I recently went to the theatre to see Othello. The acting was quite superb and was it was brilliant to watch. Live theatre always gives me a buzz and a ‘high’.
It’s why I always include it on my ‘Dopamine Menu’.
A dopamine menu is a simple list of activities that reliably give you a healthy boost of motivation, enjoyment, or satisfaction.
It’s a concept borrowed from behavioural psychology and productivity communities where the idea is to make it easy to choose something positive when your motivation dips.
A dopamine menu is a simple tool used to help you choose healthy, intentional activities that give your brain a small reward boost instead of falling into unhelpful default habits like doom-scrolling, procrastinating, or negative rumination. It works especially well if your health isn’t.
The idea borrows from the structure of a restaurant menu. Instead of food, the menu offers small activities that release dopamine, the brain chemical associated with reward, motivation, and pleasure.
So rather than automatically reaching for whatever habit is easiest (often your phone), you pick something from a pre-prepared list of enjoyable or restorative activities that provide a small hit of motivation or pleasure.
When you feel tired, stressed, unwell, or overwhelmed, your brain naturally seeks quick dopamine boosts. Unfortunately, the easiest sources (social media scrolling, junk habits, avoidance) often leave you feeling worse afterwards.
Given my own situation – rebuilding fitness, managing RIG feeding, and navigating recovery – a dopamine menu acts like a toolkit for momentum giving me choices that keep my mind active and my morale steady on days when my energy or my health might otherwise dictate the pace.
Living with head and neck cancer changes the way you experience effort, energy, and reward.
Recovery isn’t a straight road. It’s a series of climbs, pauses, setbacks, and adjustments. Some days the smallest tasks require enormous effort. On other days you may feel strong but mentally drained from the constant background work of coping, adapting, and persevering.
That’s where a dopamine menu becomes surprisingly powerful.
By creating a dopamine menu of activities that give you small, positive boosts of motivation, satisfaction, or enjoyment, you get to stay on top rather than get dragged down.
This is a reward system you build for yourself, a collection of things that help your brain reset, restore energy, and keep moving forward.
When you’re dealing with serious illness, motivation doesn’t always arrive on its own. Fatigue, treatment effects, anxiety, and physical limitations can make even ordinary tasks feel like uphill work. Your brain is working hard to manage pain, uncertainty, medical appointments, scans, and recovery.
In that environment, it becomes incredibly important to create deliberate moments of reward.
A dopamine menu does exactly that. It gives you ready-made options for restoring morale when things feel heavy.
Why it works
When your energy or focus drops, your brain naturally looks for quick dopamine. Without a plan, that often means:
- scrolling social media
- snacking mindlessly
- procrastinating
- watching random videos
When you are going through a tough time, a dopamine menu can dig you out of a hole and keep you on firm ground. It removes the decision problem of “What should I do?”.
What does it look like?
Most dopamine menus copy the structure of a restaurant menu:
1. Amuse-bouche (quick boosts)
5–10 minute activities.
Examples:
- listen to a favourite song
- make a cup of tea
- step outside
- water a plant
- stretch or breathe
- Send a quick encouraging message to someone
2. Starters
20-40 minute mood resets
- do a litter-pick loop around your local green space
- write a short blog paragraph
- create a new motivational quote for social media
- watch a scene from a favourite film and analyse why it works
- read 10 pages of a book
- sit quietly by water and observe the environment
- write three things going well today
3. Main courses (more engaging/deep satisfaction)
Activities that take longer but feel rewarding.
Examples:
- visit the theatre
- work on a creative project
- read a chapter of a book
- cook something
- play a board game
- write a full blog post about resilience, hope, or optimism
- go on a long countryside walk
- watch a classic film start to finish
4. Desserts (treats)
Enjoyable but used intentionally.
Examples:
- watch a TV episode
- do some online shopping
- catching up on social media
5. Specials
Specials are less frequent activities that bring big dopamine rewards.
Examples:
- going on holiday
- going to a music festival
- enjoying a spa day
The real purpose of a dopamine menu is intentional self-regulation. Instead of letting your brain chase the easiest reward, you guide it toward activities that genuinely help your mood, energy, or recovery.
The real trick is knowing how to consume and not over-do the treats or specials.
A dopamine menu helps you manage your mental energy. Instead of waiting to feel motivated, you trigger motivation through action. In practical terms it helps with:
- burnout
- low mood
- attention dips
- creative blocks
- stress
- ill-health
I see it as “a morale field kit” or “manufacturing optimism on demand.”
In other words: when motivation disappears, don’t wait for it to return. Choose something from the menu and restart the engine.
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