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 whole method to productiveness. I already had life-changing outcomes from incorporating Huberman’s complement checklist into my every day routine, so I made a decision to dive headfirst into optimizing dopamine to work in my favor.
In the event you’re right here, you in all probability know that feeling whenever you’re scrolling by means of your cellphone at 2 AM, understanding you must sleep however in some way unable to cease. Or perhaps 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 spot. Based on Stanford neurobiology professor Andrew Huberman, they’re all about dopamine.
Andrew Huberman has turn out to be the go-to supply for understanding how our brains really work. Because the host of the Huberman Lab podcast, he’s spent a whole lot of hours breaking down advanced neuroscience into sensible recommendation that common individuals like us can really use. His September 27, 2021 dopamine episode has racked up hundreds of thousands of views, and for good purpose. He doesn’t simply clarify the science. He provides you the instruments to hack your individual neurochemistry.
Right here’s what blew my thoughts after I first began diving into Huberman’s work: dopamine isn’t really about pleasure. We’ve been eager about this molecule all improper. As Huberman explains in his publication on dopamine administration instruments, dopamine is about wanting, not having. It’s the chemical that makes you crave that subsequent episode on Netflix, attain to your cellphone each 5 minutes, or really feel that pull towards the fridge even whenever you’re not hungry. But it surely’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 laborious.
On this article, I’m sharing every little thing 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 features, and find out how 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 find out how to work together with your dopamine system as an alternative of in opposition to 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 Based on Andrew Huberman?
Let me begin with one thing that fully shifted my perspective. Huberman typically quotes habit knowledgeable 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 principally means it doesn’t simply go messages between neurons like common neurotransmitters do. As a substitute, it adjustments how whole 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 whole orchestra. When dopamine ranges shift, your complete psychological state shifts with them.
That is why Huberman calls dopamine the motivation molecule. When your dopamine is excessive, you are feeling energized and able to tackle the world. All the things appears attainable 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 get pleasure from really feel pointless.
I realized this the laborious means throughout a very tough patch final yr. I used to be burned out from work, spending means an excessive amount of time on social media, and principally feeling numb to every little thing. Meals didn’t style pretty much as good. Train felt inconceivable. Even hanging out with pals felt like a chore. Wanting 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 fairly than the precise reward. You recognize that pleasure you are feeling when your Amazon package deal is out for supply? That’s dopamine. The precise opening of the package deal? 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 battle with tremors and motion. In addition 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 means of life.
What actually fascinates me is how Huberman describes dopamine as creating this ahead momentum in our lives. It’s not about being glad with what we’ve. It’s about always looking for extra. In his phrases from the dopamine episode transcript, “what dopamine all the time needs extra of is extra dopamine.” This explains a lot about human conduct, from why we will’t cease scrolling social media to why attaining a giant purpose typically leaves us feeling empty as an alternative of fulfilled.
Based on Podcast Notes from Episode 39, “Dopamine is a forex and it’s the way in which that you just observe pleasure, observe success, observe whether or not or not you might be doing properly or poorly.” The power to expertise motivation and pleasure subsequent is dictated by how a lot motivation and pleasure you skilled up to now.
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How Dopamine Works in Your Mind: Huberman’s Explanations
Right here’s the place issues get actually fascinating. Huberman breaks down dopamine perform 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, all the time enjoying at some stage. Your baseline primarily determines your general temper and vitality all through the day. After I get up feeling motivated and able to deal with my to-do checklist, 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 whenever 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 be just right for you or fully sabotage your motivation.
The mind has two main dopamine highways that Huberman talks about always. The primary is the mesocorticolimbic pathway, which is principally 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 whenever you’re pursuing something rewarding. Whether or not you’re looking for meals like our ancestors, learning for a level, or mindlessly scrolling TikTok, this identical historical circuit is firing away. It’s additionally the pathway that medication like cocaine and methamphetamine hijack, which is why Huberman says understanding this pathway is vital to understanding habit.
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 turn out to be computerized over time.
What’s wild is how dopamine doesn’t work like most neurotransmitters. Huberman explains that as an alternative of simply rapidly zipping from one neuron to the following, dopamine binds to particular receptors that set off a gradual cascade of adjustments inside cells. That is why 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 principally acts like a educating sign in your mind. When one thing is healthier than anticipated, dopamine fires. When one thing is worse than anticipated, dopamine drops. That is how your mind learns what’s value 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 couple 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 whenever you’re completely absorbed in one thing you like? Or the way it drags whenever you’re bored out of your thoughts? That’s dopamine at work. Whenever you’re in a excessive dopamine state, centered and motivated, hours can go 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 dangerous habits and temper swings all of the sudden made sense.
Right here’s the basic rule that Huberman says all of us want to recollect: each peak in dopamine above baseline can be adopted by a drop beneath 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 making an attempt to punish you. It’s simply making an attempt to take care of homeostasis.
I used to marvel why I’d really feel so flat the day after an incredible live performance or why ending a undertaking I used to be enthusiastic about would depart me feeling empty as an alternative of completed. Now I do know. That’s the dopamine drop beneath baseline that all the time follows the excessive.
Huberman shared one thing in his dopamine management episode that truthfully made me rethink my whole 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 perhaps sneaking glances at that engaging particular person throughout the gymnasium. Every of this stuff releases dopamine, and whenever you stack all of them collectively, you get an enormous spike.
Sounds nice, proper? Mistaken. The crash afterward is proportional to the height. In order that stacked exercise would possibly go away you feeling superb for an hour, however you then’ll spend the remainder of the day in a dopamine deficit, unmotivated and form 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 a giant dopamine spike, it takes time to your baseline to return to regular. In the event you chase one other excessive when you’re nonetheless within the low interval, you would possibly get a short increase, however you’ll drive your baseline even decrease afterward.
This explains why tolerance develops to principally every little thing gratifying. Whether or not it’s espresso, social media, junk meals, or more durable 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 all of the sudden you want extra stimulation simply to really feel regular.
Based on Podcast Notes, “Charges of dopamine firing by conduct or drug (for context, neurons fireplace at a charge of 3-4/second releasing dopamine): meals – doubles in anticipation of meals; nicotine – 150% enhance within the charge 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 data that truly provides 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. Typically have a good time, typically don’t. This randomness retains your dopamine system engaged with out the large peaks and valleys.
I began making use of this to my work. As a substitute of treating myself to a flowery espresso each time I completed a process, I began doing it randomly. Possibly after the third process, perhaps after the primary, perhaps by no means that day. The bizarre factor? I really felt extra motivated general, 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 laborious work, not simply whenever you obtain the consequence. He suggests telling your self issues like “I’m doing this by alternative” or “This effort is making me higher” when you’re in the course of one thing difficult.
At first, this appeared like 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 will we really 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 really works.
Morning Daylight Publicity
This one appears virtually too easy, however Huberman mentions it in virtually each podcast for a purpose. Getting brilliant mild 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 outdoors for 10 to 23 minutes. No sun shades (common glasses are advantageous), simply letting that morning mild hit my eyes. On cloudy days, I keep out a bit longer, perhaps 28 minutes. Huberman explains that this mild 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 mild doesn’t simply increase dopamine acutely. It really 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 believed 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.
Based on his chilly publicity publication, “One examine confirmed vital 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 almost killed me the primary time. However I caught with it, and now I do a full three-minute chilly bathe each morning. The secret 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 respiration 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 could possibly 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 whole, which you’ll break up up nonetheless you need. I do three minutes each morning and typically an extended chilly plunge on weekends if I can entry one. The advantages compound over time. What was 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 get pleasure from effort.
I used to solely care in regards to the post-workout excessive. Now I concentrate on 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 attainable. A 32-minute run because the solar comes up hits a number of dopamine pathways directly. 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 food regimen is non-negotiable. Huberman rattles off a listing 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 aggravating durations when dopamine calls for are excessive. Throughout a latest work crunch, I made positive to up my protein consumption, and it positively helped preserve my focus and drive after I’d normally be working on fumes.
Sleep Optimization
This isn’t horny, however Huberman is adamant that sleep is perhaps a very powerful issue for wholesome dopamine perform. Sleep deprivation doesn’t simply make you drained; it actually reduces dopamine receptor availability.
Right here’s what I realized the laborious means: pulling an all-nighter floods your mind with dopamine to maintain you awake, however the crash afterward is brutal. Worse, power sleep deprivation progressively lowers your baseline dopamine, making every little thing really feel much less rewarding.
Huberman’s sleep protocol for dopamine is fairly easy. Preserve constant sleep and wake instances, hold your room cool and darkish, and right here’s the large one: keep away from brilliant mild publicity between 10 PM and 4 AM. He explains that mild at night time prompts a mind area known as the habenula, which really suppresses dopamine. That is why late-night display 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 offer you vitality; it really upregulates dopamine receptors, making the dopamine you’ve gotten 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 large 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 provides a smoother, longer-lasting focus with out jitters.
The secret is not overdoing it. Huberman caps himself round 300mg of caffeine every day and by no means after 2 PM. I persist with related limits and may verify 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 help. I’ve experimented with all of those, so I can share actual expertise. By the way in which, 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 help bundle on their web site and use our code ‘brainflow’ for 15% off at checkout.
L-Tyrosine is probably the most easy. It’s actually the precursor to dopamine. Huberman takes 500-1000mg of Momentous Tyrosine earlier than difficult cognitive work or exercises. I exploit 500mg on days after I want further focus, all the time 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 reasonable on Amazon) with 300mg of Momentous Alpha-GPC for critical focus classes. I’ve tried this combo precisely 3 times, and every time I acquired 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 may trigger vital spikes and crashes. I attempted it as soon as and felt superb for a couple of hours. I like to recommend taking it sparingly when you actually need to lock in. I exploit Double Wooden Dietary supplements Mucuna Pruriens Extract.
The complement technique that works finest 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 strive 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 is perhaps a very powerful one by way of sensible life adjustments. Understanding what depletes dopamine reworked how I construction my days.
The Risks of Dopamine Stacking
Bear in mind after I talked about layering a number of dopamine sources? Huberman is enthusiastic about warning in opposition to this contemporary behavior. We’re always stacking stimuli: Netflix on the TV, cellphone in hand, snacking on chips, perhaps 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 get pleasure from! If you’re motivated sufficient to interact in some form of exercise (train, music, and so forth.) – keep away from stacking dopamine-releasing rewards or you’ll find your self much less /unmotivated to do this factor you as soon as beloved.”
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 laborious by 3 PM, unable to concentrate on 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 a lot better.
Social Media and Smartphone Dependancy
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 actual drawback 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 powerful. I felt genuinely anxious with out it. However by week three, I used to be having the very best exercises of my life. I might concentrate on 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 medication. 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 complete meals. No added sugars, no processed something. It sucked for about 36 hours. Then one thing shifted. By day three, a easy apple tasted unimaginable. Roasted greens with simply salt and olive oil have been genuinely satisfying.
Late-Evening Gentle Publicity
This one stunned me, however Huberman’s clarification makes whole sense. Brilliant mild 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 mild block glasses – I acquired this superior pair on Amazon for lower than $25.
Dopamine Fasting and Resetting Your System
After I first heard about dopamine fasting, I believed it was one other Silicon Valley biohacking pattern that might go. Then I heard Huberman’s tackle it, tried it myself, and have become a convert.
First, let’s clear up what dopamine fasting really means. You’re not actually stopping all dopamine (that’s inconceivable and could be harmful). As a substitute, you’re taking a break from the bogus spikes we’ve turn out to be hooked on: social media, junk meals, leisure, purchasing, no matter your explicit 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 laptop, 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 grew to become 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 crucial 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 associate was genuinely partaking in a means I hadn’t skilled in months.
Now I do a mini dopamine quick one weekend per thirty days. It’s like hitting a reset button on my reward system. All the things feels extra satisfying afterward.
However right here’s Huberman’s key perception that modified every little thing for me: the last word purpose isn’t to keep away from dopamine spikes fully. It’s to connect dopamine to effort fairly 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 means of a troublesome work undertaking, I’ll actually assume, “This effort is making me stronger. This problem is precisely what I would like.” It sounds corny, but it surely 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: “Study to spike dopamine from effort itself: focusing solely on the reward on the finish will make effort painful.”
Dopamine and Dependancy: Huberman’s Core Insights
This matter deserves its personal part as a result of understanding dopamine’s position in habit 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 habit 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 delight.” As habit develops, the issues that used to convey pleasure cease registering. An addict may need as soon as loved meals, pals, hobbies, nature. However because the habit hijacks their dopamine circuits, solely the addictive substance supplies any pleasure. All the things 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 habit.”
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 secret is understanding this state is non permanent. Huberman and habit consultants like Dr. Lembke advocate pushing by means of this era with religion that your mind will heal. For behavioral addictions, it normally takes 2-4 weeks. For substance addictions, it may take 30-90 days or longer.
Key Takeaways and Motion Steps
After months of learning Huberman’s work and experimenting with these protocols, listed below are a very powerful ideas I’ve realized about dopamine:
First, respect the basic rule: peaks create troughs. Each time you spike dopamine means above baseline, you’ll pay for it with a drop beneath baseline afterward. This isn’t dangerous; it’s simply biology. However understanding this helps you make knowledgeable selections about when and find out how to search rewards.
Second, house out your pleasures. The fashionable world needs you to stack each attainable dopamine supply concurrently. Resist this. Take pleasure in issues one after the other, with house between to your baseline to get well.
Third, discover dopamine in effort, not simply outcomes. That is in all probability Huberman’s strongest educating. When you possibly can genuinely benefit from the technique of working towards objectives, not simply attaining them, you’ve unlocked sustainable motivation.
Fourth, shield your baseline. Your baseline dopamine stage determines your general high quality of life. Guard it rigorously by avoiding extreme stimulation, getting sufficient sleep, and training periodic resets.
Right here’s a sensible 30-day protocol I developed based mostly 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 mild 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: Eradicate One Dopamine Drain: Decide your greatest dopamine vice (for me it was late-night YouTube) and get rid of it fully for per week. Exchange it with a calmer exercise like studying or stretching. Push by means of the preliminary discomfort.
Week 4: Observe Effort-Based mostly Rewards: Throughout exercises, work classes, or any difficult process, consciously inform your self “this effort is the reward.” Rejoice the method, not simply outcomes. Begin implementing random reward timing, typically celebrating achievements, typically simply transferring on to the following process.
By the tip of 30 days, you’ll have noticeably larger baseline vitality and motivation. Extra importantly, you’ll perceive your individual dopamine patterns and find out how to work with them as an alternative of in opposition to 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 drive that strikes us ahead in life, that makes us need to develop and obtain and join. Once we perceive the way it works, we will cease being victims of our impulses and begin being architects of our personal motivation.
Probably the most profound shift for me has been realizing that the pursuit of fixed dopamine highs was really making me much less comfortable. By spacing out rewards, discovering pleasure in effort, and defending my baseline, I’ve found a sustainable technique 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, every little thing modified. I finished chasing the following excessive and began appreciating the journey. I finished needing fixed stimulation and located peace in simplicity. A morning stroll with out podcasts grew to become genuinely gratifying. A exercise with out music grew to become meditative. Work with out fixed cellphone checks grew to become deeply satisfying.
The instruments Huberman supplies aren’t simply tutorial theories. They’re sensible protocols that may rework your every day expertise. Whether or not it’s the surprising 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 really perform.
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 turning into a productiveness machine or biohacking your technique 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, every little thing works higher. Relationships are extra satisfying since you’re current as an alternative of scrolling. Work is extra partaking since you’ve skilled your self to search out movement in effort. Easy pleasures like an excellent meal or a sundown really 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 really use them.
Begin small. Decide one protocol from this text and decide to it for per week. Possibly it’s the morning daylight, perhaps it’s delaying your first espresso, perhaps it’s taking a chilly bathe. No matter you select, take note of the way it impacts your motivation and temper.
Bear in mind, you’re not damaged for those who battle with motivation or end up always chasing the following dopamine hit. You’re human, residing in a world designed to hijack your reward circuits. However now you’ve gotten the data 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 very best time to optimize your dopamine was yesterday. The second finest time is now.
