One of our analysts at Unity Insights, Jack, provides a very interesting insight into dopamine because he wants to highlight the micro factors that are always playing in the complex nature of people, (and animals). It makes you think, when evaluating complex multi-intervention changes or system transformations, how much do these micro factors play a part in perception or decision making with in individuals? What could be done to understand this more and should it be?
Have you ever struggled with low motivation or mood? Unless you’re somehow different to the other 8 billion people on the planet, your answer was most likely “Yes”.
What is Dopamine?
Dopamine is primarily responsible for motivation, drive, and craving. It also controls time perception. Having a healthy baseline level of dopamine is crucial to avoiding addiction to substances and activities, sustaining effort and supporting personal happiness over long periods of time.
Dopamine is not a neurotransmitter; it is a neuromodulator. Neurotransmitters are short-distance communicators between neurons (brain cells) – imagine two people dancing the tango. Very close and intimate. On the other hand, neuromodulators influence the communication of large numbers of neurons, think of a conductor directing an orchestra of musicians.
Dopamine controls the probability that certain neural circuits are active, while others are inactive. This is why dopamine is so incredibly powerful. It affects not only our energy levels but our mindset, self-belief and pursuit of goals.
Dopamine is also fundamental to movement. Diseases such as Parkinson’s and Lewis-body dementia are causes by the death of dopamine neurons in the brain. The outcomes of this are physically visible shaky movement and tremors, accompanied with challenges in speaking and initiating movement. In addition to movement, individuals with these diseases can experience lack of motivation and worsened mood.
Dopamine activity in the brain
Let’s get a common misconception out of the way: There is no such thing as a ‘dopamine hit’. Your body will always try and keep your dopamine at a baseline, with occasional spikes (based on your activities). When you experience something incredibly pleasurable to you (food, sex, caffeine, alcohol) your baseline level of dopamine drops. The peak that occurs directly lowers the baseline level afterwards. This causes a variety of problems with motivation and drive.
This is referred to as tonic and phasic release of dopamine.
- Tonic = low level baseline
- Phasic = spikes
Let’s exemplify this with two people – Sarah and Markus
- Sarah is low energy, slow, and has no drive.
- Markus is high-energy, enthusiastic and has pin-point focus on what he wants.
The key difference between Sarah and Markus is their baseline level of dopamine (caused by how many spikes occur, and to what degree).
You are wasting your time if you simultaneously increase the baseline level and peak level. So, everyone online that tells you to “Just increase your dopamine” has been misled. Doing so will make you excited, motivated and driven – but it will be short-lived. Then you will need to increase your dopamine again, to reach the same state you just reached.
Dopamine – the universal currency
Dopamine is a universal currency in all animals (especially humans) for moving towards goals. How much dopamine is in your system at any one time compared to a few minutes ago, and how much you remember enjoying an experience of the past is directly related to your ‘quality of life’ and desire to pursue things.
Let me say that again – ‘dopamine is a currency’. It is the way that your body tracks pleasure, success, and whether or not you are doing well or poorly. Of course, this feeling of success and failure is subjective and relative, but if your dopamine is too low you will not feel motivated, if it’s high you will be motivated, and if it’s somewhere in the middle, your motivation entirely depends on whether you had higher dopamine a few minutes ago or lower dopamine.
Your experience of life and levels of motivation and drive depend on how much dopamine you currently have, relative to your recent experience. This is incredibly important to understand.
Your dopamine history is important
Our instant gratification culture, driven by things like fast food, social media, video games, and streaming services, has a profound impact on dopamine levels. Every like, share and episode watched triggers a dopamine release, providing quick rewards. This constant barrage of dopamine hits can create a cycle of dependency, affecting long-term motivation and emotional health. The instant feedback loops from the easy and immediate success from the previously mentioned activities can make real-life achievements feel less rewarding, altering our motivation and satisfaction levels over time.
If you’ve ever felt lazy or unmotivated, that is a low dopamine state (unless the thing that you’re trying to be motivated to do does not fall back on something you actually crave and desire). If you’ve ever been excited and driven (maybe even a little bit scared) you are in a high dopamine state.
Going back to the previous example, let’s say you’re scrolling social media, and you see something that you really like, you get an increase in dopamine. You continue scrolling and get to something else that gets your attention and you think ‘meh, not interested’, however; if you had scrolled and reached that second thing first, you might have thought that it was really interesting (same reaction to the first thing).
What do I want you to understand here? How much dopamine you experience from something depends on your baseline levels when you carried out that previous activity, in addition to your previous dopamine peaks (dopamine history).
This is completely neglected by the language of ‘dopamine hits’. This is why when you repeatedly engage in something you enjoy, your threshold for reaching that same level of enjoyment goes up by one step each time. If you understand this caveat, you have the knowledge and awareness for why you have or lack motivation, have a high or low mood, etc.
By understanding and managing dopamine levels holistically, we can promote a balanced and healthy life. Whether through lifestyle choices, diet, or future medical advances, maintaining healthy dopamine levels is essential for overall well-being and mental health.