine explosion” and “dopamine burst” suggest, dopamine is known as a hormone of pleasure that brings great joy to a tiring and boring daily life.
The problem is that if excessive dopamine secretion continues to repeat, our brain gradually falls into a vicious cycle of addiction in which it wants greater stimulation and greater amounts.


Professor Ahn Cheol-woo, a hormone expert, has included specific and practical methods for restoring dopamine balance in this book based on medical insight.
The three-step dopamine detox journey he suggests (Step 1: Recognize your addictive behavior - Step 2: Avoid distractions - Step 3: Reward yourself for your efforts) aims not simply to eliminate dopamine, but to restore dopamine balance and, ultimately, peace in life.
It helps readers take each step step by step through case studies of patients who have actually succeeded in dopamine detoxification.
If you want to take back control of your dopamine-controlled life, don't hesitate and follow this friendly guide.

While this book focuses on dopamine, the most important thing is that the hormones in our bodies, including dopamine, are balanced, which is the key to a healthy life.
In other words, ‘balance’ is important.
If you focus too much on one thing, cracks will start to appear in your daily life, and an unbalanced life will eventually fall apart.
The ultimate goal of this book, and my hope, is to help you regain control of your life and lead a healthy daily life without being swayed by pleasure.
This journey to find balance in life will be difficult and sometimes frightening, but you will find yourself growing and developing along the way.
Those of you who have decided to start anew have already taken the first step toward a great change.
--- p.18 From the "Prologue"

If the smartphone addiction of patients who visited the hospital could be related to dopamine, which plays an important role in our brain's reward system, I thought that it would be a priority to improve the addiction symptoms related to dopamine secretion hidden behind the superficial disease.
So who, why, and how do people become addicted to dopamine? Medically speaking, the term "dopamine addiction" is actually a misnomer.
It is impossible for a person to become addicted to dopamine, because dopamine itself is not addictive.


The expression 'dopamine addiction' that we commonly know is more appropriate to mean addiction to activities, substances, or stimuli that cause the secretion of dopamine in the brain, rather than to dopamine itself.
For example, if you repeatedly find yourself eating late at night and find it difficult to control yourself even though you know it's bad for your health, you may be experiencing dopamine addiction.
--- pp.30-31 From "Chapter 1: The Invisible Powerful Commander"

After implanting small electrodes in the area of ​​the monkey's brain where dopamine cells are distributed, light bulbs were installed on the left and right sides of the monkey's cage, and two boxes connected to the light bulbs were placed together.
The principle of this device is simpler than you might think.
When the left light was lit, it signaled that there was food in the right box, and when the right light was lit, it signaled that there was food in the left box.
At first, the monkey did not understand the rules of the device, so it opened any box to get food.
As a result, one out of two attempts succeeded in obtaining food.
As expected, dopamine was secreted in the monkey's brain as soon as food was discovered.


But what happened after the monkeys fully understood the rules of this signal? They were able to get food every time they tried.
But something has changed since then.
This is the point at which dopamine is secreted in the monkey brain.
Dopamine began to be released the moment the light bulb came on, not when food was found as before.
The monkeys who understood the link between light and food felt a thrill when the light came on, not when they found the food.
--- p.41-42 From “Chapter 2: Motivation More Powerful Than Pleasure”

There are more than a few people who are suffering because they cannot quit the fantastic combination of alcohol and cigarettes.
Why does drinking alcohol make the urge to smoke stronger? Ultimately, it's because the two substances stimulate dopamine in similar ways.
Alcohol can increase dopamine secretion, even in small amounts.
The same goes for cigarettes.
When nicotine in cigarettes enters our body, it travels through the blood vessels and reaches the brain.
At this time, nicotine stimulates the brain's reward circuit, causing the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which causes a feeling of pleasure.


The problem is that when dopamine is frequently secreted due to external factors such as alcohol and cigarettes, our brain learns how to obtain more pleasure.
So, when you drink alcohol, you end up reaching for cigarettes, and when you smoke, you end up reaching for alcohol.
For Jinseong, a diabetic, alcohol and cigarettes are the worst combination.
Diabetes alone increases the risk of developing life-threatening arteriosclerosis by 3-4 times, and adding alcohol and nicotine to the mix is ​​like pouring gasoline on a fire.
--- pp.54-55 From “Chapter 3: Where the Hands of Addiction Are Heading”

When we become addicted to things like smartphone use, games, and eating sweet and salty foods, the repetitive and excessive stimulation causes changes in dopamine receptors.
Broadly speaking, two changes can be observed.
First, the sensitivity of dopamine receptors decreases.
This means that the receptors' ability to respond to dopamine is reduced, meaning that even if the same amount of dopamine is secreted, the dopamine receptors become less sensitive and do not respond as before.
Later on, sensitivity may be lost.

Next, the total number of receptors is reduced.
This phenomenon is part of the brain's defense mechanism to adapt to excessive dopamine secretion, as nerve cells reduce their dopamine receptors.
Even if the same amount of dopamine is secreted, the overall effect of dopamine is reduced because there are fewer receptors that can recognize it.
At first, you may feel great joy from a single social media notification, but over time, it becomes difficult to feel satisfaction from the same stimulus.
--- p.96 From “Chapter 4: Preparing to Recover from Addicted Brain”

This is the goal that Nari, a night snack addict and morbidly obese, revealed during her treatment.
But it is unclear how to lose weight and how much to lose.
To achieve your goal of dieting, you need to consider many aspects, including exercise, diet, and mental health.
Ultimately, if you don't have a concrete action plan for the goals you've set, your plans will likely fall through the cracks again.
If you find it difficult to specify your goals, it may be a good idea to apply the six W principles of 'who, what, when, where, how, and why.'
Especially when setting goals, the 'why' is very important.
It helps you clearly understand the benefits you will receive when you achieve your goal and the specific reasons why you set that goal.
--- p.119 From “Chapter 5, Step 1: Recognizing Addictive Behaviors”

While physical distancing is the literal use of physical devices or structures, such as fences or firewalls, to block specific targets, 'categorical blocking' is a concept mainly used in psychology and psychiatry, and is a method of restricting stimuli or actions by considering psychological and situational aspects.
For example, it goes beyond simply avoiding a specific food, but also avoiding everything associated with that food, including advertisements or situations that make you want to eat that food.
This is a very important step in blocking the triggers that lead to addictive behavior.
In reality, even when we put up physical barriers, there are so many unexpected factors around us that can trigger our temptation buttons.
--- p.145 From “Chapter 6, Step 2: Avoiding Distractions”

You need to distinguish between short-term and long-term goals and determine the size of the reward accordingly.
For example, if a person achieves a weekly goal, give them something small and insignificant, even if it's the same material reward, and if they achieve a long-term goal, give them a bigger gift like a trip.
To make it easier to understand, remember that there is a certain amount of rice that fits in a bowl.
The dopamine detox journey can be short-term or long-term.
If you've set long-term goals, it's important to create an environment that fosters continued growth through ongoing rewards.


Even if you set it for the short term, if you keep in mind small rewards followed by big rewards, you are more likely to successfully complete the dopamine detox in the long term.
During this process, it is recommended to periodically check the goals you have set and record your achievements in a dopamine detox journal to visually confirm the changes.
I hope that by setting rewards that are just right for me, I can improve my quality of life and encourage positive behavioral changes.
--- pp.180-181 From “Chapter 7, Step 3: Receiving Rewards for Your Efforts”

When I see patients, the thing that older people worry about the most is ‘muscle loss.’
In fact, when you lose muscle, you become uncomfortable with movement and many metabolic problems arise.
At this time, weight training using various resistances is necessary to strengthen and develop muscles.
To preserve muscle mass, it is recommended to train all major muscle groups (chest, back, arms, abs, legs, shoulders) evenly at least twice a week.
However, training each muscle group separately requires a lot of time and effort.

If you need to incorporate strength training into your daily routine without having to make time for a gym, I recommend strengthening your thighs, the largest muscle group in your body, above all else.
Even if you just work hard to build up your thigh muscles, you can help increase bone density and secrete growth hormones that prevent muscle loss due to aging.
--- p.199 From “Chapter 8 Exercise: The First Step to a Healthy Life”

Sometimes, diabetic patients avoid meat completely during the dopamine detox period to manage their insulin hormones.
However, I do not recommend eliminating meat from your diet outright.
Of course, there is no problem with consuming protein through a plant-based diet, as plant-based proteins such as soybeans and tofu are also rich in nutrients.
However, plant-based proteins may generally be less nutritious than animal-based proteins, so caution is advised.


Essential amino acids are amino acids that our bodies cannot produce, or that are produced in such small quantities that they must be consumed through food.
Animal proteins are rich in essential amino acids such as lysine and methionine, which play an important role in the synthesis of neurotransmitters and brain health.
The dopamine detox period varies from person to person, and if you only consume plant-based proteins during this period, your body may be lacking the nutrients it needs.


So, it is recommended to consume a balanced and even diet as much as possible.
When eating meat, choose high-quality lean meats with little fat, and consume high-quality protein through fish rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which will help maintain hormonal health and balance.
--- pp.228-229 From “Chapter 9 Food: What You Eat Today Determines Tomorrow”

Even if they sleep the same seven hours, which person would lead a healthier and more energetic life: someone who falls asleep at different times each night, or someone who sleeps at a consistent time? The latter, of course.
If you develop the habit of going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, your body's biological rhythm will adjust to that time.
If we fall asleep and wake up at different times each time, our bodies become stressed.
Let's set a regular sleeping schedule by referring to the time when melatonin is secreted.
--- p.245 From “Chapter 10 Sleep: The Truth That Sleep is Medicine”

In today's competitive society, our bodies are often overwhelmed by various stresses and anxieties.
But surprisingly, the secret weapon to calm this mental turmoil is nearby.
It is about utilizing our ‘five senses’: sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste.
Let's soothe our hearts by looking at the beautiful scenery that nature has to offer and paint a picture with our favorite colors.
Let's calm our emotions by listening to relaxing music and find inner peace by listening to the sounds of nature.
Take your time savoring your favorite tea or healthy snack, fully savoring its flavors and aromas.
These activities will greatly help us calm our bodies and minds and find true peace.

--- p.252 From “Chapter 11 Stress Management: A Necessity, Not an Option”