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Here are 11 ways you can increase dopamine levels in the brain without medication
Happiness Centre: Dopamine
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that controls our brain's reward and pleasure centre. It can help us:
- Lose Weight
- Fight against Depression
- Be Motivated
- Improve our Memory
- Feel Happy
- Stay mentally strong
- Reduce bad habits
- Increase Feelings of contentment
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Dopamine Explained
We all seek happiness, and there is a scientific way we can find it.
Dopamine, the feel-good chemical in our brains, positively affects our mood, focus, energy and behaviour.
Happiness Centre: Dopamine
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that controls our brain's reward and pleasure centre. It can help us:
- Lose Weight
- Fight against Depression
- Be Motivated
- Improve our Memory
- Feel Happy
- Stay mentally strong
- Reduce bad habits
- Increase Feelings of contentment
How Dopamine Works
The body and mind seek pleasureable experiences, resulting in the neurons creating dopamine in our brain. This can be also overdone using drugs, leaving a negative impact eventually.
Avoid Sugar
Sugar interferes with your brain's dopamine centre, and occasionally it is ok.
High levels of sugar is dangerous, as it is now classified as a drug, having similar addictive effects.
Turn off your Smartphone
Our Smartphone emits radiation that effects and interrupts our brain's dopamine production.
Turn off your smartphone or go out and get some sunshine, away from electronic gadgets.
Get some Sunshine
Go out in nature, in the sunshine, as it increases dopamine production, as proven in many studies on nature's effect on our bodies and minds.
Simple Exercise
Many studies have proven that even simple exercise like walking or climbing stairs can increase our dopamine levels.
Take the right Food
Apart from over the counter supplements, there are many foods that increase the chemicals responsible for dopamine production:
- Bananas
- Beef
- Chicken
- Green Tea
- Watermelon
- Yogurt
- Coffee
- Almonds
Sleep
A good sleep can dramatically impact your mood and productivity.
Lack of sleep makes us feel grumpy and unmotivated, with major health problems in the long run.
Make Sleep a priority to increase your happiness levels.
Protein-rich Diet
A diet full of proteins and having less of saturated fats and oils works for the dopamine production in the brain.
Check your Tasks
If you have a to-do list full of big and small tasks, the more tasks you check off after completion, the more dopamine gets released.
Passionate Work
When we do something we enjoy or are genuinely passionate about, we are not stressed and are simply loving the work. This releases dopamine as we are happy doing what we want to do.
Plan your Life
Life is more interesting, full of happiness and joy, if planned and on track.
Your brain will reward you when you are accomplishing your life goals.
Meditate
Your Brain will be free of worry and stress, as you become more productive and increase dopamine naturally, just be slowing down and creating space for meditation, a silent prayer or mindfulness.
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Dopamine Functions
Dopamine is an important chemical messenger that plays several important roles in the brain and body:
- It influences moods and feelings of reward and motivation: When&nbs...
Increase dopamine levels naturally
They are generally well regulated by the body, but there are a few diet and lifestyle changes you can make to boost your levels naturally:
- Eat lots of protein
- Eat less saturated fat
- Consume probiotics
- Exercise often
- Get enough sleep
- Listen to music
- Meditate
- Get enough sunlight
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How To Choose Good Habits
- Envision your ideal end result. What are you going to achieve?
- Write it down. It will serve as a powerful motivation, especially if you include why you want it.
Good Habits For Health and Fitness
- Regular Aerobic Exercise: Great for both your physical and mental health. Increases the production of dopamine and boosts creativity.
- Preparing Your Own Meals. It’ll take some getting used to, but it’s a habit that’ll boost your health, wealth and productivity.
Good Habits For Finance and Wealth
- Create a Household Budget: the best habit to help you save money. A household budget helps to encourage frugality and discourage impulse spending. You’ll feel more motivated to engage in other good financial habits once you’ve got this in place.
- Financial Audits. This involves frequent checks as to whether you’re spending your money as wisely as possible.
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Set Better Goals
Be specific on how you’ll implement goals into your daily life. Examining how you’ve responded to the situation in the past and determining what you can do to avoid reverting to the old h...
Have a Better Reason For Quitting
Even if you replace a “bad” habit with a better one, sometimes the original vice will have a stronger biological “reward” than its substitute. This is where the importance of having an intrinsic motivation comes into play.
If that is the case, find as many benefits to the change as you can and try to use them as extra motivation.
Replace a Bad Habit With a Good One
The more you suppress your thoughts, the more likely you are to think about that thought or even revert back to that bad habit. Instead of trying to stop doing something, it’s easier to do something else.
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Complex Carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates are found in fiber and starch and are beneficial for brain health as they release glucose slowly into our system, helping stabilize our mood. Simple carbohydr...
Antioxidants
Our cells generate energy through oxidation, but oxidation also reduces the dopamine and serotonin in the brain and creates oxidative stress.
Antioxidants found in brightly colored foods like fruits and vegetables act as a defense against oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain and body. Antioxidants also repair oxidative damage and scavenge free radicals that cause cell damage in the brain.
Omega 3
Omega 3 are polyunsaturated fatty acids that are involved in the process of converting food into energy. They are important for the health of the brain and the communication of its feel-good chemicals dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine.
Omega 3 are essential nutrients that are not readily produced by the body, so we must include foods high on it in our diet.
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The 'tiny habits' method
You can hack your motivation and make changes that last by using the Tiny Habits method.
It works by breaking down big changes into tiny actions, find where they fit naturally into your li...
Repetition and habits
Habits can form very quickly. For instance, give someone a new phone, and their emotional response to using the device will wire in a habit very quickly. There is no need for repetition.
New habits then form as long as people have a strong positive emotion connected to the new behavior.
Designing for habit formation
Emotions create habits, not repetition. If you are designing a new habit, you are really designing for emotions.
Intentionally create feelings of success to wire in the habits that you actually want in your life.
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