I’ve been obsessive about dopamine ever since I heard Andrew Huberman name it “the molecule of motivation and drive” in his well-known dopamine masterclass episode. That single phrase fully reworked how I take into consideration my morning routine, my work habits, and truthfully, my total method to productiveness. I already had life-changing outcomes from incorporating Huberman’s complement listing into my every day routine, so I made a decision to dive headfirst into optimizing dopamine to work in my favor.
In case you’re right here, you most likely know that feeling once you’re scrolling by your cellphone at 2 AM, realizing you must sleep however by some means unable to cease. Or possibly you’ve seen how that first cup of espresso doesn’t hit fairly prefer it used to. These aren’t character flaws or indicators of weak point. In keeping with Stanford neurobiology professor Andrew Huberman, they’re all about dopamine.
Andrew Huberman has develop into the go-to supply for understanding how our brains truly work. Because the host of the Huberman Lab podcast, he’s spent tons of of hours breaking down advanced neuroscience into sensible recommendation that common individuals like us can truly use. His September 27, 2021 dopamine episode has racked up thousands and thousands of views, and for good cause. He doesn’t simply clarify the science. He offers you the instruments to hack your personal neurochemistry.
Right here’s what blew my thoughts after I first began diving into Huberman’s work: dopamine isn’t truly about pleasure. We’ve been eager about this molecule all mistaken. As Huberman explains in his e-newsletter on dopamine administration instruments, dopamine is about wanting, not having. It’s the chemical that makes you crave that subsequent episode on Netflix, attain on your cellphone each 5 minutes, or really feel that pull towards the fridge even once you’re not hungry. However it’s additionally what will get you away from bed to hit the gymnasium, pushes you thru a troublesome undertaking, and retains you going when issues get exhausting.
On this article, I’m sharing all the things Andrew Huberman has taught about dopamine. You’ll study why chilly showers can increase your motivation for hours (sure, actually), why checking Instagram throughout your exercise is sabotaging your beneficial properties, and the best way to reset your mind when nothing feels rewarding anymore. We’ll cowl his morning daylight protocol, his ideas on dietary supplements like L-tyrosine, and why he thinks dopamine fasting isn’t as loopy because it sounds.
Most significantly, you’ll perceive the best way to work together with your dopamine system as a substitute of towards it. As a result of when you get how this molecule works, you possibly can cease being its slave and begin being its grasp.
What’s Dopamine In keeping with Andrew Huberman?
Let me begin with one thing that fully shifted my perspective. Huberman typically quotes dependancy professional Dr. Anna Lembke when he says “dopamine is about wanting, not about having.” Take into consideration that for a second. All this time we’ve been calling dopamine the “feel-good” chemical, however that’s not fairly proper.
Dopamine is definitely a neuromodulator, which sounds fancy however mainly means it doesn’t simply move messages between neurons like common neurotransmitters do. As an alternative, it adjustments how total networks of neurons behave. Huberman explains it like this in Episode 39 of the Huberman Lab podcast: if neurotransmitters are like a one-on-one dialog between mind cells, dopamine is sort of a conductor coordinating a complete orchestra. When dopamine ranges shift, your entire psychological state shifts with them.
For this reason Huberman calls dopamine the motivation molecule. When your dopamine is excessive, you are feeling energized and able to tackle the world. The whole lot appears doable and value pursuing. However when it’s low? That’s when you possibly can’t get off the sofa, nothing sounds enjoyable, and even belongings you normally take pleasure in really feel pointless.
I realized this the exhausting method throughout a very tough patch final 12 months. I used to be burned out from work, spending method an excessive amount of time on social media, and mainly feeling numb to all the things. Meals didn’t style pretty much as good. Train felt unattainable. Even hanging out with pals felt like a chore. Trying again now, after understanding Huberman’s teachings, I understand my dopamine system was fully fried.
The factor about dopamine that basically will get me is the way it’s primarily about anticipation and pursuit reasonably than the precise reward. You already know that pleasure you are feeling when your Amazon bundle is out for supply? That’s dopamine. The precise opening of the bundle? That includes different chemical compounds too, like endorphins and serotonin. Dopamine is what makes you verify the monitoring each 5 minutes.
Huberman factors out that dopamine isn’t nearly motivation and temper both. It’s completely basic for motion. Individuals with Parkinson’s illness, the place dopamine-producing neurons die off, don’t simply wrestle with tremors and motion. Additionally they expertise large drops in motivation and sometimes develop melancholy. This exhibits how dopamine touches each side of our expertise, from how we transfer our our bodies to how we transfer by life.
What actually fascinates me is how Huberman describes dopamine as creating this ahead momentum in our lives. It’s not about being happy with what now we have. It’s about continuously searching for extra. In his phrases from the dopamine episode transcript, “what dopamine at all times needs extra of is extra dopamine.” This explains a lot about human conduct, from why we are able to’t cease scrolling social media to why attaining an enormous objective typically leaves us feeling empty as a substitute of fulfilled.
In keeping with Podcast Notes from Episode 39, “Dopamine is a foreign money and it’s the best way that you just monitor pleasure, monitor success, monitor whether or not or not you might be doing properly or poorly.” The flexibility to expertise motivation and pleasure subsequent is dictated by how a lot motivation and pleasure you skilled previously.
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How Dopamine Works in Your Mind: Huberman’s Explanations
Right here’s the place issues get actually attention-grabbing. Huberman breaks down dopamine operate into two foremost modes that fully modified how I take into consideration motivation and rewards.
First, there’s your baseline dopamine, what scientists name “tonic” dopamine. That is just like the background music of your mind, at all times taking part in at some degree. Your baseline basically determines your total temper and vitality all through the day. After I get up feeling motivated and able to deal with my to-do listing, that’s my baseline dopamine doing its job. After I get up and instantly need to return to mattress endlessly, properly, that’s low baseline dopamine.
Then there are the spikes or “phasic” releases. These occur when one thing good occurs or once you’re anticipating one thing rewarding. Consuming chocolate, getting likes on social media, touchdown a brand new PR on the gymnasium – these all trigger dopamine spikes above your baseline.
However right here’s the kicker that Huberman actually emphasizes in his podcast: these two methods work together in methods that may both give you the results you want or fully sabotage your motivation.
The mind has two main dopamine highways that Huberman talks about continuously. The primary is the mesocorticolimbic pathway, which is mainly your mind’s reward circuit. It begins in an space known as the ventral tegmental space (VTA), shoots as much as the nucleus accumbens, after which connects to your prefrontal cortex the place all of your planning and decision-making occurs.
That is the pathway that lights up once you’re pursuing something rewarding. Whether or not you’re trying to find meals like our ancestors, finding out for a level, or mindlessly scrolling TikTok, this identical historic circuit is firing away. It’s additionally the pathway that medicine like cocaine and methamphetamine hijack, which is why Huberman says understanding this pathway is essential to understanding dependancy.
The second main pathway is the nigrostriatal pathway, working from the substantia nigra to the dorsal striatum. This one is all about motion and forming habits. When this pathway degenerates, you get Parkinson’s illness. However even in wholesome brains, this pathway is why sure actions or behaviors develop into computerized over time.
What’s wild is how dopamine doesn’t work like most neurotransmitters. Huberman explains that as a substitute of simply rapidly zipping from one neuron to the following, dopamine binds to particular receptors that set off a sluggish cascade of adjustments inside cells. For this reason the results of a dopamine hit can final for hours. It’s additionally why that post-workout excessive retains you feeling good lengthy after you’ve left the gymnasium.
Dopamine mainly acts like a educating sign in your mind. When one thing is best than anticipated, dopamine fires. When one thing is worse than anticipated, dopamine drops. That is how your mind learns what’s price pursuing and what’s not.
I seen this myself after I began intermittent fasting. The primary few days, my dopamine would spike like loopy when my consuming window lastly opened. However after a number of weeks, the identical meal produced much less of a spike as a result of my mind had adjusted its expectations. That is precisely what Huberman talks about when he discusses reward prediction error.
One of many trippiest issues Huberman mentions is how dopamine impacts time notion. Ever discover how time flies once you’re completely absorbed in one thing you’re keen on? Or the way it drags once you’re bored out of your thoughts? That’s dopamine at work. Whenever you’re in a excessive dopamine state, targeted and motivated, hours can move in what seems like minutes. Low dopamine? Each minute seems like an hour.
Podcast Notes summarizes how dopamine impacts our notion: “Dopamine controls the notion of time. If the one pursuit for partaking in an exercise is a reward, the time will really feel longer as no dopamine is launched in the course of the effort.”
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The Dopamine Cycle: Understanding Peaks, Baselines, and Crashes
That is the part that actually modified my life. As soon as I understood what Huberman teaches in regards to the dopamine cycle, so lots of my unhealthy habits and temper swings immediately made sense.
Right here’s the basic rule that Huberman says all of us want to recollect: each peak in dopamine above baseline will likely be adopted by a drop under baseline. Each. Single. Time. He calls this the pleasure-pain stability, borrowing from Dr. Anna Lembke’s work, and visualizes it like a seesaw in your mind.
When one thing superior occurs and dopamine spikes up (pleasure aspect of the seesaw goes down), your mind has to stability issues out afterward (ache aspect goes down). This isn’t your mind attempting to punish you. It’s simply attempting to keep up homeostasis.
I used to marvel why I’d really feel so flat the day after a tremendous live performance or why ending a undertaking I used to be enthusiastic about would depart me feeling empty as a substitute of completed. Now I do know. That’s the dopamine drop under baseline that at all times follows the excessive.
Huberman shared one thing in his dopamine management episode that truthfully made me rethink my total weekend routine. He talks about “dopamine stacking,” which is after we layer a number of dopamine-releasing actions on high of one another. Image this: you’re understanding whereas blasting your favourite music, checking your cellphone between units, sipping on a pre-workout drink, and possibly sneaking glances at that enticing particular person throughout the gymnasium. Every of these items releases dopamine, and once you stack all of them collectively, you get an enormous spike.
Sounds nice, proper? Incorrect. The crash afterward is proportional to the height. In order that stacked exercise may go away you feeling wonderful for an hour, however then you definately’ll spend the remainder of the day in a dopamine deficit, unmotivated and sort of blah.
I examined this myself. For one week, I did my exercises with music, pre-workout, and my cellphone. The following week, I went to the gymnasium with nothing however water and focus. The exercises with all of the extras felt extra enjoyable within the second, however I used to be ineffective for hours afterward. The plain exercises? I felt regular vitality all day lengthy.
The restoration time wanted between dopamine peaks is one thing most individuals fully ignore. Huberman explains that after an enormous dopamine spike, it takes time on your baseline to return to regular. In case you chase one other excessive whilst you’re nonetheless within the low interval, you may get a short increase, however you’ll drive your baseline even decrease afterward.
This explains why tolerance develops to mainly all the things gratifying. Whether or not it’s espresso, social media, junk meals, or tougher stuff, repeatedly spiking dopamine with out restoration time forces your mind to adapt by decreasing receptors or producing much less dopamine. Your baseline drops decrease and decrease, and immediately you want extra stimulation simply to really feel regular.
In keeping with Podcast Notes, “Charges of dopamine firing by conduct or drug (for context, neurons fireplace at a price of 3-4/second releasing dopamine): meals – doubles in anticipation of meals; nicotine – 150% enhance within the price of dopamine firing; cocaine – will increase dopamine output by 1000%; methamphetamine – will increase by 1000% – 10,000%”.
However right here’s the place Huberman drops some information that really offers us hope. He talks about one thing known as random intermittent reward timing. Casinos have identified about this endlessly. It’s why slot machines don’t pay out predictably.
The appliance for normal life? Don’t reward your self each single time you accomplish one thing. Generally have fun, generally don’t. This randomness retains your dopamine system engaged with out the huge peaks and valleys.
I began making use of this to my work. As an alternative of treating myself to a elaborate espresso each time I completed a process, I began doing it randomly. Possibly after the third process, possibly after the primary, possibly by no means that day. The bizarre factor? I truly felt extra motivated total, not much less.
Huberman says the holy grail is studying to connect dopamine to effort itself, not simply outcomes. This implies coaching your mind to launch dopamine in the course of the exhausting work, not simply once you obtain the end result. He suggests telling your self issues like “I’m doing this by alternative” or “This effort is making me higher” whilst you’re in the course of one thing difficult.
At first, this gave the impression of self-help nonsense to me. However the neuroscience backs it up. By consciously associating effort with reward, you’re actually educating your dopamine circuits to fireside in the course of the course of, not simply on the end line.
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Andrew Huberman’s Pure Dopamine Boosting Protocols
Alright, that is the part you’ve been ready for. How can we truly enhance dopamine with out frying our circuits? Huberman has examined tons of protocols, and I’ve tried just about all of them. Right here’s what truly works.
Morning Daylight Publicity
This one appears nearly too easy, however Huberman mentions it in virtually each podcast for a cause. Getting shiny gentle in your eyes inside the first hour of waking does one thing magical to your dopamine system.
Right here’s my routine: I get up and instantly go exterior for 10 to 23 minutes. No sun shades (common glasses are advantageous), simply letting that morning gentle hit my eyes. On cloudy days, I keep out a bit longer, possibly 28 minutes. Huberman explains that this gentle publicity triggers specialised cells in your eyes that sign to mind areas controlling each circadian rhythm and dopamine launch.
What’s loopy is that constant morning gentle doesn’t simply increase dopamine acutely. It truly will increase the expression of dopamine receptor genes, making your mind extra delicate to dopamine all through the day. I’ve been doing this for six months now, and the distinction in my morning motivation is unreal. I used to wish two cups of espresso simply to really feel human. Now I typically neglect to make my first cup till 10 AM.
Chilly Publicity Protocol
When Huberman first began speaking about chilly publicity for dopamine, I assumed he was nuts. Then I noticed the information. Chilly water publicity can enhance dopamine by 250% above baseline, and that elevation can final for hours.
In keeping with his chilly publicity e-newsletter, “One examine confirmed important and extended will increase in dopamine when individuals have been in cool (60°F) water for about an hour as much as their neck, with their head above water.”
In his chilly publicity episode, Huberman describes “a selected protocol that has been proven to extend these chemical compounds wherever from 2.5x, so 250%, to as excessive as 500%, 5 instances over baseline.”
I began small. Simply turning the bathe chilly for the final 30 seconds practically killed me the primary time. However I caught with it, and now I do a full three-minute chilly bathe each morning. The bottom line is making the water as chilly as your faucet permits. No lukewarm nonsense.
Right here’s what occurs: for the primary 30 seconds, your mind screams at you to get out. Then one thing shifts. Your respiratory naturally deepens, your thoughts goes quiet, and also you hit this state of alert calm that Huberman talks about. Whenever you get out, you are feeling like you can conquer the world. That feeling? That’s sustained dopamine launch, and it lasts for hours.
Huberman recommends getting about 11 minutes of chilly publicity per week complete, which you’ll break up up nonetheless you need. I do three minutes each morning and generally an extended chilly plunge on weekends if I can entry one. The advantages compound over time. What was once torture is now one thing I genuinely look ahead to.
Dr. Susanna Søberg’s analysis, mentioned on Huberman’s podcast, exhibits “lengthy lasting will increase in catecholamines, dopamine, norepinephrine, and epinephrine, for a lot of hours after deliberate chilly publicity.”
Train and Motion
Everyone knows train is sweet for us, however Huberman’s clarification of the way it impacts dopamine lastly motivated me to be constant. Train will increase each dopamine and serotonin, however extra importantly, it teaches your mind to take pleasure in effort.
I used to solely care in regards to the post-workout excessive. Now I give attention to discovering moments of enjoyment in the course of the exercise itself. Huberman says this trains your dopamine system to launch throughout effort, not simply after. It’s a game-changer for sustaining motivation. You’ll be able to examine Huberman’s actual health protocol right here.
My hack? I mix train with morning daylight every time doable. A 32-minute run because the solar comes up hits a number of dopamine pathways without delay. Simply don’t stack too many different dopamine sources otherwise you’ll crash later.
Vitamin for Dopamine
Your mind builds dopamine from an amino acid known as tyrosine, so getting sufficient in your weight-reduction plan is non-negotiable. Huberman rattles off an inventory of tyrosine-rich meals that I’ve made staples in my kitchen: grass-fed beef, wild-caught salmon, pasture-raised eggs, aged cheeses like parmesan, almonds, and pumpkin seeds.
I front-load my day with protein now. A breakfast with 30-40 grams of protein from eggs and a few cheese units my dopamine manufacturing up for fulfillment. Plant-based people can get tyrosine from soy, legumes, and nuts, although Huberman notes animal sources are extra bioavailable.
One factor that stunned me: Huberman mentions that consuming tyrosine-rich meals can notably assist throughout irritating durations when dopamine calls for are excessive. Throughout a current work crunch, I made positive to up my protein consumption, and it positively helped keep my focus and drive after I’d normally be working on fumes.
Sleep Optimization
This isn’t attractive, however Huberman is adamant that sleep could be crucial issue for wholesome dopamine operate. Sleep deprivation doesn’t simply make you drained; it actually reduces dopamine receptor availability.
Right here’s what I realized the exhausting method: pulling an all-nighter floods your mind with dopamine to maintain you awake, however the crash afterward is brutal. Worse, persistent sleep deprivation progressively lowers your baseline dopamine, making all the things really feel much less rewarding.
Huberman’s sleep protocol for dopamine is fairly simple. Keep constant sleep and wake instances, hold your room cool and darkish, and right here’s the large one: keep away from shiny gentle publicity between 10 PM and 4 AM. He explains that gentle at night time prompts a mind area known as the habenula, which truly suppresses dopamine. For this reason late-night display screen time doesn’t simply hold you awake; it actually makes you are feeling worse the following day.
I invested in blackout curtains from Amazon and began utilizing candlelight after 9 PM. I additionally utilized Huberman’s well-known sleep cocktail. My morning motivation improved dramatically inside per week.
Strategic Caffeine Use
Espresso lovers, rejoice. Huberman confirms that caffeine doesn’t simply provide you with vitality; it truly upregulates dopamine receptors, making the dopamine you’ve work extra successfully.
However timing issues. Huberman waits 90-120 minutes after waking earlier than his first cup, permitting pure morning cortisol to clear adenosine (the sleepiness molecule) first. I adopted this, and it prevents the afternoon crash I used to get.
He’s additionally massive on yerba mate, which incorporates caffeine plus compounds which will shield dopamine neurons. I alternate between espresso and mate now, and I’ve seen mate offers a smoother, longer-lasting focus with out jitters.
The bottom line is not overdoing it. Huberman caps himself round 300mg of caffeine every day and by no means after 2 PM. I keep on with related limits and may affirm it retains the advantages with out disrupting sleep or inflicting tolerance.
Dietary supplements for Dopamine
Huberman is cautious about complement suggestions, however he’s shared his private stack for dopamine assist. I’ve experimented with all of those, so I can share actual expertise. By the best way, Huberman is partnered with Momentous dietary supplements and takes them for almost all of his dietary supplements. You’ll be able to decide up his cognitive assist bundle on their web site and use our code ‘brainflow’ for 15% off at checkout.
L-Tyrosine is essentially the most simple. It’s actually the precursor to dopamine. Huberman takes 500-1000mg of Momentous Tyrosine earlier than difficult cognitive work or exercises. I take advantage of 500mg on days after I want additional focus, at all times on an empty abdomen for higher absorption. The impact is refined however actual, like somebody turned up the brightness dial on my motivation by about 18%.
Phenylethylamine (PEA) is extra intense. Huberman combines 500mg of PEA (which you will get for affordable on Amazon) with 300mg of Momentous Alpha-GPC for critical focus classes. I’ve tried this combo precisely 3 times, and every time I bought two hours of virtually scary focus adopted by a gentle crash. It’s highly effective stuff, not for every day use.
Mucuna Pruriens incorporates L-DOPA, the direct precursor to dopamine. Huberman warns about this one as a result of it could trigger important spikes and crashes. I attempted it as soon as and felt wonderful for a number of hours. I like to recommend taking it sparingly when you really want to lock in. I take advantage of Double Wooden Dietary supplements Mucuna Pruriens Extract.
The complement technique that works greatest for me is biking. I’ll use L-tyrosine 2-3 instances per week max, normally earlier than notably difficult work classes or exercises. This prevents tolerance and retains the results noticeable after I do use it. If you wish to attempt Momentous dietary supplements which is belief by Huberman, use code ‘brainflow’ at checkout for 15% off EVERYTHING.
Dopamine Pitfalls: What Andrew Huberman Says to Keep away from
This part could be crucial one when it comes to sensible life adjustments. Understanding what depletes dopamine reworked how I construction my days.
The Risks of Dopamine Stacking
Keep in mind after I talked about layering a number of dopamine sources? Huberman is captivated with warning towards this contemporary behavior. We’re continuously stacking stimuli: Netflix on the TV, cellphone in hand, snacking on chips, possibly a beer or vitality drink close by. Every factor releases dopamine, and collectively they create an unsustainable spike.
Podcast Notes from Episode 39 emphasizes: “Defend the actions you take pleasure in! If you’re motivated sufficient to interact in some form of exercise (train, music, and so on.) – keep away from stacking dopamine-releasing rewards or you will see your self much less /unmotivated to do this factor you as soon as liked.”
I was the worst offender. I’d work with music blasting, a number of browser tabs open, espresso at hand, checking my cellphone each couple of minutes. I felt productive within the second however would crash exhausting by 3 PM, unable to give attention to something.
Now I follow what Huberman calls “single-tasking with dopamine.” After I work, I simply work. After I eat, I simply eat. After I watch a present, that’s all I do. It felt boring at first, however my sustained vitality all through the day is so significantly better.
Social Media and Smartphone Habit
Huberman calls smartphones “dopamine slot machines,” and when you perceive the mechanism, it’s terrifying how correct that’s. Each notification, each scroll, each like is a small, unpredictable reward that spikes dopamine.
The true downside isn’t simply the time wasted. It’s that fixed cellphone use trains your mind to wish these fast hits. Common actions begin feeling boring as compared. Huberman shared that he seen himself dropping curiosity in exercises when he checked his cellphone between units. The exercise couldn’t compete with the dopamine hit from the cellphone.
I did my very own experiment after listening to this. For one month, I left my cellphone within the automotive throughout gymnasium classes. The primary week was robust. I felt genuinely anxious with out it. However by week three, I used to be having the perfect exercises of my life. I might give attention to the mind-muscle connection, and the pure dopamine from train felt extra satisfying.
Junk Meals and Sugar
Huberman explains that extremely palatable meals (assume cookies, chips, ice cream) spike dopamine equally to medicine. The mix of sugar, fats, and salt in processed meals is actually engineered to maximise dopamine launch.
I was a sugar fiend. 3 PM meant sweet bar time. However I seen that the extra sweets I ate, the much less I loved common meals. An apple tasted like cardboard. Greens have been punishment. My dopamine system was so used to the extraordinary hits from junk meals that ordinary meals barely registered.
Following Huberman’s recommendation, I did a 48-hour reset consuming solely entire meals. No added sugars, no processed something. It sucked for about 36 hours. Then one thing shifted. By day three, a easy apple tasted unbelievable. Roasted greens with simply salt and olive oil have been genuinely satisfying.
Late-Night time Mild Publicity
This one stunned me, however Huberman’s clarification makes complete sense. Shiny gentle between 10 PM and 4 AM doesn’t simply disrupt sleep. It prompts the habenula, a mind area that actually suppresses dopamine and triggers disappointment indicators.
Ever discover how late-night scrolling typically results in feeling empty and unhappy? That’s not simply since you’re drained. The sunshine is actively triggering anti-reward pathways in your mind. If you must work late, Huberman recommends utilizing blue gentle block glasses – I bought this superior pair on Amazon for lower than $25.
Dopamine Fasting and Resetting Your System
After I first heard about dopamine fasting, I assumed it was one other Silicon Valley biohacking development that will move. Then I heard Huberman’s tackle it, tried it myself, and have become a convert.
First, let’s clear up what dopamine fasting truly means. You’re not actually stopping all dopamine (that’s unattainable and can be harmful). As an alternative, you’re taking a break from the bogus spikes we’ve develop into hooked on: social media, junk meals, leisure, purchasing, no matter your specific vice is.
Huberman shares a compelling case examine from his podcast with Dr. Anna Lembke. A younger man was fully hooked on video video games and digital media. His life was falling aside. So he did one thing radical: 30 days with zero screens. No cellphone, no pc, no TV, nothing.
The primary two weeks have been hell. He described feeling depressed, anxious, and desperately bored. However round day 17, one thing shifted. He began exercising once more. By day 24, he was studying books for pleasure. By day 29, he felt extra motivated and clear-headed than he had in years.
What occurred? His dopamine receptors resensitized. His baseline dopamine recovered. Regular actions turned rewarding once more.
I wasn’t prepared for a month-long digital detox, however I attempted a weekend model. Friday night to Monday morning: no social media, no YouTube, no video video games, minimal cellphone use just for essential communication. I spent the time studying, strolling, cooking, and truthfully, being bored.
Saturday was tough. I should have reached for my cellphone 47 instances out of behavior. Sunday was simpler. By Monday morning, I felt weirdly refreshed. Colours appeared brighter. Meals tasted higher. A easy dialog with my companion was genuinely partaking in a method I hadn’t skilled in months.
Now I do a mini dopamine quick one weekend monthly. It’s like hitting a reset button on my reward system. The whole lot feels extra satisfying afterward.
However right here’s Huberman’s key perception that modified all the things for me: the final word objective isn’t to keep away from dopamine spikes solely. It’s to connect dopamine to effort reasonably than outcomes.
He suggests a psychological follow the place you consciously inform your self that the trouble itself is the reward. After I’m grinding by a troublesome work undertaking, I’ll actually assume, “This effort is making me stronger. This problem is strictly what I would like.” It sounds corny, however it works.
The neuroscience backs this up. By cognitively reframing effort as rewarding, you’re educating your dopamine circuits to fireside in the course of the course of, not simply on the completion. This creates sustainable motivation that doesn’t depend on exterior rewards.
Podcast Notes summarizes Huberman’s method: “Be taught to spike dopamine from effort itself: focusing solely on the reward on the finish will make effort painful.”
Dopamine and Habit: Huberman’s Core Insights
This matter deserves its personal part as a result of understanding dopamine’s function in dependancy modified how I take into consideration all compulsive behaviors, not simply substance abuse.
Huberman makes an announcement that stopped me in my tracks: “Dopamine lies on the coronary heart of dependancy to all issues.” Not some issues. All issues. Whether or not we’re speaking about cocaine, playing, purchasing, or Instagram, the underlying mechanism is identical.
Right here’s the way it works. Addictive substances and behaviors trigger large dopamine launch, far past what pure rewards present. Your mind remembers this and begins craving that very same hit. However with repeated publicity, your baseline dopamine drops decrease and decrease. You want extra of the substance or conduct simply to really feel regular.
What’s terrifying is what Huberman calls the “progressive narrowing of enjoyment.” As dependancy develops, the issues that used to deliver pleasure cease registering. An addict might need as soon as loved meals, pals, hobbies, nature. However because the dependancy hijacks their dopamine circuits, solely the addictive substance offers any pleasure. The whole lot else feels grey and pointless.
Summarizing Huberman’s views, “Reset of dopamine system from unhealthy conduct includes 30 days of full abstinence – really fizzling out could also be required relying on the severity of the dependancy.”
Breaking free requires understanding what Huberman calls the “dopamine deficit state.” Whenever you give up an addictive conduct, your dopamine doesn’t instantly return to regular. There’s a interval the place your baseline remains to be suppressed, and nothing feels rewarding. That is when most individuals relapse.
The bottom line is realizing this state is momentary. Huberman and dependancy consultants like Dr. Lembke suggest pushing by this era with religion that your mind will heal. For behavioral addictions, it normally takes 2-4 weeks. For substance addictions, it could take 30-90 days or longer.
Key Takeaways and Motion Steps
After months of finding out Huberman’s work and experimenting with these protocols, listed here are crucial rules I’ve realized about dopamine:
First, respect the basic rule: peaks create troughs. Each time you spike dopamine method above baseline, you’ll pay for it with a drop under baseline afterward. This isn’t unhealthy; it’s simply biology. However realizing this helps you make knowledgeable selections about when and the best way to search rewards.
Second, area out your pleasures. The fashionable world needs you to stack each doable dopamine supply concurrently. Resist this. Take pleasure in issues separately, with area between on your baseline to get well.
Third, discover dopamine in effort, not simply outcomes. That is most likely Huberman’s strongest educating. When you possibly can genuinely benefit from the strategy of working towards objectives, not simply attaining them, you’ve unlocked sustainable motivation.
Fourth, shield your baseline. Your baseline dopamine degree determines your total high quality of life. Guard it fastidiously by avoiding extreme stimulation, getting sufficient sleep, and training periodic resets.
Right here’s a sensible 30-day protocol I developed primarily based on Huberman’s teachings:
Week 1: Set up Morning Basis: Begin day by day with 10-20 minutes of daylight publicity. No sun shades, simply pure gentle in your eyes. Add a 60-second chilly bathe on the finish of your common bathe. These two easy practices will noticeably increase your baseline dopamine inside days.
Week 2: Optimize Stimulant Use: Wait 90-120 minutes after waking earlier than caffeine. Cap your self at 300mg every day (about 2-3 cups of espresso) and none after 2 PM. Discover how delaying caffeine prevents the afternoon crash and improves sleep.
Week 3: Get rid of One Dopamine Drain: Decide your largest dopamine vice (for me it was late-night YouTube) and remove it fully for per week. Substitute it with a calmer exercise like studying or stretching. Push by the preliminary discomfort.
Week 4: Apply Effort-Primarily based Rewards: Throughout exercises, work classes, or any difficult process, consciously inform your self “this effort is the reward.” Have a good time the method, not simply outcomes. Begin implementing random reward timing, generally celebrating achievements, generally simply shifting on to the following process.
By the top of 30 days, you’ll have noticeably greater baseline vitality and motivation. Extra importantly, you’ll perceive your personal dopamine patterns and the best way to work with them as a substitute of towards them.
Conclusion
After I began this deep dive into Andrew Huberman’s dopamine teachings, I used to be simply in search of methods to be extra productive. What I discovered was an entire framework for understanding human motivation and wellbeing.
Dopamine isn’t nearly feeling good. It’s the power that strikes us ahead in life, that makes us need to develop and obtain and join. Once we perceive the way it works, we are able to cease being victims of our impulses and begin being architects of our personal motivation.
Essentially the most profound shift for me has been realizing that the pursuit of fixed dopamine highs was truly making me much less glad. By spacing out rewards, discovering pleasure in effort, and defending my baseline, I’ve found a sustainable approach to keep motivated with out the exhausting peaks and crashes.
Huberman typically says that dopamine is about wanting, not having. As soon as I actually understood this, all the things modified. I ended chasing the following excessive and began appreciating the journey. I ended needing fixed stimulation and located peace in simplicity. A morning stroll with out podcasts turned genuinely gratifying. A exercise with out music turned meditative. Work with out fixed cellphone checks turned deeply satisfying.
The instruments Huberman offers aren’t simply educational theories. They’re sensible protocols that may rework your every day expertise. Whether or not it’s the stunning alertness from a chilly bathe, the regular vitality from morning daylight, or the psychological readability from a dopamine quick, these practices work as a result of they align with how our brains truly operate.
However right here’s what I need to go away you with: this isn’t about optimization for its personal sake. It’s not about changing into a productiveness machine or biohacking your approach to superhuman standing. It’s about understanding your self properly sufficient to create a life that feels genuinely rewarding.
When your dopamine system is balanced, all the things works higher. Relationships are extra satisfying since you’re current as a substitute of scrolling. Work is extra partaking since you’ve skilled your self to seek out movement in effort. Easy pleasures like a very good meal or a sundown truly register as pleasurable since you haven’t numbed your receptors with fixed stimulation.
As Huberman emphasizes in his key takeaways, “Huberman Lab podcast ‘Controlling Your Dopamine For Motivation, Focus & Satisfaction’ is thought-provoking and related.” The core idea is knowing baseline and peak dopamine, and studying to modulate ranges by altering the movement of actions.
Huberman has given us an proprietor’s guide for our reward system. The query isn’t whether or not these instruments work – the science is evident on that. The query is whether or not you’ll truly use them.
Begin small. Decide one protocol from this text and decide to it for per week. Possibly it’s the morning daylight, possibly it’s delaying your first espresso, possibly it’s taking a chilly bathe. No matter you select, take note of the way it impacts your motivation and temper.
Keep in mind, you’re not damaged in case you wrestle with motivation or end up continuously chasing the following dopamine hit. You’re human, dwelling in a world designed to hijack your reward circuits. However now you’ve the information to take again management.
Your future self – the one who wakes up motivated, finds pleasure in challenges, and doesn’t want fixed stimulation to really feel alive – is ready on the opposite aspect of those easy practices. All you must do is begin.
As Huberman would say, the perfect time to optimize your dopamine was yesterday. The second greatest time is now.
