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Understanding Dopamine: What Is It? What Does It Do? Why Is It So Important?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter with a diverse set of roles, including crucial roles in movement, motivation, reward, and pleasure. It also helps to regulate mood and behavior. It also plays a major role in addiction because it’s associated with reinforcing reward-seeking behaviors.
The levels of dopamine are important to a human being. If the levels are too low, then a person can develop some neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and addiction disorders.
What Can Affect Your Dopamine Levels?
There are several factors that can determine if someone produces too much or too little dopamine. Some of these factors that can throw the natural levels of dopamine out of balance include:
Chronic Stress
When a person is stressed, the brain releases cortisol. However, chronically elevated cortisol levels can disrupt a person’s dopamine balance and make the brain less sensitive to dopamine.
Brain Injury
Damage to parts of the brain responsible for producing dopamine can cause a person to experience reduced levels.
Lifestyle Choices
Some choices can affect whether or not a person has a healthy dopamine balance. Getting insufficient sleep can affect the brain’s ability to produce dopamine.
Vitamins, minerals, and amino acids can also help optimize the brain for dopamine production, so a poor diet not supplemented with vitamins can often lead to low dopamine levels.
Dopamine Abuse or Pleasure-Seeking Behavior
The brain produces dopamine naturally, but there are certain things that a person can do and ingest that can increase dopamine.
These things include ingesting sugar, caffeine, and alcohol, as well as addictive behaviors like scrolling social media.
This is because these pleasure-seeking behaviors give a person instant gratification. They get a dopamine boost without any significant effort on their part.
The main danger with dopamine abuse is that over time, the brain’s dopamine receptors develop a tolerance, and a person has to look for more intense forms of pleasure.
Substance use, especially cocaine and meth, can release dopamine. Chronic use of these substances can make the brain produce less dopamine as a response, which can lead to an addiction to achieve the desired high.
Genetics
As with any other medical condition, sometimes genetics play a major role. Some people are just born with a genetic predisposition towards dopamine imbalance. They either produce less dopamine or have fewer dopamine receptors.
Age
Studies show that as people age, their brains are less able to produce dopamine. The number of dopamine receptors in the brain decreases as a person ages. This natural decline in dopamine production may be responsible for a decrease in cognitive flexibility.
What If I Have Too Little Dopamine?
One consequence of having low levels of dopamine in the substantia nigra is Parkinson’s disease.
Because the substantia nigra is involved in movement control, developing Parkinson’s disease can mean that a person has tremors, stiffness, slow movement, and issues with balance and coordination.
Other than Parkinson’s, the physical symptoms of dopamine deficiency can include muscle cramps, pneumonia, insomnia, constipation, and reflux.
A lack of dopamine can also decrease a person’s libido.
Lower dopamine levels can also make a person develop symptoms of depression, such as a lack of motivation, a feeling of hopelessness, and a persistent low mood. It’s also been shown to increase feelings of anxiety.
People who have low dopamine levels can have difficulty starting and finishing tasks. It can also affect someone’s self-esteem and give them a negative self-image.
What If I Have Too Much?
Now, conversely, what if someone has a larger amount of dopamine than normal? High levels of dopamine are linked to schizophrenia. The excess dopamine is believed to cause delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized thinking. An increase in dopamine is also linked to manic episodes in people who have Bipolar Disorder.
High dopamine levels can also affect a person’s ability to make decisions and make them more impulsive. An example of this is in gambling. A person can win a windfall at a casino, and instead of quitting while they’re ahead, they’ll keep playing.
Because dopamine is crucial for movement, too much of it can cause a person to have involuntary tics (dyskinesias).
Addiction is also a major risk. Substances such as cocaine and opioids can increase dopamine levels, which can reinforce reward-seeking behavior and lead to substance addiction.
How Long Does It Take to Reset Dopamine Levels?
There’s no set schedule for restoring dopamine levels and it can vary from one person to another. A person’s lifestyle and health are crucial in determining how long it takes for their dopamine levels to reset.
Restoring these levels to their natural state is a gradual process that takes time and a commitment to healthy lifestyle choices.
The timeline can be optimized by working with healthcare professionals, but it can take weeks or months before someone notices any changes, depending on what lifestyle changes were made.
How To Reset Your Dopamine Levels
There are a few things that a person can do to restore dopamine levels in their system. Some of the ways to reset a dopamine balance include:
Dopamine Fast or Detox
A dopamine fast or a dopamine detox is a process in which an individual voluntarily abstains from doing pleasurable activities such as eating junk food, playing video games, scrolling social media, or other activities.
This helps reset the brain’s reward system and decrease the craving for a quick dopamine release.
As with any detox, this can be challenging, and a person may even go through withdrawal symptoms. Some people may opt for a gradual reduction instead of going cold turkey.
Mindfulness
Holistic therapies such as yoga and meditation can help people restore their dopamine levels and balance through breathing, physical movement, and mindfulness.
People also need to practice mindfulness, as being aware of their cravings at the moment and allowing the moment to pass can help them break free of pleasure-seeking behavior.
Seek Out Joy
Some activities that can help boost dopamine production include exercising, getting fresh air, being safely exposed to sunlight, and listening to music. Take note that the exercise does not have to be intense or strenuous.
A 30-minute walk in the park while listening to your favorite playlist will be more than enough as long as it’s done regularly.
Lifestyle Changes
As some lifestyle choices affect a person’s dopamine levels, different choices can lead to different outcomes.
Getting enough sleep and eating a balanced diet rich in tyrosine, such as almonds, chicken, and bananas, can help restore a person’s natural dopamine levels. Supplements such as magnesium, zinc, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids can help as well.
Getting inpatient treatment can be particularly helpful for this as many residential treatment centers will provide their guests with nutritious meals that they may not know how to prepare themselves.
Rehab
Because addiction impacts dopamine levels, addressing it is going to be crucial to resetting an individual’s dopamine levels. Rehab can be essential in helping someone overcome the addictions that affect their dopamine levels, as well as helping them cope with their cravings so they can avoid relapse.
