The Power of Dopamine — in Your Hands?
Learn to control it, and you will become the master of your life
Unhappy, although I have everything.
Why?
A few weeks ago, I saw my best friend, the most creative, determined, and independent person I know.
If you get to know her, you will be surprised that it is possible for human beings to run 12 h shifts in the hospital, swim ten lanes and play the piano in the evenings.
I found her inspiring and admire how she managed to achieve so much. Then, however, one day, she asked me this question that struck me like lightning.
“I don’t know what to do. I don’t feel happy. There is no joy in my life. Nothing makes me happy” — she looked at me with her brown eyes, scanning my brain like fMRI.
I didn’t have an answer. Even studying neuroscience, and reading hundreds of books on coaching didn’t allow me to provide solutions. Neither depression nor apathy was the explanation for her recent change.
What is it? — I thought and dived into the neuroscience of dopamine that explained the reason.
DA is the most critical molecule in mental health
Dopamine is a neuromodulator that triggers an action in the brain. It starts the play in the same way as a conductor would start a concerto by raising his baton.
Research shows that DA plays a crucial role in mental health conditions (Parkinson’s, schizophrenia, addiction, ADHD).
However, it would be wrong to blame only DA for it, as those systems are complicated, and usually, one neurotransmitter has to “collaborate” with others. For example, while GABA has an inhibitory role, glutamate — is excitatory, your dopamine may vary.
3, 4, deep breath, and you start the performance.
You may think of DA as a choreographer who influences the dance and coordinates other neural circuits.
It has the power to make you achieve your goal or stop pursuing the goal you set for yourself.
DA makes you pursue things outside yourself
When you feel pleasure after, you may be grateful to DA and others. That’s is because you are high in DA levels before doing something that scares you (public speaking, diving). How do you track success?
How do you track your progress?
You do that by looking at your DA levels.
But what happens if you repeat those actions daily? For example, imagine you check Instagram daily, and after three days, you find the previous post doesn’t excite you anymore. Why?
Your DA threshold is reaching the next level. You increased your bar. Now you need more DA and excitement to get to the same peak.
If you increase your baseline dopamine and your high peak, you get a minor difference between baseline and peak.
An increase in DA will boost your motivation, and energy to pursue your goals, but the joy of this effect would be very short-lived. High on inspiration, but too short. Now you won’t experience the same pleasure from the things you enjoyed recently.
My friend, that’s for you! — I thought about my friend.
I found the explanation! I felt so happy and ready to call her and explain the dopamine pathways, but then I stopped.
And I still don’t know how to control it!
Is there a better way to normalize DA peak and baseline levels?
DA is unique, as Andrew Huberman says (the best neuroscientist so far).
DA works along G-protein coupled receptors but not ionic polarisation as neurons (Na ions have a charge, so they affect other neurons). Thus, the communication is slow, engages multiple receptors, leading to a very effective cascade.
DA — the currency of forging and seeking things
When you reach the peak of your DA, you need to come back to your baseline. Would it be better to keep DA levels going up, as it will elevate? Thus, you would feel happy and motivated to achieve your goals.
The majority of us may think this way, but neuroscience plays a trick here.
If you stay longer with the “high DA level” and don’t return to your starting position, you won’t be interested in pursuing your goals anymore. No interest. No motivation.
Hmm, maybe this is what happened to my friend? — I thought and reflected on her behaviour, daily actions and mood swings.
She achieved her goals (graduated, got a job, went on holidays) but wasn’t happy.
A readily realizable pool of DA — what’s that?
When you reach the second piece of chocolate, you get instant pleasure, but you reduce your baseline DA levels.
So now you are depleted of it. Thus you will feel low for some time, developing addiction, leading to depression.
My friend was always a “work-hard, play-hard life” type of person. She swims in the ocean every summer, trains daily, and gets DA from every possible resource.
These people who follow the pattern of “more and better” create an environment for a more significant number of DA spiking during the week by engaging in different activities.
Consequently, their baseline DA drops — “what used to work doesn’t work”. Unfortunately, after several years she developed a burn-out due to high peaks of DA but low baselines.
How can I regulate my DA baseline?
Even if you are that person, now you know the reason behind your feeling low, and you may start making better choices to keep your DA baseline under control.
#1 Get the peaks but keep them under control. Remember that DA is essential, and it was the molecule leading the evolution. However, it would help if you had healthy DA levels to thrive in your life.
#2 Reduce DA layers.
Let me give you an example. One person decided to play video games fast—fourteen days of challenging survival without playing video games. To parents’ surprise, that child improved focus, and there was no longer a need for ADHD treatment.
Thus, it may have a great idea to go on dopamine fast by reducing the activities that give you “spikes” of DA.
#3 Try intermittent reward schedules. Dopamine release makes it challenging to experience a high dopamine spike next time.
Advice
Daily I do exercise with a combination of activities that induce DA following these tips:
- Your peak of DA shouldn’t occur too often.
- We don’t always get an A. You may get B. Accept this idea.
- The beauty of this experiment is that your DA schedule is not predicted. So you don’t know when the next wave of DA will hit you.
- Bringing the phone for a meeting, checking emails, and social media disrupts baseline levels of DA.
- Do not take stimulants before running, studying or doing essential activities as you won’t stay more focused or motivated in the long run.
- If you drink coffee but feel it has too much caffeine or would like to try something new, I would recommend Yerba mate tea. This tea has protective properties preserving DA neurons in movement and motivation pathways.
