Controlling Your Dopamine For Motivation, Focus & Satisfaction

I've hurt myself and others by not knowing these things. It's borderline criminal not to teach this stuff at school. Show a teenager this one video and their entire life could be different.

When history looks back on this time....Mr. Huberman, you will be one of the names that changed the way people see the world. Thank you for your contribution to this world. Your reach and inspiration reaches so much further than you will ever know.

1. Cold Water therapy effects on dopamine, adrenaline and nor adrenalin 2. Dopamine can be released in 2 ways: Local release and volumetric release 3. How pleasurable or satisfying you feel doesn't depend on peak level of dopamine. It depends upon difference in baseline level and peak level of dopamine. How you feel depends upon your previous level of Dopamine as compared to present level. Many drugs just increase both baseline level and peak level instead of increasing the difference between them. A big Dopamine release makes it more challenging to achieve higher dopamine release the next time. There should not be High level nor low level of Dpamine for long. 4.Just Increasing dopamine level will make us excited but that excitement will be for very less period of time 5. Chocolate increases Dipamine 1.5 times but it goes away in few seconds. Desire of sex or act of sex increases dopamine 2 times 6. Nicotene(smoked) increases dopamine 2.5 times above base line (Very short lived) 7. Amphetamine, Cocaine, Nicotine, Sex increases dopamine in everybody that takes them. Exercise, Hard Work and Studying increasea dopamine but it is subjective 8. After achieving something, Dopamine increases but after some time it falls down. It falls down even below the baseline. The extent it drops below the baseline is directly proportional to how high the peak was. After achieving something, if you feel preety happy, the dopamine will not fall that much but if you feel extremely happy, your dopamine will fall extremely after a day or two. (Eg:- Postpartum Depression). Anyway, we return to the baseline after some time. 9. If we continue to engage in something exciting regularly, after sometime it will be less exciting to us. 10. Some people release dopamine at higher level after a certain activity which deplete the releasable pool of dopamine. So, after sometime, dopamine falls below base level and it leads to a low feeling. Some people do the dopamine spiking activity again and again to bring back dopamine up to experience pleasure again since they are feeling low. But as we know, they have depleted the stock of releasable dopamine. The baseline begins to lower again and again. This is called ADDICTION and Addicted people don't feel pleasure at all. 11. Addiction is the progressive narrowing of things that bring you pleasure. If I am addicted to video games. I will feel happy in only playing it. I will not feel happy in exercise, study, social activity and my life will be ruined. After a some time, my system will stop releasing dopamine even after playing video games and nothing is left for me which can increase my dopamine. This is the start of depression. Spiking dopamine again and again is the main cause of decline in The baseline level. 12. If you experience a win whether it is school, sports or relationship; be highly careful about allowing yourself to experience a huge peak of Dopamine. 13. You kind of like exercise and to do exercise you increase dopamine by drinking energy drink and listen music to do exercise then you are increasing the number of conditions required to achieve the high level of dopamine by doing exercise. Don't use stimulants everytime you study or everytime you workout or anything in which you want to enjoy the process. Taking these stimulants (Music, energy drinks, Motivational reels) before the task will reduce the level of enjoyment and undermine the ability to stay motivated. The best way is to get excitement and motivation from the task itself whether it is Study or Workout. So. ENJOY THE PROCESS only. 14. Some Healthy ways to increase Dopamine so that the base level is maintained:: Cold water Therapy which increases Adrenalin and nor-adrenalin rapidly while dopamine shows gradual increase to 2.5 times above baseline and comes back to normal in 3 hours (Here there is a sustained increase instead of Rise and Crash) 15. If you work hard for the end result then the process will become very challenging. 1:39:02 is an amazing example. When someone gives reward or we reward ourself then we tend to associate our pleasure with reward rather than the work itself and if the reward is stopped, we lose interest in the process of the work. But again, Take a special care of not spiking dopamine just prior or even after to the effort. Learn to raise Dopamine from effort itself. 16. Example of Porn: Those who are indulged in it find it difficult to seek enjoyment in the productive process. Watching porn and Masturbation increase dopamine level⬆️ and then fall down very quickly⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️ below base line . Now to raise dopamine level much higher is difficult to feel pleasure again.

I am amazed by the fact that this podcast is available for free, it is pure gold

Practical summary: 1. Dopamine management - Abstain from or limit highly desirable activities for up to a month so the dopamine levels are replenished and the baseline dopamine release returns to normal - Peaks of dopamine decrease our baseline dopamine, required to general motivation and satisfaction with life. - Go for intermittent, random releases of dopamine - Don't bundle pleasurable activities with things you want to do (gym and music) - Flip a coin and choose how much pleasure bundling you'll do to the next activity - Otherwise the activity alone becomes less pleasurable 2. Direct practices - Cold water exposure - 2.5x increase and sustained for hours afterwards - Peaks - Chocolate - 1.5x - Sex - 2x (act and pursuit of it) - Nicotine - 2.5x - Cocaine - 2.5x - Amphetamine - 10x - Exercise - 2x (up to 2x, the more you enjoy it subjectively) - Coffee combined with another activity (coffee makes the dopamine release more effective) - Connection with other people 3. Mental strategies - Subjectivity, perception and belief - Hearing something that validates our belief about an activity, makes it more pleasurable - Journaling, thinking positively about something you remember or you're experiencing now releases dopamine - Learn to spike dopamine from effort - Don't spike dopamine prior to engaging in effort - Don't spike dopamine after engaging in effort - Learn to spike dopamine from effort itself.

This is the highest quality science-based podcast in existence, hands down.

How listening to this podcast boosts dopamine is unfathomable.

I did a 10 day meditation retreat and the difference was unreal. Everything looked brighter and shiny. Even the weeds in the cracks in the paving were beautiful

I am a 21 year-old engineering student from Madrid, Spain. This is unbelievably helpful. What a wonderful time we live in, that I can listen to a top-notch neuroscientist talk about perhaps the most important topic for me in this particular moment in my life. And all this from the comfort of my bedroom and for free. You, Sir, are one of a kind. God bless you and love you

Your content is a game changer. Upon being prompted for a donation request I gladly sent the maximum amount, no questions asked. I wish you more success, Andrew. The human race needs what you have to offer.

This man's existence has made my life significantly better than it would have otherwise been. Many thanks for making neuroscience accessible to laymen aficionados such as myself.

This is my first super chat. The amount of depth and knowledge about Dopamine is just insane. During covid era, I have been struggling with depression and had many suicidal thoughts its been three years still I couldn't achieve a state of calmness. Thanks to Quora I found out you (I am still a high school student ) Hope these podcasts never stop, love from India 🤗

Bro i know you dont know me but you changed my life. Saved it really. My adhd was eating me alive, i was an alcoholic, a junkie and i hated everything. Im sober now, and im in therapy….my family doesnt hate me anymore. Im actually liking life….idk anyway thank you so much. Your doing great work.

I feel like these Monday drops are the glue that holds my life together.

Alhamdullilah, I find so much comfort in your humble transparency and straightforward nature

This video is changing my life. Incredibly intelligent and informative. Pretty sure my entrapment in ADHD is going to change dramatically. I’ve been living all wrong.

So to recap.. 1) Don't trigger dopamine all the time, even if gained through various sources. Try to dopamine fast. 2) Cold showers can raise dopamine without the crash. 3) Don't layer in dopamine raising activities with things you want to get more motivated for. E.g Listening to music while working. 4) Don't reward yourself before or after hard activities, let the activity itself produce dopamine. Anything I missed?

Actions you can take from this Lecture: 1. Avoid dopamine layering with challenging activity: Entertainment (music, smartphone, etc), substance, and social stimulants. 2. Derive dopamine from effort itself not the reward after. 3. Try cold exposure therapy and/or intermittent fasting 4. Avoid dopamine spiking drugs, sugar and pornography.

Just this video alone rationalized my depression. I realize now I've been chasing that "dopamine hit" most of my young adult life. Thank you, Andrew Huberman and the neuroscience community.

I'm a recovering meth addict...3 months Sober today! Thank You Doctor Huberman for giving me the tools necessary to get my "Happy" back. Your videos on addiction and dopamine have delivered the skills I desperately sought to remain an inspiration to those I deeply care for who still suffer from addiction and who WERE too scared to take the initial steps necessary to a longer, healthier and happier future. Seeing how much happier I am and how fast my life is blossoming at 44-after doing Meth Since I was 15-is blowing minds and helping people I know who had given up rethink they're potential. Your Amazing and I want to thank you for changing peoples lives in such a noble, infectious way. Sir you are a blessing! Thank you for saving my life!