Tame Your Dopamine

I feel like I am on top of the world. I’m young, cheerful, and talented. I can move mountains. These pleasant feelings are caused by the hormone - the neurotransmitter - dopamine. If it is lacking, the opposite is true: inspiration is absent and life loses colors.

What is Dopamine and How Does It Work

Dopamine is a chemical that affects how our brain works. Strictly speaking, dopamine exists not to reward us for what we have already done but to encourage us to action. It is a pleasure hormone. When we smell food, dopamine is released in the brain, and along with the desire to eat, a pleasant sensation comes to us - the anticipation of a delicious meal.

This chemical product is produced naturally in various parts of our body. When we talk about the “hormone of happiness” we mean a neurotransmitter synthesized by our brain - a substance that helps nerve cells transmit messages to each other. Another dopamine is produced in the adrenal glands, kidneys, and intestines. It is not involved in the transmission of nerve impulses but is important for the functioning of the cardiovascular, digestive, and other body systems.

The chemical reward system in our brain is very ancient. Along with other neurotransmitters, dopamine is released when we perform activities useful for our survival. Dopamine release is a signal from the nervous system that the desired goal is within reach, writes University of California professor Loretta Graziano Breuning in her book Meet Your Happy Chemicals: Dopamine, Endorphin, Oxytocin, Serotonin. It’s that feeling when people exclaim, “Eureka! I found it!” We understand that we are able to solve the problem and achieve the goal.

However, the effect of the dopamine reward is short-lived - the substance quickly breaks down and the pleasant feeling disappears. Evolution came up with this so we could not rest on our laurels. This is because in the life of ancient man, the conditions for survival were harsh and dangers lay in wait for him at every step. For example, after having found a reservoir with clean water, our ancestors could not relax. They could not forget about the existence of predators who would also come to the watering place. It is in our nature to change states and look for something better. Therefore, after a while, we again crave pleasure or take on a new business to get another release of dopamine and once more experience the feeling of joy.

Dopamine Deficiency

So, when something pleasant happens that raises dopamine level above the baseline - the amount of dopamine that constantly circulates in our brain and throughout our body - a dopamine jump occurs (dopamine peak). After such a jump, dopamine falls below the base level, that is, after a feeling of delight and euphoria, we are doomed to experience lethargy and melancholia for some time. After a holiday is over and congratulations on a victory have subsided, this is how one feels afterward. This is a natural consequence of the “dopamine reward.” The dopamine stock is used up and it takes time to synthesize it again to an acceptable level.

Sometimes dopamine levels can stay low all the time. There are several reasons for this: heredity, injuries to areas of the brain that produce dopamine, or diseases in which the production of dopamine is impaired. When dopamine is deficient, we are unmotivated, we feel tired and unable to concentrate, we have an adverse mood and increased anxiety, we do not enjoy previously pleasant sensations, we have a low sexual drive, and sleep problems begin.

Moreover, all these unpleasant consequences can be caused by our habitual behavior, since a decrease in dopamine level often occurs due to overstimulation of the dopamine reward system.

The Dopamine Era and Its Dangers

If we are healthy, our dopamine level, and therefore our motivation and ability to enjoy life, depend on us. If we suddenly feel out of our element, we want something, but we don’t know what exactly. We think maybe we can eat candy, drink coffee, or watch something funny on social networks. In a word, give ourselves pleasure and get a boost of dopamine. When we immediately satisfy this need, we do ourselves a disservice. Since dopamine needs time to recover, and we constantly stimulate its production to avoid negative emotions, it naturally falls lower and lower. For example, we had a conditional 100 units of dopamine. We ate a chocolate bar or smoked a cigarette, got dopamine, it dropped to 70, we felt it, stimulated ourselves with a computer game or TV series, got dopamine, and it dropped again. And the main problem is that in our modern life, we are surrounded by many temptations that can instantly raise dopamine levels: just press a button and we get the result - a cup of latte, a video with funny cats, a TV show, buy the next handbag or gadget. No wonder psychologists call our time the dopamine era.

Unfortunately, our body’s resources are not unlimited. Sooner or later, the natural production of dopamine decreases in the same way that sensitivity to this neurotransmitter decreases. As a result, there is a desire to increase the pleasure dose: eat more, drink more, buy more, play more, watch more, more, more. Overconsumption only aggravates the situation and leads to the development of chemical tolerance to dopamine. This disrupts metabolic processes and hormonal balance and negatively affects the nervous system. In the end, it turns out that to restore dopamine sensitivity, intervention is needed “from the outside.” One has to refer to a doctor and use drug therapy.

At this stage, one might be afraid that the only way to get off the dopamine rollercoaster is to give up pleasure. However, the good news is that maintaining an acceptable dopamine level does not require us to make extensive sacrifices. We do not need to give up coffee and computer games at all. We just need to understand that we have a certain amount of dopamine we can afford to use during the day. Therefore, we ought to choose what is the most meaningful and interesting thing we have planned for this day. We should also decide what activities will bring us maximum satisfaction. We have to begin with these important acts. It’s worth spending our dopamine on them to avoid it leaking into various surrogate actions that only distract us from our goals and desires. And we can afford additional pleasures as a bonus “at the end of the day.”

How to Manage Dopamine Wisely

Ukrainian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Evgenia Streletskaya in her video blog shared tips on how not to waste our dopamine supply in vain. Her advice is based not only on scientific theory but also on her personal experience.

Tip #1. Be aware of what you most often use to stimulate dopamine, for instance, social networks or sweets. Knowing where you can stumble, you will take preventative measures: postponing such things "for later."

Tip #2. When tempted to use dopamine, ask yourself again: Is this exactly what I want to spend it on now?

Tip #3. After a massive dopamine spike, give it time to re-synthesize, take your time with increased stimulation, and just endure the mood drop, remembering that this is natural.

Tip #4. Avoid dopamine peaks that don't make you happy. If, for example, you hang on social networks out of habit, and in principle, you are neither hot nor cold about them, you can refuse them. This saves time and dopamine for what you actually like more.

Tip #5. If you still lost control and got into a dopamine binge - to improve the nervous system, you will have to resort to detox (dopamine fasting or detox). Give up any stimulants, go for a walk, or go to bed. Stay away from the computer, TV, and refrigerator until your dopamine level is restored.

According to California psychiatrist and psychologist Cameron Sepah, “rebooting” the reward system will help us regain control of our lives and enjoy the simple things. And also, if we often receive dopamine rewards for something that is not only pleasant but also benefits us, the base level of dopamine will increase. So, for instance, by playing sports or learning something new, we increase our initial dopamine capital. This means we keep our motivation and purposefulness high from day to day.

In conclusion, I would like to wish everyone to save and increase our dopamine, because if we have to pay for happiness (dopamine peak) by dopamine decline, it’s better to always remain solvent than one day to go bankrupt.