Restoration of dopamine receptors. Physiology of alcoholism

Let's imagine two people of the same weight and height. Both have 40,000 dopamine receptors (conditioned) in the brain, but their sensitivity is different. In one person, the sensitivity of the receptors is reduced by 10 times, while in another it is normal. Both people see the same pleasant sight, say, a cute cat. This event triggers the production of, say, 10,000 dopamine molecules, i.e. dopamine levels are the same for both. But what is the perception of this event? In this case, the first person is satisfied by 25%, and the other - by 2.5%.

The first person will focus on how cute the cat is. And the second will think: the cat is cute. but he has toxoplasmosis and in general he dies on the street from starvation. And with each such event, the first person will consider that his day was a success, and the second? The second will, of course, be unhappy with the day. Decreased dopamine levels reduce our ability to notice “reward” something positive and increase our sensitivity to anxious, to “threatening”.

Throughout his life, the first person will almost never suffer from dissatisfaction with himself, but he will also have little incentive for personal development. He will be pleased if he is simply full, dressed for the weather, etc. He almost never wants to change something for the better in himself or in life. But this person is not profitable for the consumer society: it is very difficult to make him buy something and change something.

The second person will definitely be dissatisfied with something. He can always strive to correct something for the better, but this will not bring him pleasure. And it is likely that such a person will look for strong stimulants to produce 40,000 dopamine molecules, and they have a high risk of addiction.

The second important point is not connected with pleasant moments, but with problems. If the first person screwed up and his dopamine production dropped (say by 20,000 molecules), then he would feel 50% worse. And this will force him to avoid an unpleasant situation in the future, i.e. learns from mistakes. But for the second person, the state of health will decrease by only 5%. Those. such a decline is clearly not enough for him to draw conclusions.

German neuroscientists have suggested that perhaps a lack of dopamine receptors reduces the ability of people to learn from their own mistakes, that is, draw the right conclusions from negative experiences and not repeat actions that led to bad consequences (Klein et al., 2007). In general, the results obtained indicate that the normal functioning of the dopamine systems of the brain is necessary in order for a person to effectively learn from their mistakes. Dysfunction of dopamine neurons (for example, due to a lack of dopamine receptors, as in carriers of the A1 allele) can lead to neglect of negative experiences. A person simply stops reacting to the negative consequences of his actions and therefore can step on the same rake over and over again. "

There are several mutations in the dopamine receptor genes. In the case of addictions, you can take an analysis in order to choose the right therapy tactics for such patients.

Mutation C2137T (Glu713Lys) in the gene for dopamine receptor type 2, DRD2

This mutation is associated with alcoholism, drug addiction, nicotine addiction, gambling addiction. The A1A1 genotype can lead to a relative reduction in the number of DRD2 receptors, thereby further weakening the response to already reduced amounts of dopamine. A decrease in D2 dopamine receptors reduces sensitivity to the consequences of a negative action; this can explain the increased risk of developing addictive behavior in carriers of the A1 allelic variant.

Studies have been conducted to study the relationship between the genotype for the marker C2137T and learning based on processing feedback stimuli - the ability of people to learn to avoid actions with negative consequences was evaluated. In the group of carriers of the minor (more rare) A1 allele, it was less efficient than in the group of carriers of the main allele.

There is also the DRD4 gene, associated with the desire for new experiences. The long allele of this gene with an increased frequency is found in families of patients with a hereditary form of alcoholism, and it is associated with a "fashionable" childhood diagnosis - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Children with this diagnosis in schools cannot sit at their desks. Curiously, this disease can be effectively treated without any pills on a feedback machine. Children are shown a cartoon on a computer screen, and the cartoon looks sharp when they are attentive. Mindfulness is recorded using encephalograms, and depending on the attentiveness of the children, the sharpness of the cartoon changes.

An interesting hypothesis has emerged among scientists studying the "lack of reward syndrome" (a condition in which the "reward center of the brain" is activated slowly) about the possible significance of low density of dopamine receptors. It is well known that under normal conditions, dopamine is released into the synapse, binds to dopamine receptors, induces euphoria and relieves stress. The syndrome of lack of reward is characterized by a decrease in the basal level of dopamine due to insufficient receptor power, and this leads to the need for a person to search for factors that can cause an increase in the level of dopamine.

If this behavior is long-term (drug addiction), then it overdoes the brain and worsens the situation. For example, experiments with cocaine (which causes a strong release of dopamine).

Cocaine has been studied in rats. In a cocaine-dependent rat, neurons mediating the action of cocaine have more synapses than in normal rats. That is, cocaine had the same effect on rats as training. That is, a person or a rat who used a drug has been "trained" to respond to the drug, and he has formed pathological neural connections that make the experience easily recoverable for him, because the neural connections are already there. And other nerve connections, which would normally provide him with pleasant sensations from experiences that are beneficial to health, are weakened due to competitive formation. That is, drug use, especially at an early age, changes the morphology and anatomy of neurons, the structure of the cerebral cortex, and deviates development from the normal path.

Thus, an external increase in dopamine helps to improve the condition for a short time, but dulls the sensitivity of dopamine receptors. The sharper the rise in dopamine, the stronger it will fall after. With constant fluctuations in dopamine, the sensitivity to dopamine will decrease.

This is why many people, often in power or money, develop schizoid and sadistic behavior. In order to enjoy themselves, they are forced to resort to hyperstimulation. For people with normal receptors, these hyperstimuli look wild and disgusting. In principle, the basis of schizophrenia is hyperstimulation of dopamine receptors.

Many aspects of our life are associated with dopamine levels. For example, an increase in social status is associated with the density of dopamine D2 / D3 receptors in the striatum, an area of \u200b\u200bthe brain responsible for reward, motivation, and other behavioral processes in which dopamine plays a decisive role. Research results show that people who achieve higher social status place more emphasis on reward and stimulation because there are more objects in their striatum that are affected by dopamine. It was found that a low density of dopamine receptors was associated with low social status, and high, respectively, with a higher social status. A similar connection was found when our volunteers talked about the support they receive from friends, family, or someone of importance to them.

These data interestingly highlight the desire to improve social status as a major social process. It sounds plausible that people with higher levels of D2 receptors, that is, those with higher motivation and social involvement, will achieve greater success and higher levels of social support.

Low levels of D2 / D3 receptors may contribute to the risk of alcoholism among people whose relatives already abuse alcohol. People with low D2 / D3 receptor density tend to have lower social status and less support, and these social factors increase the person's risk of becoming an alcoholic or drug addict.

The possibility of self-realization is also associated with dopamine receptors. In the absence of demand and the possibility of realizing the individual possibilities of consciousness, a person ceases to receive satisfaction, dopamine neurons remain "hungry", and a person's mood and level of self-esteem decreases. It turns out that a large number of dopamine receptors can lead to low self-esteem of a person due to a lack of dopamine due to the possibility of realizing the individual capabilities of consciousness. In the presence of a large number of dopamine receptors, a person should strive more for cognition, development and the possibility of individual realization, which will increasingly reflect the reasonableness of behavior. Therefore, for people with a high number of dopamine neurons, boredom and lack of opportunity are simply destructive.

Here are some tips on how to restore dopamine receptor sensitivity and dopamine levels. I will say in advance that these are only general advice, no one will give a guarantee of one hundred percent recovery. I advise you to do a genetic test to correctly assess the amount of work.

Dopamine Protocol.

1. Dopamine detox.

Remove all external sources of dopamine: lotteries, smoking, drugs, masturbation, coffee, shopping. Remove all "false" pleasures, leave only natural needs. It takes time and patience. Don't give up everything at once, do it gradually.

Addictions are difficult to get rid of, but this is the first step in bringing back the taste of life. You know that there are 40% more depression among smokers. The likelihood of depression in former smokers drops sharply within a few months after quitting. Look at the picture. See how addictions lower dopamine levels?

For example, let's take smoking. Low dopamine levels that result from quitting smoking actually contribute to smoking relapse. Dopamine serves as a chemical signal in the regulation of reward and motivation. Recent research shows that one of the main functions of dopamine is to send a signal to the brain to "look for something nice." Indeed, dopamine is released during drug use, smoking, sex, and eating. Since dopamine is released in response to smoking, it is logical that dopamine levels fall outside the normal range when the smoker wants to quit. Scientists from Baylor College of Medicine in Texas conducted research to characterize these changes. They studied mice that were injected with nicotine, the active ingredient in cigarettes, for several weeks. The researchers then canceled the nicotine and measured the subsequent changes in dopamine signaling in the brain. They reported that quitting nicotine leads to a dopamine deficiency that goes away with repeated exposure to nicotine.

2. Low stress monotonous environment.

Go to a boring predictable place (or create one for yourself). No news, films. Make your mini monastery.

The conqueror of the Arctic was asked: - “How do you determine the time when the return of the polar expedition is necessary? ". To which the conqueror of the Arctic answered quite simply: “I have only one woman on my expedition. When recruiting people for an expedition, I choose the ugliest woman I meet. And if, already during the expedition, this woman seems beautiful to me, then it’s time to return to the mainland ”.

3. Cultivate modesty by doing monotonous repetitive activities.

The ability to do small things, conceiving and implementing them. Plant a flower bed, hammer in a nail. For rehabilitation, do not schedule activities that take more than two hours. Then, over time, you can increase their duration. Rhythmic, monotonous actions help stabilize neurotransmitter fluctuations.

4. Techniques of mindfulness.

Acceptance of negative emotions without twisting a negative spiral. Learning to endure feelings.

5. Technique of being in the present moment, avoiding fantasies about the past or the future. The flow of dopamine can increase with the mere memory of the reward. Thinking about a positive experience alone can be a little rewarding. We all love to dream about interesting things for us to cheer ourselves up. Even if these are thoughts about the negative, then perhaps the pleasure is given by the idea of \u200b\u200beven how a person leaves the chase, defeats the enemy, solves world problems or copes with personal difficulties (that's why we love action movies, for example). However, some people abuse this method, deliberately overexerting this reward system, and artificially evoking interesting memories and thoughts for them over and over again, since in this way neurotransmitters of good mood (dopamine and serotonin) are naturally produced, while losing self-control.

6. Work with fear of death (for people without suicidal risk),

7. Cognitive therapy and cognitive improvement of personality (work on yourself and your actions) on the principle of simple algorithms and daily analysis, like keeping diaries: thought, evaluated, responded, why, what other options.

8. Making a list of "real joys" (see the difference between real and false pleasure). Build and follow a network of small pleasures.

9. Quality sleep. Lack of sleep leads to a dramatic decrease in dopamine receptors! But this had nothing to do with changes in the level of the neurotransmitter.

10. To be guided in everyday life by the process, not the result.

Individuals who once focused on the opportunity to get satisfaction from something can no longer restructure their behavior until they achieve their goal. The craving for pleasure "overrides" any common sense.

Different people perceive the same events with different reactions. A person who has been at home in a state of illness for a week goes out and rejoices in the sun. While the addict goes out on the same street and wants to die. The main difference between these people lies in the sensitivity of dopamine receptors. The restoration of dopamine receptors by natural methods is the topic of our conversation.

Why is it needed

Dopamine receptors are responsible for the internal reward system.

Correct work allows a person to live right. That's right - not in the sense of observing all moral norms and keeping innocence until the wedding. The point is that a person can do what he REALLY wants and needs to do. When the reward system does not work correctly, the person is distracted from his own, loses himself.

The cause of the problem

We have already talked about this in the material. There are 2 indicators:

Dopamine level;
Dopamine receptor sensitivity.

And they are connected. The higher the dopamine, the lower the receptor sensitivity.

Therefore, it is impossible to be happy forever!

But you can significantly shift the proportion. Get happiness from simple and useful things. These actions should make you a happier person in the present and in the future.

Restoring dopamine receptors is a job for the future. Only through work (not thoughts) on the future can you constantly increase your happiness in the present.

External drugs

The restoration of dopamine receptors is impossible without giving up the main drugs that enter the body from the outside:

Heavy drugs... Anything that is prohibited and punishable by imprisonment;
Soft drugs... Allowed in some countries. They also need to be excluded. There is no benefit from weed. Any drug steals your life. Any benefit is far-fetched fiction. It is incommensurate with the harm of drugs for the internal reward system;
and nicotine... The so-called legal drugs. They allow you to earn trillions of dollars, painlessly reduce the PF deficit. The average person leaves reality, becomes stupid, loses the ability to organize his life, the life of his family and state. Dopamine levels rise temporarily. The imaginary pleasure is followed by the burning of dopamine receptors. Easy drugs, but the most dangerous. An excellent example of what can happen when drugs are decriminalized;

This is what you need to give up in the first place. After 2-3 months, you will find out that the world turns out to be beautiful and full of possibilities. And it is interesting to live in it.

Publicly accepted drugs

There are also weaker substances that, of course, will not ruin your life, but the restoration of dopamine receptors will be incomplete without failure or their significant reduction.

Publicly accepted drugs:

Sugar... Many people know that chocolate increases dopamine levels. Like any sweetness. The problem is that along with the increase in the level of happiness hormones, there is a decrease in the sensitivity of dopamine receptors. This is not critical if a person eats a chocolate bar once a month or even a week. Nor does it overuse sugar. But it can form, due to which the sensitivity of the receptors will drop critically, and your life will objectively deteriorate;
... Dehydrates the body, increases dopamine and decreases the sensitivity of dopamine receptors. It impairs the work of the heart and blood vessels. Most Russians are addicted to caffeine. In the form of tea or coffee.

Domestic drugs

This is addictive behavior that also drains our reward system. Restoring dopamine receptors is working on addictions that most of today's youth have:

Addiction to pornography... The sex factor is the most powerful internal drug. Taking into account the fact that the satisfaction of this factor is now available to everyone who has the Internet, and obtrusive advertising of non-childish content pursues us everywhere, it is difficult to deal with this. But abstinence has been gaining popularity lately. Created Youtube channels that talk about the benefits of healthy behavior in this area. The topic is rapidly gaining popularity, as the rejection of this addiction gives a colossal restoration of dopamine receptors. And great results in life;
Gambling addiction... Individual gamers have even died of exhaustion during their gaming craze. They were driven by dopamine and completely burned out receptors. They forgot to eat and sleep. This is not "playing a computer for an hour," but getting into a hard, hours-long addiction;
Information dependence... This is a situation when you update the news feed on a social network every 5 minutes. Why are you doing this? Dopamine. At first pleasure, but then the receptors are burned out, and anxiety, mania appears;

Rest from any drugs

As you might have guessed, dopamine receptor repair is about giving up all of the above.

But this is difficult to do. The dopamine level will decrease, and a real addiction withdrawal will begin.

Complete rejection of all of the above, followed by "patience" for the next 2-3 months - only for the bravest.

Of course, hard drugs will have to be abandoned right away. No choice. The higher the dopamine dosage, the less reversible the receptor recovery process becomes.

But the dosage of chocolates or video games can simply be reduced.

In general, we are talking about creating a low-stress environment, in which there will be a minimum of external, wrong drugs.

Recovery of dopamine receptors

The wrong drugs are methods of obtaining substances that make our lives worse.

But these substances still need to be obtained. Only in the right way, to which the internal system of human reward is tuned:

Favorite job or hobby... What you like to do. Try to combine your favorite hobby with making money. If this is not possible, then just devote more time to it;
Self-development... Reading interesting books, training the body, spiritual practices. Anything that makes you objectively the best version of yourself. It is one of the most beneficial sources of dopamine;
Goal setting... Start a day planner. After each completed task, write the word "VICTORY" in capital letters. We set goals that are not too difficult, but we do not overdo it with simplicity. If everything is bad, then in the early days the goal "Wake up in the morning" is quite normal. Moving from smallest to largest;
Sleep... The restoration of dopamine receptors is impossible without quality sleep for 7-9 hours. Healthy sleep clears excess dopamine from the reward system. Each quality sleep cycle brings you closer to dopamine receptor repair;
Enjoy the little things... It is not natural for a person to appreciate what he has. We cannot get dopamine from simple sources. This is one of the reasons for being addicted to external drugs. Is your life really that bad? You can read this text. You have eyes and internet. This means that you are living much better than most people on Earth. Most don't even have the Internet. And the standard of living that may seem lower is in fact much higher than that of the absolute majority of people on the planet;
Thanks... A very beneficial practice that will speed up the recovery of dopamine receptors;
Healthy eating... Emphasis on getting better with every meal;

People who have the correct pathways for getting dopamine are less susceptible to any external drug.

Outcome

Dopamine receptor repair is a gradual process that produces incredible results.

Step-by-step abandon the narcotic ways of obtaining the hormones of happiness. Replace them with beneficial actions that stimulate the synthesis of joy in a beneficial way.

Did you know about the happiness that restoration of dopamine receptors can bring?

Share your experience in the comments!

The second person will definitely be dissatisfied with something. He can always strive to correct something for the better, but this will not bring him pleasure. And it is likely that such a person will look for strong stimulants to release 40,000 dopamine molecules, and they have a high risk of addiction.

The second important point is not connected with pleasant moments, but with problems. If the first person fails and his dopamine production drops (say by 20,000 molecules), then he will feel 50% worse. And this will force him to avoid an unpleasant situation in the future, i.e. learns from mistakes. But for the second person, the state of health will decrease by only 5%. Those. such a decline is clearly not enough for him to draw conclusions.

German neuroscientists have suggested that perhaps the lack of dopamine receptors reduces the ability of people to learn from their own mistakes, that is, to draw the right conclusions from negative experiences and not repeat actions that led to bad consequences (Klein et al., 2007). In general, the results obtained indicate that the normal functioning of the dopamine systems of the brain is necessary for a person to effectively learn from their mistakes. Dysfunction of dopamine neurons (for example, due to a lack of dopamine receptors, as in carriers of the A1 allele) can lead to ignoring negative experiences. A person simply ceases to react to the negative consequences of their actions and therefore can step on the same rake over and over again.

There are several mutations in the dopamine receptor genes. In the case of addictions, you can take an analysis in order to choose the right therapy tactics for such patients.

Mutation C2137T (Glu713Lys) in the gene for dopamine receptor type 2, DRD2

Studies have been conducted to study the relationship between the genotype for marker C2137T and learning based on processing feedback stimuli - the ability of people to learn to avoid actions with negative consequences was assessed. In the group of carriers of the minor (rarer) A1 allele, it was less efficient than in the group of carriers of the main allele.

There is also the DRD4 gene, associated with the desire for new experiences. The long allele of this gene with an increased frequency is found in families of patients with a hereditary form of alcoholism, and it is associated with a "fashionable" childhood diagnosis - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Children with this diagnosis in schools cannot sit at their desks. Curiously, this disease can be effectively treated without any pills on the feedback machines. Children are shown a cartoon on a computer screen, and the cartoon looks sharp when they are attentive. Mindfulness is recorded using encephalograms, and depending on the attentiveness of the children, the sharpness of the cartoon changes.

If this behavior is long-term (drug addiction), then it overdoes the brain and worsens the situation. For example, experiments with cocaine (which causes a strong release of dopamine).

Many aspects of our life are associated with dopamine levels. For example, an increase in social status is associated with the density of dopamine D2 / D3 receptors in the striatum, an area of \u200b\u200bthe brain responsible for reward, motivation, and other behavioral processes in which dopamine plays a decisive role. Research results show that people who achieve higher social status place more emphasis on reward and stimulation because there are more objects in their striatum that are affected by dopamine. It was found that a low density of dopamine receptors was associated with a low social status, and a high density, respectively, with a higher social status. A similar connection was found when our volunteers talked about the support they received from friends, family, or someone of value.

Dopamine Protocol

1. Dopamine detox

Dopamine levels in healthy people and smokers

Let's take smoking. Low dopamine levels that result from quitting smoking actually contribute to smoking relapse. Dopamine serves as a chemical signal in the regulation of reward and motivation. Recent studies show that one of the main functions of dopamine is to send a signal to the brain to "look for something nice." Indeed, dopamine is released during drug use, smoking, sex, and eating. Since dopamine is released in response to smoking, it is logical that dopamine levels fall outside the normal range when the smoker wants to quit. Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas conducted a study to characterize these changes. They studied mice that were injected with nicotine, the active ingredient in cigarettes, for several weeks. The researchers then canceled the nicotine and measured the subsequent changes in dopamine signaling in the brain. They reported that quitting nicotine results in a dopamine deficiency that goes away with repeated exposure to nicotine.

2. Low stress monotonous environment

Go to a boring predictable place (or create one for yourself). No news, films. Make your mini monastery.

The conqueror of the Arctic was asked: "How do you determine the time when the return of the polar expedition is necessary?" To which the conqueror of the Arctic answered quite simply: “I have only one woman on my expedition. When recruiting people on an expedition, I choose the ugliest woman I meet. And if, already during the expedition, this woman seems beautiful to me, then it’s time to return to the mainland ”.

3. Cultivate modesty by doing monotonous repetitive activities

4. Mindfulness techniques

Acceptance of negative emotions without twisting a negative spiral. Learning to endure feelings.

5. Technique of being in the present moment

Avoid fantasies about the past or future. The flow of dopamine can increase with the mere memory of the reward. Reflecting on a positive experience alone can be a little rewarding. We all love to dream about interesting things for us to cheer ourselves up. Even if these are negative thoughts, then perhaps it gives pleasure to the idea of \u200b\u200beven how a person leaves the chase, defeats the enemy, solves world problems or copes with personal difficulties (that's why we love action movies, for example). However, some people abuse this method, deliberately overexerting this reward system, and artificially evoking interesting memories and thoughts for them over and over again, since in this way neurotransmitters of good mood (dopamine and serotonin) are naturally produced, while losing self-control.

The following factors should be considered that affect dopamine levels:

Dealing with fear of death (for people without suicidal risk)
Cognitive therapy and cognitive improvement of personality (work on oneself and one's own actions) on the principle of simple algorithms and daily analysis, like keeping diaries: thought, evaluated, reacted, why, what other options
Quality sleep. Lack of sleep leads to a dramatic decrease in dopamine receptors! But this had nothing to do with changes in neurotransmitter levels.

6. Making a list of "real joys". Build and Follow Webs of Small Joys

7. To be guided in everyday life by the process, not the result

Not everyone knows what dopamine is, but everyone knows what a bad mood, apathy and laziness are.

These symptoms can be caused not only by problems in the family or at work, but often have a purely physiological nature - a lack of the hormone of pleasure drives you into a series of endless depressions, makes food bland, life gray, and takes libido in an unknown direction. Finding out how to increase dopamine release and cope with depression.

Dopamine - Major Deficiency Symptoms

And immediately the good news - the level of pleasure hormones is easy to control with a simple diet, exercise and communication with loved ones. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter produced in the brain by the efforts of the adrenal glands, is responsible for the work of the brain, heart, central nervous system, our weight and psycho-emotional background. When it is thrown into the blood, we are doing what we truly love, and as a result we feel happy, full of strength, we do courageous deeds. In general, we live to the fullest.

A lack of dopamine can result in:

Weight problems, obesity, the development of diabetes
Bad mood, irritability, loss of interest in life, and depression
Decreased libido
Feeling constantly tired
Malfunctions of the cardiovascular system
Parkinson's disease
Hallucinations
Anhedonia - a disease with the development of which a person completely loses the ability to enjoy

Dopamine is responsible for our good mood

What can cause low rates: wrong lifestyle, abuse of fatty foods, alcohol, sweets. These factors not only inhibit the production of the hormone, but also provoke the development of addictions, including those from hard drinks, drugs, overeating, gambling addiction.

A person is ready to look for positive emotions and good mood anywhere, even for a short period of time, not realizing that he is deceiving himself. For example, after a stormy night with strong drinks in the morning, we always feel depressed - and this is natural, because the hormone of joy is reduced to a minimum level.

By the way, the release of dopamine causes not only positive emotions, but also negative ones. For example, severe shock from injury or burns. But such a hormone does not enter the bloodstream.

Dopamine is pretty tricky. When figuring out how to increase its content in the blood, it should be borne in mind that the largest number of molecules is produced not during a surge of happiness, but at the moment of its anticipation. The hormone starts to work, forms our habits and taste preferences, motivation. His real task is to encourage people to conquer new heights. This is why we often feel deeply disappointed when we get what we want.

You can cope with the problem yourself

Dopamine - 5+ Ways to Increase Your Body Levels

In the early stages, there is no lack of pleasure - life goes on as usual, everyone has ups and downs. But at some point, the dopamine problem becomes so obvious that a person causes discomfort not only to himself, but also to his loved ones, breaking down and frustrating with his sour look. But there are a lot of means, how to increase to compensate for the shortage on our own, without resorting to drugs.

In summer, diversify your diet with dandelion salads

Diet rich in tyrosine

This nonessential amino acid stimulates the production of hormones of happiness, adrenaline, improves mood, sports performance, fights depression in the mild stages. Indispensable for tyrosine for those who resist addiction to caffeine, drugs and alcohol.

A couple of bananas will quickly fix the situation

The fuel of joy is contained in:

Almonds and walnuts
Avocado
Banana
Pumpkin seeds
Beans
Sesame
Dairy products
Beetroot
Apples
Green tea
Oatmeal
Greenery
Strawberry

Treat yourself to chocolate

Advice: you cannot do without chocolate in the struggle for positive emotions. Avid sweet tooths need to know that one tile should be enough for an average of 4-5 days.

Eat nuts

Antioxidants

Dopamine is endowed with the property of rapidly oxidizing, while the use of sufficient amounts of antioxidants reduces this process in the cells responsible for its production.

Make healthy nettle soups

Include in your diet:

Green and orange vegetables and fruits, broccoli, asparagus, green smoothies, carrots
Oranges
Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts
Nuts
Sunflower seeds

You can't do without green vegetables

Regular physical activity

You've probably noticed that after a workout, the mood rises, even if initially there was neither strength nor desire to go to the gym. And this is not surprising: half an hour-hour of running, exercising on simulators, swimming and stretching stimulate the growth of dopamine and serotonin, while being at the same time preventing depression and depression.

Tip: Move more. Even if you're not in the mood for barbell squats or percussion cardio, go for a walk in the park. For any physical activity, the body and brain will say "thank you".

Go in for sports

Observe your sleep schedule

7-8 hours of proper rest provides a feeling of vitality for the whole day and the necessary level of the hormone of pleasure. By the way, it can be raised to a critical state by completely giving up sleep. After a sleepless night, dopamine will be more than enough, however, you are unlikely to feel good.

Make love regularly

During physical intimacy that brings joy to both partners, there is a giant release of the hormone into the bloodstream. This guarantees you a good mood and well-being.

Tip: Dopamine is found in pure form in the ginkgo plant. It is taken in the form of dietary supplements to improve drug performance. The phyto-remedy improves blood circulation in brain cells and normalizes the transmission of nerve impulses.

Get adequate rest and make love more often

Train your brain

Dopamine is considered to be a hedonistic substance. Set yourself small goals and make your brain happy. It is important not to defend a doctoral dissertation or jump with a parachute to turn on the holiday regimen, but to activate the pleasure centers and produce the necessary hormone artificially. Two days without social media and coffee? Two stops on foot instead of the metro? You're just great!

Control emotions

We said above that dopamine is released during anticipation of pleasure. The moment you want candy, cake and ice cream, its level is highest. The first piece of biscuit will be disappointing. With the third - remorse. When you start eating, pleasure seems to dissolve into thin air. Learn to manage it - choose the right products, and there will be a lot less pull for the forbidden.

Don't let yourself get discouraged

How to increase dopamine levels in men?

The strong half of humanity is more often the weak one at risk in the ability to enjoy their own life - men are more susceptible to bad habits, smoking, drinking alcohol, irregular and fatty foods in a hurry. While the girls go shopping or do their hair, the boys go to the pub and reach for a cigarette. When the hormone of joy reaches a critically low level, the man begins to feel bored altogether, continuing to move in a vicious circle of his addictions.

The best solution to the problem is regular exercise, sleep, nutrition, and a busy personal life. The maximum level of dopamine reaches during the state of love.

Drink ginseng tea

Dopamine - How To Boost With Medicines?

They can be taken, of course, exclusively as prescribed by a doctor, but there are a number of safe, almost traditional medicines. These include ginseng, nettle, dandelion. Adding these plants to soups, teas, salads is guaranteed to increase the number of pleasure molecules. It is also important to ensure that meals are frequent, varied and drink at least one and a half liters of water per day. Water provides energy and relieves stress.

The Beneficial Ginkgo Plant Contains Natural Dopamine

Of course, there are a lot of drugs for artificial control over hormone levels. The indications for the appointment are:

Hyperactivity disorder, when it is simply not possible to concentrate on something specific
Prolonged depression, which a person cannot cope with on his own
Parkinson's disease

People with schizophrenia suffer from an excess of dopamine - on the contrary, they are prescribed drugs that control and suppress its production.

Communicate with animals, it always has a positive effect on mood

It is worth remembering that medications work while taking them and when therapy is stopped, the problem returns, so only balanced nutrition, sports activities, physical intimacy and being surrounded by a maximum of positive emotions will give real results.

To make it easier to overcome the path from sadness to joy, psychologists advise using the principle of regularity. Dreaming of getting everything at once, we program ourselves for failure, and in pursuit of quick emotions we also endanger our health. Seeing a big goal in front of you, divide it into any number of small ones - each scanty victory will throw a sufficient amount of pleasure into your blood and give you a good mood.

In this article, we'll talk about a strange hormone called dopamine... When we use the hormone dopamine correctly, it doesn't create unnecessary problems for us, but motivates us and helps us make our life better. But if dopamine is used incorrectly, it can drive us into a strong addiction. Read about how exactly this happens in this article.

The hormone dopamine is not the hormone of happiness, as many believe. Dopamine is a hormone that only promises happiness. There is a big difference between the two.

How does dopamine cause addiction?

Let's first talk about how dopamine can be addictive.

The dopamine hormone is essentially a drug built into our body that is activated by external factors.

Have you ever wondered, for example, why a person's addiction can form simultaneously from such different things?

Heroin
Sweet
Masturbation, viewing pornography
Marijuana
Social networks
High-calorie food ()

Personally, it seemed to me strange why such things and activities, in which there is little in common, can cause the same phenomenon - strong addiction.

We will try to understand this issue.

The fact is that all of the above activities cause a strong surge of the hormone dopamine in the human body.

The stronger the dopamine surge occurs, the more severe the consequences that a person experiences after that.

And addiction can be obtained both from heroin and it is sweet.

The fact is that with the help of various activities, we artificially induce an increase in the level of the hormone dopamine in the body.

It seems to us that the actions we have committed will remain without consequences - we got high and went away, then we live as if nothing had happened.

But it was not there. 99.9% of people ignore the negative consequences that begin to appear a little later than addiction or simply do not realize them.

Dopamine receptors

Due to the fact that a huge surge of dopamine falls on the body, the body reduces the sensitivity of the so-called dopamine receptors.

Dopamine receptors are receptors that are responsible for registering the hormone dopamine in the body.

Simply put, the same feeling of happiness can be obtained both with low dopamine levels and high receptor sensitivity, and with high dopamine levels and low receptor sensitivity.

2 X 50 \u003d 50 X 2

Let me give you a simple example.

At the same time, a heroin addict just starts to feel “normal”.

From all this it follows that we need to avoid unnecessary " injection of dopamine»Into your psyche and lead the most balanced and modest way of life. So the sensitivity of the receptors will not fall, and our level of well-being will be normal.

The negative effects of the dopamine hormone

What happens when we use one type of addiction or another?

This graph illustrates how dopamine injections reduce a person's happiness.

The body sees that a large portion of dopamine has flown onto it, and in order to preserve dopamine receptors, it reduces their number and sensitivity... This is the body's way of defending against our actions.
When do we stop stimulating the dopamine center ( we stop pouring alcohol, smoking, playing, masturbating, eating, etc.), the formed compounds of the hormone dopamine keep us in a satisfied state for some time (maximum 1 hour). It seems to us that we “ dropped the tension”And that was the end of it.
But then, when literally a couple of hours pass, we no longer feel the satisfaction from life that we had before.
Now, being in the same conditions, anxiety, depression, irritation and other symptoms of withdrawal come to us. I wrote about them in the article ““. I recommend reading.

All this causes an increasing temptation to return to our " drug»To relieve negative feelings experienced. So we find ourselves in a cycle of addiction, which only constantly aggravates the general situation.

Duration of the negative effects of the dopamine hit

The state of dissatisfaction does not go away quickly.

They will last long enough (several days, weeks or months depending on the type of addiction).

Having received a dopamine hit, the nervous system lays down time bufferwhen the level of receptors will remain in a reduced state long enough to insure itself against new attacks. What if you again want to pour a new dopamine blow on your nervous system? And keeping the sensitivity of the receptors at a minimum, she will be ready for this.

Did you get a non-standard portion of pleasure? - get depressed and depressed for the next 10 days. This is the law. It cannot be bypassed or canceled.
Schedule. The injection of dopamine causes long-term negative consequences - mood decline, anxiety, depression for many days in advance.

Addiction progression. What happens if you abuse the hormone dopamine?

The more often a person uses dopamine injection, be it

chemical means (, drugs, nicotine),
be it in a different way (sweet, overeating, masturbation,), the more the sensitivity of dopamine receptors decreases each time.

Over time, a person begins to receive less and less pleasure from his addiction.

He constantly needs to increase the dose to feel the same way. It is called increased tolerance for addiction .

The person begins to drink more, smoke more, play more, watch porn more, combine several addictions at the same time to increase pleasure effect.

Over time, the drug (legal or illegal) stops " cling»A person and give him the pleasure that was before, but simply removes for a short time the negative that the drug itself generated.

How does the dopamine hormone change overall mood? Normal level.

If you commit dopamine injection, there is a reorientation of the scale of sensations, according to a new point that appears on the graph in the form of "great pleasure". Then all other pleasures pale in comparison with him, and the level of the norm falls into the area of \u200b\u200banxiety and constant anxiety.

If before that our everyday norm (when we felt “normal”) was an ordinary life: work, family, everyday worries and so on - this old norm in the new coordinate system can already become a living hell for us. Even when a person is in a normal state, he can experience severe bouts of anxiety, starting with the fact that he is completely dissatisfied with life, right up to thoughts of suicide.

And these are not jokes, but a real perception of reality, which overtakes the addict and he cannot do anything about it.

An addicted person only in short moments of time feels what a healthy person feels constantly.

Naturally, in such a state, there is no need to talk about a normal life.

If you want to start leading a truly healthy life, you need to give up all addictions so as not to reduce the level of happiness in your life.

Simply put, you need to learn to enjoy the usual things, without resorting to injections and not using stimulating actions.

If the hormone dopamine is produced from natural needs: to eat (to normal), to do an interesting job, or, and so on, then this does not bring negative. If, moreover, these cases are not compulsive. I wrote about this in the article.

Over time, the nervous system will recover and your sensitivity level will return to normal. Then you can enjoy ordinary life from ordinary joys.
But this takes time and elimination of all kinds of dependencies. But the nervous system does not recover instantly.

The relativity of happiness

We conclude that the level of pleasure is relative. The nervous system adjusts and calibrates its sensitivity to life circumstances.

You can live much happier if you live more or less modestly, while having small needs.

On the contrary, the steeper you live (the more dopamine injections you make), the more the receptor sensitivity decreases, and the more time you walk in an unsatisfactory state.

Remember that even a rare dopamine load will throw you back on the path to addiction recovery. The normal level for any addiction is zero.

You’re not wondering what dose you can inject yourself with heroin into your vein every day to make it normal?

You have no doubt that this rate is zero. The same attitude should be towards alcohol, nicotine, masturbation, and other addictions.

Is it possible to get around the consequences of the injection of the dopamine hormone?

Remember that even a 3-5 minute act of addiction will doom you to suffering in the future for an incomparably long time.

This is the law. Many hope that they will get by with a little blood. But the fact that the dopamine injection will cause long-term suffering in the future acts like the law of gravity.

It is better not to tempt fate, but to live, taking into account this law and in vain not to drive your nervous system to high speed.