Notes from podcast and my own research – may have some inaccuracies so please listen to the podcast
Dopamine Summarised
Dopamine is a hormone that makes people motivated, and in a sense happy.
We probably evolved to produce dopamine to make us explore and forage and hunt.
Dopamine is increased with drugs like cocaine and supplements like L-tyrosine and herbs including Mucuna Pruriens.
The big problem with dopamine, tends to be for that every increase, there’s a corresponding decrease in dopamine that’s equal or sometimes greater. This is why people always want more cocaine 20 minutes after a line and (along with blood sugar) people want more food after a sugary treat.
Dopamine is classed as a neurotransmitter.
Dopamine is required for motivation and focus. If you didn’t have any dopamine, studies and observations have shown – you literally wouldn’t move – you’d be incapable of movement and you’d be very depressed
Dopamine is released from the brain when we do activities that we find rewarding, like eating, exercise or even learning.
Dopamine is instrumental in all addictions
Myths About Dopamine
There is no such thing as a “dopamine hit.”
Dopamine is released gradually.
Dopamine is not the only neurotransmitter that is involved in motivation and reward. There are a number of other neurotransmitters involved in reward including serotonin, norepinephrine, and acetylcholine.
How to Control Your Dopamine
Stay off social media – “Intermittent Positive Reinforcement” really fecks with your dopamine levels. So scrolling through a social media feed until your find something you like, is similar to gambling – in that you never know when you’ll get a reward.
Novelty – varying activities increase dopamine.
Set Progress and Target goals. Progress goals – how are you going to achieve your goal – e.g. I will go to the gym twice a week for an hour on a monday and Wednesday – is a good progress goal, for the target goal off “I will lose 2 inches off my waist measurement by [set date]”
Meditate or practice mindfulness
Get good quality sleep and enough of it.
Eat a health diet, low in sugar.
Avoid stress and drugs like cocaine!
Learn to increase dopamine by effort and doing things – instead of focusing on the reward and/or end point. Learn to love the grind/effort.
Cold water immersion can increase dopamine levels for a few hours.
Nicotine, sex and chocolate also increase dopamine, but only in the short term – so probably best to avoid if you want to increase dopamine baseline.
Caffiene is okay and doesnt mess with dopamine too much.
You may also be interested in researching:
- sulbutiamine
- L Tyrosine
- Macca
Ideally – you want to upregulate dopamine receptors, rather than increase dopamine, so stop using social media
