Skip to content

How Dopamine Actually Works 🧠

2023-03-15 · Short · Ali · recording, 0:58 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Health, sleep and habits · mode: Explanation and tutorial

Ali explains that dopamine motivates us to get or avoid things around a baseline level: a reward brings a peak and then a dip below baseline, and chasing peaks too often (Instagram) drains the releasable pool, so he advises enjoying the process over fixating on rewards.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — How dopamine peaks, dips and refills, and why to enjoy the process

  • ★★ Ali says people talk about wanting "hits of dopamine", but that is not how it works: dopamine is a molecule that motivates us to get or avoid things, with a baseline level always in our nervous system. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ Achieving something or satisfying a desire, like eating chocolate, sex or 100 likes on Instagram, brings a dopamine peak, then a temporary dip below baseline, which is why getting what you wanted can leave you feeling a little worse, Ali says. — 00:00:00 · Instagram
  • ★★ Ali says the body draws dopamine peaks from a readily releasable pool; seeking peaks too often, like checking Instagram too frequently, leaves the pool no time to refill, so the peaks get lower and Instagram stops feeling as good. — 00:00:29 · Instagram
  • ★★★ Ali advises improving your dopamine levels over time by not fixating on rewards and outcomes but by trying to enjoy the process. — 00:00:29

In the description and comments

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: dopamine

Also: Instagram

Only in the description or credits: Andrew Huberman · Huberman Lab

Also centred on dopamine: How much dopamine do you get from sex? · This dopamine study is mind blowing 🐀

← Previous: Why you struggle to stay motivated. · Next → Why you're always tired