Happy Entrepreneur: Weekend Activities to Naturally Increase Your Brain's Dopamine Levels

Some people quit their day jobs to become their own bosses, work on their own schedule, and achieve financial independence. So, it’s no surprise that entrepreneurs are likely to experience stress on a regular basis. And with constant pressure, their dopamine levels can drop, work productivity is negatively affected, and they become at risk of developing mental illnesses.

There are plenty of ways to recharge the depleted dopamine in an entrepreneur’s brain. One effective strategy is to spend the weekends doing various recreational activities. Check out these suggestions for your Saturdays and Sundays!

1. Beach swimming and sunbathing

Also known as “surf therapy”, a visit to the beach opens many opportunities to increase your dopamine levels. The sea air’s negative ions boost your mood, and the sight of the ocean puts your mind into a mild meditative state.

The sound of the waves helps you feel relaxed. Lastly, you can go for a short sunbath to soak up vitamin D — a gene activator for the release of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.

2. Road trips and overnight camping

Traveling out of state isn’t unheard of as an activity that brings happiness. However, it’s highly underrated. Driving through a highway increases your brain’s alertness, focus, and makes it feel freer. As a result, your mind rewires itself, and your body-mind connection is restored.

You can travel with your family, friends, or alone, and you can opt to commute via coach, car, or a cruiser motorcycle. But before everything else, pick and reserve a nice spot you can camp overnight. Preferably, choose places that allow bonfires while offering great views for stargazing.

3. Playing physically-demanding sports

Exercise such as physical sports is the most common method to deal with stress and recharge happy hormones right next to a gym session. Yet, not every entrepreneur takes advantage of it by playing at least one game of their interest every weekend.

There are many courtyards in communities designed for a single sport, and some are even built for multiple purposes. So stop making excuses for not knowing any game to play. We’ve all played at least one sport in our lives which we were good at. You just need to make time.

4. Kayaking and fishing

Let’s end this list with an activity that can be done with the ones mentioned above: Kayaking. You can do it on all bodies of water. Kayaking challenges you physically through paddling or rowing — both being good low impact exercises. You can also hop off it to go for a swim.

You can install a sunshade on the watercraft to avoid overexposure to the sun or keep it vanilla so you can boost your body’s vitamin D synthesis rate. A kayak can be placed on top of a vehicle with a roof rack which you can take on a road trip plus overnight lakeside camping.

And lastly, there are different types of kayaks you can choose from. Some are built with features for fishing gears if you want to catch your meals fresh from nature. Others are designed for two passengers if you want to take someone with you. Then there are those for solo paddling. The best part of kayaking? You can turn it into a great weekend hobby.

This list is made from a combination of common and specialized recreational activities. It’s important that you research each one thoroughly, especially when it comes to the proper equipment to use, safety precautions to follow, and tips for managing unexpected events.