What is dopamine?
Dopamine is a chemical messenger in the brain that has lots of functions. It plays a role as a reward centre. As well as other bodily functions like your memory, mood and how motivated you feel. This blog post explores natural ways you can boost dopamine in your body.
Health directs days ‘When you feel good, for example, when you achieve something or do something fun, it’s because you have an increase of dopamine in the brain’. This ‘good’ feeling can come after eating your favourite food, listening to music, or having sex. Basically, any activity you enjoy doing can cause an increase of dopamine.
How drugs and alcohol affect dopamine
The feeling you get after doing fun activities can also happen after taking drugs like cocaine. Cocaine causes a rapid spike in dopamine levels, which is referred to as the ‘high’. Other substances like alcohol and MDMA are also known to cause increased dopamine levels. This is what makes these substances so addictive. Users are constantly chasing that initial euphoric high.
How to boost dopamine
1. Get enough sleep
Research has shown that sleep deprivation can supress some dopamine receptors in your body. This can also lead to you feeling anxious, fatigued, unmotivated and you can have difficulty concentrating. Experts recommend that adults get between 7-9 hours of sleep at night.
2. Cold water exposure
This probably doesn’t sound appealing, but the natural high you get after can be addictive! The experts over at Hubermanlab say ‘While not true of every stress, cold exposure causes the prolonged release of dopamine’. ‘Even short bouts of cold exposure can cause a lasting increase in dopamine and sustained elevation of mood, energy, and focus’. As well as boosting dopamine levels, cold water exposure is linked to many other health benefits including muscle recovery, improved circulation and pain relief.
3. Exercise regularly
Exercise is not only great for our physical health, but it also plays an important role in our mental health too. Healthline says ‘Another impactful exercise-related neurotransmitter is dopamine. Dopamine plays an important role in how you feel pleasure. It’s also responsible for other processes in your body, such as regulating heart rate, sleep cycles, mood, attention, motivation, working memory, learning, and pain processing’.
It is recommended that adults get around 150 minutes per week of moderate aerobic exercise.
4. Listen to music
We all listen to certain songs that help us feel good, right? Well, that’s because listening to music has been linked with increased dopamine levels. The next time you’re feeling unmotivated, whack on Eye of the Tiger by Survivor and get to work!
5. Eat a high protein diet
High protein diets are very popular right now, but did you know protein rich foods help with dopamine production in your body? There are 20 different amino acids that make up all the proteins in your body. An amino acid called tyrosine plays an important role in producing dopamine. Tyrosine can be found in foods like:
- Cheese
- Beef
- Chicken
- Milk
- Yogurt
6. Meditation
Meditation has a load of mental and physical benefits. It’s a practice that allows you to clear your mind and sit there with your thoughts, without any judgement. Multiple studies have linked meditation to increased dopamine levels. Check out these tips to help you get started with meditation.
Conclusion
Dopamine is an important brain chemical that affects how you feel. It also affects your mood as well as feelings of reward, and how motivated you are. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle which includes regular exercise and a high protein diet, will help keep dopamine levels regulated throughout your body. However, meditation, listening to your favourite music and cold-water exposure can naturally boost dopamine levels. Pick an idea from this list, give it a go, and see how you feel after!
For tips you can use to boost your mental health, check out this blog post.