One of TikTok’s recent wellness trends, the “dopamine menu,” is meant to help boost motivation and bring joy to life with a curated menu of activities. By organizing daily activities that release dopamine—known as the brain’s pleasure and reward neurotransmitter—people are discovering new ways to cultivate motivation and enhance mental health. But is it just another social media trend, or is there real merit to creating a dopamine-driven lifestyle?
The concept of a dopamine menu involves deliberately organizing activities that provide dopamine boosts throughout the day to maintain motivation and bring pleasure. It mirrors a restaurant menu, with activities grouped into different “courses” based on the time, effort, and reward involved. Jessica McCabe, creator of the YouTube channel How To ADHD and the author of How To ADHD: An Insider’s Guide to Working With Your Brain (Not Against It), initially developed the term to help those with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but clinical psychologist Dr. Gilly Kahn explains that the concept behind dopamine menus is actually based on pleasant activity schedules from cognitive behavior therapy (CBT).
“Pleasant activity schedules are generally recommended for CBT patients who are depressed, and they involve having the clinician create a list of fun or pleasurable activities with the person to increase positive experiences and [give] more motivation to get out of bed and live their lives,” says Kahn. “Dopamine menus also make engagement in activities more intentional and purposeful rather than mindless.”
This structured approach is particularly helpful for people with ADHD, who often have lower dopamine levels. Kahn says a visual schedule of productive, neurologically satisfying activities can be a powerful tool for those who struggle with focus.
Dopamine’s Role in Everyday Life
Dr. Elizabeth Crain, a licensed psychotherapist, explains dopamine’s critical role in our brains. “Dopamine is one of the ‘happy’ neurotransmitters,” she says. “It sends chemical messages between nerve cells that signal to the brain and the rest of the body.” This neurotransmitter helps regulate sleep, mood, attention and cognition, which is why its release can lead to feelings of pleasure and satisfaction.
However, dopamine’s influence doesn’t end with simple pleasure. “Because dopamine is part of the brain’s reward system, we’re hardwired to seek out pleasure and things that make us feel good,” Crain says. This instinctual drive explains why activities like eating comfort food, exercising or listening to music can feel so rewarding. But, as she points out, not all dopamine hits are positive in the long run.
People with ADHD often thrive on novelty, challenge and passion with an interest-based nervous system, a term coined by Dr. William Dodson, a psychiatrist specializing in ADHD.
“We know ADHDers are very much guided by passion because their ‘inattention’ really is more ‘selective attention’ in the direction of subjects they are highly interested in, sort of like in autism,” says Kahn.
The dopamine menu taps into this by offering a variety of stimulating activities, helping maintain interest and energy throughout the day. Unlike strict routines, it’s flexible and fun—key elements for keeping those with ADHD motivated.
Crain explains that while dopamine can be released through behaviors both maladaptive (e.g., drug use) and healthy (e.g., exercise, spending time with loved ones), deliberately creating a dopamine menu can help people focus on the healthier options.
However, dopamine menus aren’t just for people with ADHD. The strategies behind them can benefit anyone looking to boost motivation, especially in an overstimulating world. “Logistically speaking, knowing what we know about reward systems and dopamine, the antidote to things like depression, anxiety and ADHD, can be creating positive habits,” says Crain.
Planning intentional, rewarding activities helps prevent burnout and ensures your day isn’t just filled with mindless quick hits like doom scrolling or online shopping.
“Creating a dopamine menu allows us to step back and really plan out our day so we can also fit in productive and rewarding activities—we can look back and feel genuinely good about how we used our time,” says Kahn.
Building an effective dopamine menu means tailoring it to your individual needs, interests and environment. “While exercise is great for everyone and will certainly release dopamine, if you’re not into exercise, you don’t need to have gym workouts on your dopamine menu,” says Kahn.
For the musically inclined, Crain suggests incorporating classical or binaural sounds into the dopamine menu. She also points out that some people may need a primarily activity-based menu, while others may work better with a more goal-directed menu or one related to inner work.
When creating a menu, balancing activities that offer a quick dopamine boost with those that provide long-term satisfaction is critical. Social media or television might make its way onto your menu, but Kahn recommends including it under “desserts” with strict time restrictions, using timers or app limits to prevent it from dominating your day.
Once you’ve determined your dopamine activities, break them down like you would a menu at a restaurant:
- Appetizers: Quick, sensory activities like splashing cold water on your face, taking a shower or listening to a favorite song.
- Mains: More involved activities that take an hour or more, like reading a book, going for a walk, or doing a hobby.
- Sides: Activities you can pair with something else, like listening to a podcast or an audiobook.
- Desserts: Short-term pleasures like scrolling social media or watching TV (with time limits to avoid getting stuck).
Kahn recommends limiting the number of options on the menu to avoid feeling overwhelmed. “It may be better to include fewer options (maybe a max of five) and then just rotate the options, like a seasonal menu,” she suggests.
Dopamine Menus for Work and Play
Dopamine menus can make life more enjoyable, but Kahn doesn’t recommend them for work.
“I think there should be strategies applied at work—sort of like the sides in a dopamine menu,” she says, offering examples like listening to white noise or using a standing desk or fidget spinners. “But… the point of dopamine menus is to enjoy life outside of work and to create more order during times that are less scheduled.”
Similarly, Crain suggests using a different dopamine menu during the work week than on weekends. A weekend dopamine menu might focus more on pleasurable activities, while the weekday menu should include activities that are more focused on maintenance to help you get through the week.
As with any strategy designed to boost motivation and mood, there are potential downsides. “Be realistic about activities that release dopamine and stay away from extremes,” says Crain. “You shouldn’t go to the slot machines to get that dopamine hit every weekend.”
Similarly, Kahn notes that while dopamine menus can be beneficial, they aren’t a replacement for medication or therapy for those who have ADHD.
“Relying too much on the environment for dopamine ‘kicks’ may actually leave you unproductive and struggling with completing tasks that are less interesting—tasks that really need to get done,” Kahn says. For example, if you’ve been putting off an assignment because it seems overwhelming and boring, you can use white noise and other behavioral strategies from here to the moon, but nothing will compare to using ADHD medication to balance out the neurochemicals in our brains, she notes.
The rise of the dopamine menu reflects a broader societal need for balance when we’re constantly faced with external stimuli. “People are drawn to using screens and technology, and they can’t be blamed for that, given that internet use is addicting, especially to ADHDers,” explains Kahn. “Dopamine menus seem to be a nice strategy for adults to gain a better sense of control over their lives.”
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