The Molecule Secretly Running Your Life

I was trying to think of a catchy hook, but honestly it was allowing me procrastinate actually writing - so we’re just going to get into it.

Whether you know it or not, dopamine is in charge of your life.

It's a part of every action that you make, the anticipation leading up to those actions, and how you feel afterwards.

It's why we find watching sports entertaining.

It's why we find it so hard to not scroll to the next video.

It's why it's so hard to get out of bed and do anything some days.

Sex, video games, shopping, and the smell coming from that restaurant.

Dopamine is so powerful that rats in a study chose hits of dopamine over tending to basic needs - in the end dying of dehydration and starvation.

These are only a few examples of the kind of reign dopamine has in our lives - it's an extremely powerful little molecule.

If it doesn't seem a bit obvious at this point, dopamine plays a big role in pleasure and reward.

But why do you need to know about these things past the surface?

Well, you can leverage dopamine to your advantage if you know how to pull its strings.

When you take advantage of the system, you'll find it much easier to stay motivated and achieve goals you've set for yourself.

Let's dive in.

The wave pool of dopamine release

We’ll need to know a bit about how dopamine actually functions before anything else.

Here's a graphic of how dopamine gets released - it works a bit like a wave. (It's a really good drawing, I know)

We have our baseline, our peaks, and our troughs.

When we anticipate or engage in certain activities dopamine gets released, causing a peak.

You feel good when you’re experiencing a peak.

Sex, food, exercise, shopping, etc. all cause you body to release dopamine.

These peaks usually last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes - not too long.

But what goes up, must come down.

After that short high, your levels return to lower than where they started.

The higher the peak, the lower the trough.

This is where things start to get a little dangerous.

When you're below baseline dopamine, you don't feel good.

The brain will not love this, and you’ll most likely have urges to engage in dopamine-releasing behaviors to get back to that high feeling.

Even if you know those behaviors are not good for you.

Though, in time, levels will return to baseline no matter how bad the feeling or craving is.

If there’s one thing you take away from this newsletter, let it be the last line.

Dopamine in real life

So how does this work in your day to day?

Let's work with the example of food.

You’re starving, almost done with work, and you remember there’s a Chipotle on the way home.

Score!

Dopamine goes up in anticipation - you know you're in for a treat and you're so close.

You get in your car, start driving, and hit stand-still traffic - you're gutted.

*Dopamine levels go down*

You’re upset, but you know getting your food will make you feel better.

*Motivated to get your food and pump dopamine again*

That bowl has your full attention - it's all you can think about.

You are so motivated to get that damn Chipotle.

You get the bowl (with guac of course) and your levels go back up while you're eating it - happy ending.

This example of dopamine can be applied to nearly every situation in our life.

You might not have known this, but your brain already does.

There are specialized circuits in our brains that are involved in the learning of how we get or don't get specific outcomes and rewards we desire.

Without even a thought, we know how to get certain rewards if we've done it before.

This is how addiction starts - but we don't have to get into that here.

Getting dopamine on your team

Dopamine will return to baseline after bottoming out and that most of the release is in the chase.

If you understand these two things, you're in a pretty good spot to use dopamine to your advantage.

Of course, the more dopamine that's flowing, the more motivated we're going to be.

And lucky for us, there are some natural ways to increase our baseline levels.

1. Deliberate cold exposure

So maybe cold showers aren't that bad after all?

Get into some very cold water for 30-120 seconds.

This has been shown to double or more you baseline for long periods of time.

2. Exercise

Drop the excuses and go exercise.

There are WAY too many benefits of spending 60 minutes a day being active.

3. L-Tyrosine

Now, this one isn't free like the other two - it comes in a supplement.

L-Tyrosine is the molecule that your body uses to make dopamine.

This most definitely isn't needed, but something to look into if you need a kick in the pants every now and then.

Wrapping up, dopamine is a crazy molecule and is something to be mindful of.

I urge you to explore it more, and I will leave you with some resources that I used to help me write this newsletter.

Thank you so much for reading - I appreciate you all.

Now go raise your baseline dopamine and get shit done.

Much love - until next time,

Noah

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