hedonic treadmill

Modern life is a constant battle between our primitive desires and our common sense. And let’s be honest, our desires win all too often, making our common sense very sad indeed.

But it doesn’t need to be this way! In this article, we’ll discuss how to repair your brain’s reward system so that you get even greater pleasure from healthy things than you currently get from unhealthy ones. The main focus will be on food, but we’ll also touch on the broader implications.

Let’s start at the root of our troublesome attraction to unhealthy pleasures.

The Hedonic Treadmill

There’s a very particular aspect of human psychology that drives much of our self-destructive behavior. It’s called hedonic adaptation: our tendency to quickly return to prior happiness levels following any major positive or negative life change.

This hedonic treadmill causes any good feelings from our direct pursuits of happiness to evaporate far too soon. A bigger house, a faster car, greater chocolate consumption, or a bigger Netflix habit are all fun for a while, but they soon become the “new normal,” resetting our happiness to base levels.

Seems rather depressing, doesn’t it? Lasting happiness remains out of reach, regardless of how much comfort and pleasure we bring into our lives. Whenever we make life more enjoyable, our brains simply reset the goalposts, and we’re back on the treadmill in search of the next peak.

But there is good news: If we play it well, the hedonic treadmill can be a great ally in our quest for a healthy and fulfilling life.

For example, it can help you get as much pleasure from the natural sweetness in an apple as from the much more intense sweetness in chocolate.

Sugar Sensitivity

Sugar desensitization is one of the biggest health problems in modern society. Most of us have been on the sugary hedonic treadmill for so long that our brains’ idea of pleasant sweetness is actually total sugar overload.

Luckily, we can heal this dangerous distortion by reversing the hedonic treadmill and gradually cutting sugar from our lives. Sure, for the first couple of weeks, this will be no fun whatsoever. But if you give the reverse hedonic treadmill time to work its magic, you’re in for a delightful surprise!

Once your brain’s reward system is reset to natural levels, you’ll gain a brand new superpower: the ability to experience the same pleasure from the sweetness in raw foods that you get from dangerously over-sweetened ultra-processed foods today.

This, my friends, is where we find the holy grail of diet and nutrition: totally effortless healthy eating. No willpower required. 😊

About Apples and Chocolates

I never minded the occasional apple. They’re pleasant enough and, as we all know, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. My daily apple mostly originated from the free fruit available at the office. And, after a cancer-scare many years ago, my elevated health consciousness helped me utilize this perk a little too liberally.

But something unexpected happened when I finally managed to quit sugar: Apples went from something that keeps the doctor away to something that helps make my day.

Mind you; I’m quite particular about my not-so-guilty apple pleasure. Yellow and pink are both lovely colors. Red and green, not so much. Crispiness is another decisive factor. Every bite should send a satisfying crunch reverberating around the room.

And this brings me to the next point: If you really want to enjoy your healthy food, make sure you’re all there for the experience (a.k.a. mindful eating).

One of the great things about eating an apple is that it’s a truly multi-sensory experience. Aside from the taste, there’s the sound and the tactile experience from the crunchiness. The liberation of fresh apple juice with the first couple of chews after every bite offers another delightful taste-tactile combo. Aroma also plays some role, although the apple is not the most aromatic fruit out there. When you get to experience a first-class apple, even your sense of sight will be engaged.

Reversing the hedonic treadmill can bring today’s apple on par with last month’s chocolate. But it’s full engagement in the multi-sensory eating experience that elevates it to the next level.

I should also clarify that I still enjoy quality chocolate more than even the pinkest and crispiest apple. Premium chocolate on a special occasion now floods my brain with endorphins, making the occasion all the more special.

This supercharged experience of quality confectionery is just another bonus offered by a well-functioning reward system.

Beyond Apples and Chocolates

This philosophy extends far beyond chocolates and apples. First off, our lives are filled with many ultra-processed foods other than chocolate, all laden with added sugars, saturated fats, and salts that send our primitive food cravings into overdrive. Years of running on our hedonic treadmills have numbed our sensitivity to these pleasures so severely that we need bucketloads of these slow poisons to stay satisfied.

Luckily, this process is fully reversible in surprisingly little time. A healthy, tasty, practical, and affordable whole-food diet will soon heal your brain’s broken reward system. Also, just like an apple, most whole foods create a delightful multi-sensory eating experience. And smartly crafted whole-food meals deliver yet another beautiful enhancement to the experience: sensory variation. This ideal breakfast composed of 16 healthy ingredients is the perfect example.

The same goes for any other area of life. TV, streaming, and other media offer the perfect example. Modern media consumption statistics are genuinely mind-boggling, making one wonder how we ever get anything done. Aside from stealing our innate human potential, excessive media consumption also harms our health by making us stagnate for hours on end.

The solution? You guessed it: Reverse the hedonic treadmill and fully engage in healthier alternatives. Meditation, napping, reading, crafting, socializing, active playing, and so many others can all become the apples to your Netflix chocolate.

Make the Leap!

It’s worth repeating: When you heal your nervous system and learn to engage fully in healthy experiences, you can get much more pleasure from healthy things than you currently get from your unhealthy indulgences.

It’s hard to find words to express how wonderful this is: You get more moments of real joy while adding many healthy years to your life for finding ever more of these moments. To make things even better, you’ll soon discover a whole world of pleasures reserved exclusively for the healthy!

Of course, the big challenge is that initial shock from putting the hedonic treadmill in reverse. Just like more intense sensory pleasures help us feel good for a while, turning down these sensory pleasures causes plenty of temporary discomfort. So, be prepared… There will be cravings.

The best strategy for getting through this trying period is to put your treadmill in a gradual reverse. This empty-calorie detox plan illustrates such a gradual turnaround. For example, its second step is to upgrade your treats for quality rather than quantity. Committing to premium treats will naturally cut your consumption and motivate you to be in the moment when enjoying your pricey delights.

Luckily, your brain’s reward centers need only a couple of months of gradual detoxing to repair themselves — nothing in exchange for decades of more intense, guilt-free pleasure.

Take the leap! Once you make this transition, you’ll never go back! 😊

Thanks to Alta Cloete