‘Dopamine’ is a word we’ve all heard before, in fact it’s become quite overused, and in a lot of cases, misused. It’s become somewhat of a buzzword in popular culture and a synonym or placeholder for pleasure, gratification & positive emotion, so it’s easy to be misinformed about what it actually is.
So what Is Dopamine?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, a chemical messenger in the brain that plays a crucial role in transmitting signals between neurons. It is primarily associated with the brain’s reward system, influencing feelings of pleasure, motivation, and reinforcement of behaviours. When we engage in an activity where dopamine is released, our brains reinforce those behaviours and encourage us to repeat them.
The misunderstanding around dopamine can also fuel a cycle of guilt and shame when people struggle with compulsive behaviours, as they might blame themselves for a lack of willpower rather than recognizing the biological mechanisms at play.
Ultimately, to use the concept of dopamine meaningfully, we need to understand its complexities and how it truly affects our lives, this is something Dr. Anna Lembke explores in her bestselling book ‘Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence.’
Dr. Lembke’s exploration of the neurobiology of pleasure, reveals how the brain’s reward system can become skewed by overindulgence. As we engage in ‘pleasure seeking behaviours’, our brain adapts by requiring more significant stimuli to achieve the same level of satisfaction. This can lead to addiction, and lead us to be trapped in a cycle of craving ever-increasing levels of pleasure from ever-increasing levels of stimuli.
Research supports this concept, showing that chronic ‘pleasure seeking’ can result in neurobiological changes that make it challenging to find joy in simple, everyday experiences. As Dr. Lembke states in her book, the long-term effects of this cycle can manifest as an inability to experience pleasure outside of addictive behaviours, leading to increased feelings of pain, isolation and dissatisfaction, which in a lot of ways characterises a majority of this generation.
What Is Your Relationship With Dopamine Like?
For a moment, reflect on your relationship with dopamine. Do you often find yourself seeking instant gratification, whether it’s through addictions, substances, social media, binge-watching reels & videos or perhaps even through food? Have you noticed that these quick hits of pleasure often leave you feeling empty or dissatisfied afterward? Do you reach for your phone the moment you wake up, scrolling through notifications or social media as a way to kickstart your day? Or do you find yourself indulging in comfort foods when you’re stressed, only to experience a feeling of defeat & demotivation later?
If your answer to most of these is yes, it’s likely that your relationship with dopamine has been corrupted by the instant pleasure & overindulgence the world offers with little to no effort required.
But don’t worry. You’re not alone. In fact the majority of people in the modern world face this very problem. But the good thing is, there is a vast amount of insightful and valuable information available about how to deal with and overcome this, and Dr. Lembke’s book houses a lot of it.
What Can You Do About It?
Here’s the most significant insight Dr. Lembke’s book offers us as viable way to rewire this unhealthy conditioning we’ve allowed our brains to undergo: Embrace Discomfort.
Dr. Lembke emphasises the importance of sitting with discomfort instead of immediately seeking pleasure to alleviate it. In fact she states that research shows that voluntarily involving yourself in challenging situations and tasks, specifically for a meaningful and healthy outcome, not only restores a healthy balance to your dopamine system but also increases your capacity for drawing dopamine from challenging situations in the future.
We’ve been deceived to think that things that challenge us bring negative emotion, but it is when we agree to engage in difficult and challenging behaviours for a meaningful outcome that we truly receive the most healthy output and regulation of dopamine our bodies can possibly produce.
Numerous studies don’t just show, but prove that our brains are literally wired to function in the following way:
- Genuinely meditate & decide on a meaningful ideal or goal, as your larger aim.
- Deliberately engage in challenging tasks and behaviours to move closer to that goal.
- Receive the healthy dopamine your brain produces as a result of moving towards that goal.
- Receive more motivational dopamine to do it again in the future.
At the end of the day, ask yourself: Are you using pleasure as a coping mechanism for deeper emotions that haven’t been addressed? Maybe your goal isn’t great enough, and maybe you simultaneously aren’t starting small enough.
Maybe your ideal is defined purely by external factors and not rooted in a meaningful desire greater than instant pleasure. Maybe that’s where you can start, by rethinking what you really want and reevaluating whether or not you’re doing anything to move closer to it.
The bottom line is, your brain is being conditioned whether you like it or not. That’s the beauty of its design, it orients itself to arrange the world around you in the way you want it to appear, based on the experiences you put yourself through. So if your brain is adaptable and easily conditioned, why not harness that ability to make it work for you and not against you.
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Written by Ben Joshua
