Recalibrating your reward system: treating yourself better
Oct 5, 2023
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The podcast discusses the habit of using food as a treat or reward and the potential harm it can cause. It highlights the importance of being intentional and thoughtful about treats, planning them in advance for increased enjoyment and improved restraint. The episode also explores the concept of reward systems, breaking old habit cycles, and discovering new rewarding activities. It emphasizes enhancing the experience of treating oneself and choosing better treats. Additionally, it mentions a program on Body Image Repair and Resilience and provides support options for listeners in need.
Being intentional and thoughtful about treats and rewards can add pleasure and enjoyment to life while avoiding unintended consequences.
Planning treats and creating a comprehensive list of deeply rewarding activities can increase enjoyment, anticipation, restraint, and counter feelings of deprivation or resentment.
Deep dives
The Importance of Treats and Rewards
Treats and rewards are not only useful for incentivizing desirable behavior, but they also add pleasure and enjoyment to our lives. However, there can be unintended consequences associated with treats and rewards. Many people use food as a reward or treat, whether to celebrate completing a task or to satisfy emotional needs. However, relying on food treats can lead to problems such as excessive sugar intake or interference with weight management. It can be challenging to stop using food in this way because of the emotional and biological factors involved. To address this, it is important to be intentional and thoughtful about how we reward ourselves, and to create a list of alternative, deeply rewarding activities to turn to.
Understanding the Reward System
The brain is wired to repeat pleasurable behaviors, and dopamine plays a key role in this process. Dopamine acts as a marker, signaling the brain to remember and repeat behaviors that activate the reward centers. Highly rewarding substances, like food or alcohol, can make it harder for the brain to respond to more subtle rewards. This is why it is essential to create a personal list of activities that are authentically rewarding and to turn to that list frequently. Breaking the habit of reaching for familiar treats requires intentional repetition, but over time the brain can learn to turn towards new rewards in old situations.
Planning and Choosing Treats
Planning treats offers several advantages. First, it allows us to choose better treats rather than impulsively settling for less worthy options. Second, the anticipation of a planned treat increases enjoyment. Research shows that looking forward to something can be the most pleasurable part of the experience. Finally, planning treats can increase restraint. Having something specific to look forward to makes it easier to resist unplanned and less worthy temptations. It is recommended to create a comprehensive list of treats and rewards, upleveling less rewarding activities, and evaluating the cost and long-term benefits of each treat on the list. By making treats a more intentional part of our lifestyle, we can experience more pleasure and avoid feelings of deprivation or resentment.
The theme of treats and rewards is coming up in a lot of my conversations right now…with my coaching clients, with people who have reached out to talk about working together, even with my friends and colleagues. Specifically, using food as a treat or reward.
This is something a lot of us have learned to do. And like any highly rewarding behavior, this habit has the potential to do harm…and can be surprisingly hard to break.
In this episode, we’re going to talk about cultivating new sources of reward and pleasure — ones that make our lives richer, and don’t have unintended consequences. I’ll also share three ways that being more intentional about treats can increase the pleasure you get from them–as well as strengthening your willpower.
Key Takeaways:
Treats and rewards add pleasure and enjoyment to life. However, we need to be intentional and thoughtful about them.
Planning your treats offers several advantages, including increased enjoyment through anticipation and improved restraint against unplanned indulgences.
Cultivating awareness and anticipation of treats in your life can counter feelings of deprivation and resentment, making your pursuit of healthier habits more enjoyable
Develop and maintain a list of activities that genuinely reward you. Include both small and big pleasures. Consider also the costs of each treat. Does indulging in this treat bring you closer to or further from your goal?