What Is a Dopamine Menu & How to Make One

Have you heard of the recent trend of the dopamine menu? It’s more than just a buzzword. It’s a powerful tool for supporting ADHD brains, sparking joy in your daily life, and helping you feel more balanced, even on tough days.

A dopamine menu is like a restaurant menu, but instead of meals, it offers a curated list of activities designed to trigger feel-good hormones through quick activities that can boost dopamine levels and improve your mood.

So, whether you’re navigating burnout, low energy, or just need a little pick-me-up, this simple tool can help promote dopamine release in a mindful, intentional way.

In this post, we’ll walk through what a dopamine menu is, how to make one, and the best ideas to add to yours.

But first, let’s get into the science behind it: what dopamine is, what it does in the brain, and how you can use a dopamine menu to support your well-being.

Pink peonies, hydrangeas, and roses arranged in metal buckets and glass vases outside a flower shop — a curated list of feel-good flowers to boost dopamine levels and bring joy to daily life, inspired by the concept of a dopamine menu.

What Is Dopamine?
What Dopamine Does
What Is a Dopamine Menu?
- How to Make Your Own Dopamine Menu
- Dopamine Menu Template
- Dopamine Menu Examples
- How to Use Your Dopamine Menu
Final Thoughts

What Is Dopamine?

Dopamine is a crucial chemical messenger in the brain, a neurotransmitter that plays a key role in how we experience pleasure, motivation, and focus.

Sometimes called the feel-good hormone, dopamine helps regulate our brain’s reward system, delivering that signature sense of reward when we do something that feels good.

Beyond mood, dopamine influences everything from learning and memory to movement and even kidney function.

For neurodivergent people, especially those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dopamine plays an even more crucial role in daily functioning.

That’s because ADHD brains tend to have lower-than-average levels of dopamine, which can make it harder to sustain focus, feel motivated, or experience that rewarding “click” after completing a task.

What Dopamine Does

In small doses, a dopamine rush can give us a mood boost, a sense of accomplishment, and even spark energy and creativity. Think of the feeling after checking something off your to-do list, finishing a workout, or hearing your favorite song. Those are all examples of dopamine activity in action.

But when our dopamine levels dip too low, it can lead to a lack of motivation, low energy, and even symptoms tied to depression.

To cope, many of us instinctively chase that next dopamine hit through things like sugar, social media, or binge-watching Netflix. While those behaviors can offer a quick dopamine boost, they don’t always create lasting satisfaction.

That’s where the concept of a dopamine menu comes in. Instead of unconsciously reaching for a hit of pleasure, you build a personalized list of activities, a go-to dopamine menu, filled with mood-boosting actions that are actually fulfilling.

Want even more dopamine-rich ideas? This list of ADHD hobbies that boost dopamine and focus is full of creative, physical, and mindful activities to keep your brain stimulated and fulfilled.

What Is a Dopamine Menu?

A dopamine menu, or dopamenu (a term first coined by ADHD educator Jessica McCabe), is a curated list of activities designed to provide healthy, intentional ways to activate your brain’s reward system.

She compares it to trying to make nutritious food choices: if you’re starving and haven’t planned ahead, you’ll probably grab whatever’s quickest, even if it doesn’t nourish you. The same thing happens with dopamine. When we’re experiencing lower levels of dopamine, we might instinctively reach for activities like:

Doomscrolling
Endless texting
Ruminating
Mindless or emotional eating
Watching TV
Playing video or phone games

While these might offer a sense of reward in the moment, they rarely leave us feeling better.

The purpose of the dopamine menu is to make it easier to choose good options — the kind that support healthy levels of dopamine and actually fill your cup.

This might include:

Making a cozy drink
Going for a walk
Listening to music
Journaling or crafting
Planning something fun for the weekend

By organizing your dopamine-stimulating activities into different categories, like creative, physical, social, or calming, you can create your own dopamenu that fits your lifestyle. It becomes your personal toolkit for those moments when your motivation dips or your brain feels foggy.

It’s one of the best things you can do to support dopamine regulation, especially if you live with ADHD or simply want to bring more joy and intention to your daily life.

Curious to learn more? Jessica’s YouTube channel, How to ADHD, is a great resource. Here’s the video where she first introduced the idea of a dopamine menu, and you can also check out her book for more insights.

How to Make Your Own Dopamine Menu

Okay, now that you’re an expert on all things dopa menu, it’s time to turn intention into action and make your own.

This is a choose-your-own-adventure:

Path 1: Make a Dopamine Menu that’s totally your own, from choosing the menu items to designing the menu itself. Turn the process into a creative project and spend an afternoon creating a dopamine menu that’s totally unique to you.

Path 2: Use our Dopamine Menu Template and fill in, edit, and adjust your menu items to match what you love and what brings you pleasure.

Dopamine Menu Template

Download Dopamine Menu Template

In either case, we’ve adapted Jessica McCabe’s approach into a simple four-step process below.

Design: Think about things that you’ve done in the past that have made you feel excited or alive, and also things that have left you feeling bored or depleted. You might want to treat this as a stream of consciousness brainstorm because there’s room for editing in the next step.
Set Your Menu: Review and edit your list. Keep in mind this isn’t a to-do list, so you should feel some level of genuine excitement to do each thing on your list. Don’t forget to put each menu item into a category: appetizer, entree, side, dessert, and specials. In this step, you should also turn your menu into a fun design. Pinterest is a great source of inspiration.
Prep: Make doing the things on your dopamine easier by preparing your space. You might want to set up a little tea station or get your bullet journal set up. Think about how you can make things easy for yourself by setting the stage.
Display: This step is about putting your dopamine menu somewhere where you won’t forget it, so it can serve as a constant reminder. Some ideas include printing it and putting it on your fridge or desk, or you can even set it as the background on your phone.

Dopamine Menu Examples

Just in case you need a little inspo along the way, we’ve put together our best dopamine menu ideas to spark your imagination. From peaceful walks to pet cuddles and wine drinking, these activities are sure to give you the little extra boost you need.

Appetizers (small boosts in 5 to 10 minutes)

5-minute meditation
5 minutes of positive affirmations
Listen to your favorite song, dance like no one is watching
Make a cup of coffee or tea
Cuddle or play with a pet
Do some satisfying stretches
Get some sunlight
Send a text to a friend to tell them you’re thinking about them
Take a warm shower
Do you skincare routine
Do a Duolingo lesson to keep your streak
Make a list

Entrees (for a full boost of dopamine)

Go for a walk or hike
Go to a workout class or do a home workout
Cook a meal
Watch a movie
Read your book
Take an everything shower
Declutter one area of your home
Deep clean your house
Make a new playlist

Sides (some frosting to make something else just a little more fun)

Light a delicious-smelling candle
Put on a TV show you love in the background (or a cozy ambiance video)
Call a friend or family member
Listen to a podcast or audiobook
Put on your favorite playlist
Make a special beverage
Put on a face or hair mask

Desserts (something extra sweet to be enjoyed in moderation)

Scroll on social media
Do some online shopping
Binge-watch a show
Have a glass of wine
Make a delicious snack

Specials (a special treat when you really need it)

Book your next vacation
Sign up for a workshop or course
Buy yourself some flowers
Go for a cold plunge or cryo session
Start a new creative project
Do a random act of kindness
Get your nails done
Take a pottery class
Book tickets to a concert

How to Use Your Dopamine Menu

Now that you have a customized dopamine menu with all your favorite activities ready to go, it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to use it.

Becoming mindful of our reward-seeking behavior can be difficult because for many of us, it’s a deeply ingrained subconscious habit.

To start, take a moment to reflect on a couple of things you do on a daily basis or maybe many times a day when you’re feeling understimulated.

For many, the big one is reaching for our phones, but it could also be snacking, biting your nails, or even compulsively checking your text messages or email.

Start with just one of these habits and try to be mindful of the times throughout the day when you start to initiate this activity. Can you think of any specific triggers? Perhaps you always scroll on social media on your commute, or maybe you check your email every time you finish something.

Your triggers will be deeply personal and unique to you, but once you have some awareness of what they are, you can start to reprogram your mind to reach for your menu instead of your old habits.

Final Thoughts

Creating and using a dopamine menu can be a great way to feel happier and more fulfilled on a day-to-day basis.

It’s a great way to bring awareness to habits that are not serving us and being mindful about replacing them with things that do.

We hope this post has inspired you to create your own dopamine menu, and we’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

However, if you are finding that nothing feels enjoyable, you could be experiencing something bigger, and it’s always best to seek out professional help if you need it. There’s no need to struggle along. We wish we could be there to give you a big hug.

With love,

A small note to my readers – Over here at VLHhealth, we occasionally include affiliate links in our posts. This means that if you purchase using our links, we will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.