Dr. Zoe Wyatt-Potage explains how dopamine, stress and festive pressure drive “overdoing it” and offers realistic ways to reset habits beyond the holidays.
In the United States, the festive season is sold as a time of generosity and celebration. In practice, it is also a peak period for overeating, overspending and late-night scrolling. Surveys suggest many Americans end the holidays in debt and feel stressed or regretful when bills arrive. Small but measurable weight gain over this period also appears in studies, often accounting for much of the year’s total increase.
“These patterns are not about a lack of discipline,” says Dr Zoe Wyatt-Potage, a Clinical Social Worker and researcher who works with organisations and clients globally. “They sit on top of a reward system in the brain that is built to chase short-term relief, especially when people are already under strain.”
A brain wired for quick rewards
Central to this is dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in reward, motivation and learning. When we anticipate or receive something rewarding, such as a dessert, a sale notification or a social media like, dopamine signals that it might be worth repeating. Over time, the brain begins to respond not only to the reward itself but to the cues that predict it.
In her research on the neuroscience of modern life, Dr Zoe describes dopamine as part of a “wanting” system. Rather than delivering pleasure, it drives people to keep seeking and repeating behaviours that once eased discomfort.
“The brain isn’t running a budget,” she says. “It’s tracking patterns of relief. If a behaviour reliably takes the edge off, dopamine will make it more tempting the next time emotions spike.”
Why December pulls so hard
By year’s end, many people are already managing financial strain, workplace stress and emotional fatigue. The holidays arrive with a powerful script about what a “good” season should look like: generous gifts, full tables and smiling families.
For those facing tight budgets, grief or complicated relationships, that script can be punishing. There is pressure to spend money that isn’t available, attend events that feel uncomfortable, or perform gratitude when life feels difficult. Social media adds to this, offering endless scenes of curated celebration that amplify comparison.
In this context, dopamine-driven habits often function less as a chase for joy and more as an attempt to quiet unease. Eating past fullness can soften loneliness for a moment. Impulse buying can ease guilt about not doing enough. Scrolling late into the night distracts from sadness or stress.
How dopamine helps us push feelings down
When distress rises, the brain looks for fast ways to lower it. Behaviours that have previously brought even brief comfort are tagged as useful. Each time someone eats, buys or scrolls to get through a difficult emotion, that loop strengthens.
Modern platforms make this cycle effortless. Many apps and devices are designed to deliver constant, unpredictable micro-rewards, such as likes, messages, discounts, or new posts, each triggering a small dopamine surge.
Dr Zoe’s broader work on trauma and resilience shows how this loop becomes most powerful when people feel trapped between pressure and limited options. Dopamine provides quick relief, but it also increases the pull to repeat the same behaviours even when they no longer serve wellbeing.
Small shifts that change the pattern
Dr Zoe and many other clinicians who work in this area note that these patterns rarely change through willpower alone, especially during a stressful season. Instead, small, deliberate shifts that interrupt the cue-reward loop can be more effective.
Dr Zoe suggests three practical areas of focus:
- Build in one pause between urge and action. Wait ten minutes before checking out an online cart, step away from the buffet for a glass of water, or put the phone in another room for half an hour. Even a short pause gives the thinking brain time to re-engage. The behaviour may still happen, but it becomes a choice rather than a reflex.
- Swap some fast rewards for slower ones. Time outdoors, walking, stretching, music or creative activity can all trigger gentler dopamine responses without the long-term costs of debt or exhaustion. These alternatives will not remove the urge completely, but they widen the options when emotions spike.
- Connect reward to people, not products. Sharing a simple meal at home, inviting a friend for coffee, or agreeing on low-cost family plans can meet both the need for relief and the deeper need for human connection.
Rethinking “overdoing it” at the holidays
For Dr Zoe, the goal is not to remove joy or generosity from the festive season, but to understand why “too much” so often appears when people are under pressure.
“Dopamine isn’t the villain,” she says. “It is part of how the brain moves us toward reward and away from pain. The problem arises when cultural and financial pressures collide with unprocessed emotion, and we expect food, spending or screens to carry the weight.”
Rather than reacting with shame or extreme resolutions in January, she encourages modest, sustainable changes, with clearer limits around money and screens, more open conversation about stress and grief, and environments that make slower, steadier rewards easier to reach.
“In a season that constantly encourages more,” she adds, “the real skill may be learning to want less, and to find enough in what already exists.”
Readers interested in Dr Zoe’s work on dopamine, digital habits and the nervous system can visit her website or follow her social media for evidence-based insights on working with the brain’s reward system and building healthier patterns that last beyond December.
Links
Dr. Zoe Wyatt on Instagram
Dr. Zoe Wyatt on LinkedIn
Dr. Zoe Wyatt on Facebook
Dr. Zoe Wyatt on ResearchGate
