At a macro level:
150-200 minutes of zone 2 per week.
Getting to max heartrate once a week.
6 sets of resistance training per muscle group per week minimum.
Building up aMCC by learning an instrument or language
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Friday, October 27, 2023
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Dopamine
Chris Williamson: Dr. Robert Sapolsky: Dopamine
But if you remember nothing else from this episode, please remember this, that when you experience something or you crave something really desirable, really exciting to you, very pleasurable. What happens afterwards is your baseline level of dopamine drops. Okay? So these peaks in dopamine, they influence how much dopamine will generally be circulating afterward. And you might think, oh, a big peak in dopamine after that, I'm going to feel even better because I just had this great event. Not the case. What actually happens is that your baseline level of dopamine drops. And I will explain the precise mechanism for that. Okay?
In the neuroscience literature, we refer to this as tonic and phasic release of dopamine. Tonic being the low level baseline that's always there circulating, released into your brain all the time. And then phasic these peaks that ride above that baseline. And those two things interact. And this is really important.
And I'm excited to teach you about dopamine, because dopamine has everything to do with how you feel right now as you're listening to this, it has everything to do with how you will feel an hour from now, has everything to do with your level of motivation and your level of desire, and your willingness to push through effort. If ever you've interacted with somebody who just doesn't seem to have any drive they've given up, or if you've interacted with somebody who seems to have endless drive and energy, what you are looking at there in those two circumstances is without question a difference in the level of dopamine circulating in their system. There will be other factors too, but the level of dopamine is the primary determinant of how motivated we are, how excited we are, how outward facing we are and how willing we are, to lean into life and pursue things.
Dopamine is what we call a neuromodulator. Neuromodulators are different than neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are involved in the dialogue between neurons nerve cells. And neurotransmitters tend to mediate local communication. Just imagine two people talking to one another at a concert, that communication between them is analogous to the communication carried out by neurotransmitters, whereas neuromodulators influence the communication of many neurons. Imagine a bunch of people dancing where it's a coordinated dance involving 10 or 20 or hundreds of people. Neuromodulators are coordinating that dance. In the nervous system what this means is that, dopamine release changes the probability that certain neural circuits will be active and that other neural circuits will be inactive. Okay? So it modulates a bunch of things all at once, and that's why it's so powerful at shifting not just our levels of energy, but also our mindset, also our feelings of whether or not we can, or cannot accomplish something.
So how does dopamine work and what does it do? Well, first of all, it is not just responsible for pleasure, it is responsible for motivation and drive. Primarily, at the psychological level, also for craving. Those three things are sort of the same. Motivation, drive and craving.
Simplified thinking about dopamine was that dopamine is about reward. Take a person, rat, monkey, whatever and give them a reward and the brain releases dopamine.
But now do the experiment a little differently. Take the person, rat, whatever and put them in a room. When a little light comes on and they press a button ten times, they will get a reward. This is repeated and the person, rat, monkey learns quickly the process of light, press button, reward. The question now is, in that sequence of light, work, reward, when is dopamine released? Does it go up when you get the reward? No. Once the pattern is learned dopamine goes up when the light turns on. Dopamine is about the anticipation of the reward. Even more interesting, if you artificially block the dopamine release, you don't get the lever pressing. It's about the motivation driven by the anticipation.
This hints at the idea that it's not pursuit of happiness but the happiness of the pursuit. Think about how often the anticipation of something turns out to be much better than it turns out to actually be. What you have afterward is that much more of a hunger.
Now change the experiment a bit. Before when the lever was pressed there was 100% certainty the subject got the reward. Now when the light goes on, you only get the reward about half the time. So what happens to dopamine? It goes through the roof the second the little light goes off. By introducing some uncertainty you get even more dopamine. (Think gambling)
Sapolsky expands the lever pressing idea into religion (pray your whole life and go to heaven), grandkids will inherit money from us, etc.
@9:58
And actually the way that your body uses dopamine is to have a baseline level of dopamine. Meaning an amount of dopamine that's circulating in your brain and body all the time. And that turns out to be important for how you feel generally, whether or not you're in a good mood, motivated, et cetera. And you also can experience peaks in dopamine above baseline. Now, this has a very specific name in the neurobiology literature, so-called tonic and phasic release of dopamine.But if you remember nothing else from this episode, please remember this, that when you experience something or you crave something really desirable, really exciting to you, very pleasurable. What happens afterwards is your baseline level of dopamine drops. Okay? So these peaks in dopamine, they influence how much dopamine will generally be circulating afterward. And you might think, oh, a big peak in dopamine after that, I'm going to feel even better because I just had this great event. Not the case. What actually happens is that your baseline level of dopamine drops. And I will explain the precise mechanism for that. Okay?
In the neuroscience literature, we refer to this as tonic and phasic release of dopamine. Tonic being the low level baseline that's always there circulating, released into your brain all the time. And then phasic these peaks that ride above that baseline. And those two things interact. And this is really important.
And I'm excited to teach you about dopamine, because dopamine has everything to do with how you feel right now as you're listening to this, it has everything to do with how you will feel an hour from now, has everything to do with your level of motivation and your level of desire, and your willingness to push through effort. If ever you've interacted with somebody who just doesn't seem to have any drive they've given up, or if you've interacted with somebody who seems to have endless drive and energy, what you are looking at there in those two circumstances is without question a difference in the level of dopamine circulating in their system. There will be other factors too, but the level of dopamine is the primary determinant of how motivated we are, how excited we are, how outward facing we are and how willing we are, to lean into life and pursue things.
Dopamine is what we call a neuromodulator. Neuromodulators are different than neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are involved in the dialogue between neurons nerve cells. And neurotransmitters tend to mediate local communication. Just imagine two people talking to one another at a concert, that communication between them is analogous to the communication carried out by neurotransmitters, whereas neuromodulators influence the communication of many neurons. Imagine a bunch of people dancing where it's a coordinated dance involving 10 or 20 or hundreds of people. Neuromodulators are coordinating that dance. In the nervous system what this means is that, dopamine release changes the probability that certain neural circuits will be active and that other neural circuits will be inactive. Okay? So it modulates a bunch of things all at once, and that's why it's so powerful at shifting not just our levels of energy, but also our mindset, also our feelings of whether or not we can, or cannot accomplish something.
It also controls time perception, and we will get deep into how dopamine can modulate time perception, and how important it is that everybody be able to access increases in dopamine at different timescales. This turns out to be important to not end up addicted to substances, but it also turns out to be very important to sustain effort and be a happy person over long periods of time. Which I think most everybody wants.
Dopamine is also vitally important for movement. I'll explain the neural circuits for dopamine and mindset, and dopamine in movement in a moment, but in diseases like Parkinson's or Lewy bodies dementia, which is similar to Parkinson's in many ways. There's a depletion or death of dopamine neurons at a particular location in the brain which leads to shaky movements, challenges and speaking, challenges in particular in initiating movement.
Notes from the Huberman Lab podcast on dopamine and its role in motivation, focus, and satisfaction
Dopamine is also vitally important for movement. I'll explain the neural circuits for dopamine and mindset, and dopamine in movement in a moment, but in diseases like Parkinson's or Lewy bodies dementia, which is similar to Parkinson's in many ways. There's a depletion or death of dopamine neurons at a particular location in the brain which leads to shaky movements, challenges and speaking, challenges in particular in initiating movement.
@0:15:30
https://liveinnovation.org/dopamine-more-than-pleasure-the-secret-is-the-anticipation-of-a-reward/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/brain-wise/201510/shopping-dopamine-and-anticipation
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-19306-001
Vyvance
https://www.alternativetomeds.com/blog/vyvanse-withdrawal/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3036556/