Understanding Dopamine (And Why it Matters to the Nightshifter)
When you started working the night shift, it probably didn’t take you long to notice how your new schedule was affecting your sleep. Many people who work nights struggle with shift work sleep disorder, making it harder for them to fall asleep and stay asleep when they’re trying to rest and more difficult for them to stay awake when they’re trying to focus.
If you experience shift work sleep disorder or receive poor quality sleep while working the night shift, it can make you more prone to irritability and mood disorders as well as physical health issues.
However, just because working non-traditional hours can affect your quality of sleep does not mean that there isn’t anything you can do to combat these issues. You can enable yourself to live a better, healthier life when you increase your dopamine intake.
What is Dopamine?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is responsible for sending signals between the body and the brain. When your dopamine levels are too high or too low, it can have negative effects on your body, but when you have the right amount of dopamine, it helps the body process pain, increases motivation levels, promotes kidney function, boosts the ability to focus and learn, and improves sleep.
Dopamine is especially important for night shift workers for three main reasons:
- Dopamine Improves Sleep. When you work at night and sleep during the day, it influences your circadian rhythm. This makes it difficult for you to stay asleep during the day and harder for you to stay awake and alert at night during your shift. Dopamine helps address this issue because it is a part of the body’s sleep-wake cycle. Dopamine stops the release and effects of norepinephrine, a hormone that releases melatonin to help people sleep. As dopamine disrupts this melatonin production, it signals to the brain that it is time to wake up. When you work nights, your body will naturally feel like it is time for you to sleep, causing you to feel fatigued and lack alertness. Dopamine can help counteract these effects so that you are able to focus and have energy throughout your shift.
- Dopamine Supports Heart Health. Dopamine has been shown to help combat the effects of heart failure by allowing the heart to pump and circulate blood more efficiently. The sleep deprivation and negative eating habits that can come from working nights can lead to health issues like heart disease and poor blood vessel function. Dopamine helps reduce these health issues by improving overall heart health.
- Dopamine is a Mood Regulator. Dopamine levels are heavily associated with mood disorders. When an individual’s dopamine levels are too low, it can lead to depression. Night shift workers are already highly susceptible to experiencing depression and other mood disorders because they often work long hours with little sleep, and they tend to have less access to daylight during their waking hours. Dopamine helps regulate mood, which will help improve night shift workers’ mental health.
Because dopamine plays a major role in your mental, physical, and sleep health, it is critical that night shift workers are aware of their dopamine levels. When their dopamine levels are too low, it can lead to depression, difficulty focusing and staying awake, sleep deprivation, and even health complications like Parkinson’s disease. As such, it’s crucial that everyone, particularly night shift workers, know ways to maintain an appropriate balance of dopamine.
Where Does Dopamine Come From?
Dopamine is produced in the brain and released by the hypothalamus. Your body has enzymes that convert the amino acid tyrosine into dopamine, which is then able to help send signals between your body and your brain.
Dopamine is typically released when the body is expecting to receive a reward or pleasure. For example, when you know that you are going to win a competition, eat your favorite snack, or complete some long-anticipated activity, your brain will experience a flood of dopamine.
The increase in dopamine improves your mood and serves as a reinforcement tool that encourages you to seek out more pleasurable and enjoyable experiences in the future. In this way, dopamine is a master motivator, and it can improve an individual’s ability to learn and focus on accomplishing tasks.
Increasing Dopamine Levels
You can make sure your dopamine levels aren’t too low and adversely affecting your health by taking a few key steps:
Eat Protein-Rich Foods
Tyrosine and phenylalanine, the amino acid tyrosine is made from, are naturally found in foods that are high in protein. If you aren’t eating adequate amounts of protein, your tyrosine and phenylalanine levels will be low, which will mean there are fewer of these amino acids in your body for your enzymes to convert into dopamine.
In order to support dopamine production, try to incorporate some of these protein-rich foods into your diet:
- Beef
- Chicken
- Eggs
- Turkey
- Beans
- Fish
- Almonds
- Cottage cheese
- Milk
Prioritize Your Sleep Health
When you are sleep-deprived, it can decrease the amount of dopamine in your brain. It’s important that even when working the night shift, you prioritize your sleep health by practicing good sleep hygiene.
Here are a few ways to help improve your quality of sleep and prevent sleep deprivation:
- Create an Environment Conducive to Sleep: Avoid using screens or exposing yourself to bright lights when you are trying to sleep, keep your room cool so that your body temperature lowers enough for you to rest, and make sure everyone in your home knows to keep the noise down during the mornings.
- Follow a Sleep Schedule: When you go to sleep at the same time each day and follow the same bedtime routine, your body will start to get used to this schedule. Soon, you will start to feel tired when you’re ready to go to bed, even when it is daytime.
- Take on Healthy Gabits: Eating right and exercising daily will improve your ability to get high-quality rest at night. Avoid foods that are high in sugar and fat that promote restlessness, and make sure you don’t eat heavy meals right before bedtime. Save your strenuous exercise for a few hours before you go to bed, but make sure you exercise daily so that your body is ready to rest each morning.
Take Supplements
While you cannot take a specific dopamine supplement, there are a few supplements you can take that can help increase your dopamine levels.
Try taking probiotics, magnesium, vitamin D, and oregano oil to boost your dopamine production if your dopamine levels are too low.
When you take supplements, work toward improving your sleep health, and incorporate more foods with protein into your diet, you can make a significant difference in your body’s dopamine levels, which will help you stay healthy, happy, and alert while working nights.
Night Shift Nutrition is a community focused on living your best life, while working nights. We do this by sharing our experiences and science based educations. The point is to not only survive working nights but to thrive! If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of you can apply to join our facebook group or subscribe to our email list.
