8 Surprising Ways to Increase Dopamine (+ 1 Thing NOT to Do)

Did you know that doggie toothpaste tastes delicious?

So I’m told, anyway, by a friend of my mom’s whose pup came to enjoy his daily toothbrushing sessions so much that he would plop down in front of his human and grin at her until she obliged him.

Apparently, bacon-flavored toothpaste is powerfully motivating to a dog. Hell, it would be motivating to me if it wasn’t greasy and promised to fill my house with the smell of frying bacon. (Come on, I ask for so little).

I would argue, however, that it’s not so much bacon paste’s amazing flavor as it is Buddy’s anticipation that drives him to the rather un-dog-like behavior of begging to have a foreign object aggressively jammed into his mouth for 90 seconds. In fact, some studies even suggest that the anticipation of a thing is better than actually having or doing that thing!

Rewards are the driving force behind motivation, be we dogs or humans. If it’s a particularly tasty reward, we find ourselves repeating certain actions to acquire it again and again, essentially building a behavior or habit via positive reinforcement. And the man behind the curtain directing all this behavior? Good ol’ dopamine.

So to develop motivation and establish good habits, we need to get our hands on more of the good stuff, it seems. Lucky for you, I’m here to play the role of your friendly, neighborhood dope(amine) pusher.

Dopamine is More Than a Happiness Drug

We often think of dopamine as a feel-good chemical, but it’s more associated with the expectation of happiness than it is with the actual warm and fuzzies. For that reason, it’s more of a “reward molecule” than it is a “happiness molecule.” Think of it like this:

Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that motivates us to pursue rewards in order to feel the pleasurable sensations of happiness.

Make sense?

I’m a fan of happiness, and the science behind cultivating it, but I’m even more intrigued by dopamine for its connection to attention management and passion. Unfortunately, we don’t yet fully understand the exact mechanism behind more dopamine leading to greater concentration.

We do know this: the more dopamine you get from an activity, the more addictive the experience.

The more addictive the experience, the more you can’t wait to do it again.

This sounds a lot like passion, doesn’t it?

Secondarily, we find it easier to focus when we are doing things we love.  This would suggest that the dopamine bursts we get from our passion project help us concentrate.

Furthermore, this study found that dopamine may be responsible for determining what stays in our short-term memories. This, in turn, affects learning comprehension. The higher our dopamine levels, then, the stronger our motivation to learn, and the greater ease we experience committing the new information to memory. It’s easier to learn when we are focused, so it follows logic that dopamine is linked to how well we do just that.

If Your Dopamine Levels Are Low…

So that’s what you have to look forward to if your brain’s dopamine production falls in the realm of normal.

If your levels are low, on the other hand, you might be introverted or display more inhibitions than your contemporaries. Procrastination, self-doubt and lack of enthusiasm are also linked with shortages of the stuff. Studies on rats showed those with low dopamine always opted for the easy option and less food, while those with higher levels exerted the effort needed to receive twice the amount of food.

If you or someone you know has the inability to feel pleasure or joy, memory loss, fatigue or low sex drive, low dopamine is very likely the culprit. Reduced concentrations in the prefrontal cortex are even thought to contribute to ADHD and Parkinson’s.

Many addictive drugs, such as cocaine and meth, act directly on the dopamine system by inhibiting the reuptake of the chemical. This means dopamine floods into the brain’s reward circuit and, because it can’t be reassimilated, just piles up. Naturally, you feel blissed out of your gourd—and this strongly reinforces the drug-taking behavior. And because the reward circuit eventually adapts to the excess of dopamine and becomes less sensitive to it, you soon need stronger and more frequent doses in an attempt to feel the same high.

If your dopamine is low, it’s easy to turn to hedonic pleasures in order to make yourself feel better. Binge eating, vodka for breakfast, and even glancing at your Twitter feed can provide a much-needed fix. But as we’ve just seen, one hit is never enough, and so dependency on these methods has become all too common. We are devolving into a culture of consumption as we constantly seek to satisfy our cravings. This also explains why we were so addicted to news about the pandemic.

Seven neurotransmitters contribute to you feeling happy. Dopamine is responsible for memory and motivation.

It turns out the brain can be trained to feed off of bursts of dopamine sparked by rewarding experiences you can create. The best part? These exercises are like high-antioxidant superfoods rather than brain Cheetos.

Explore Your Curiosities

Dopamine causes you to desire, seek out and search. It effectively makes you curious, creating a cycle of cause and effect. As you act upon your curiosities and make new discoveries, your brain gives you a tasty little squirt.

Furthermore, the act of questioning helps us improve and enhance systems. Accomplishing tasks that make our life better contributes to our overall sense of satisfaction and self-efficacy.

Squirt.

Curiosity also boosts our achievement both in academics and in the workplace, for which we are likely rewarded.

Squirt squirt.

Celebrate Small Wins

This is one of my favorite strategies, so simple to implement yet so effective, like a gratitude practice. I’ve always said we should drink champagne while eating hot dogs. Meaning that we should drink champagne under any circumstances. Because there is always something to celebrate.

Turns out I know a thing or two, once in a while.

Celebrating small wins reinforces that you’re chipping away at your goals. As you feel yourself making progress, you’ll feel greater dopamine effects. This is most effective when you set incremental goals that allow for lots of milestones to be celebrated along the journey.

This also explains why it’s so satisfying to cross things off our to-do lists. Try this right now: add champagne to your shopping list. Then go get some and mark the task completed.

I’ll wait.

Eat Dopamine-Producing Foods

First, a disclaimer: eating anything produces dopamine.

Especially guilty pleasures like Cheetos. The saltier, sweeter, more preservative-laden the food is, the more it creates the conditioned-reward feedback loop that makes you want more. Hence, food addictions.

Fortunately, I wrote a whole post on what foods you should eat to be happier that won’t give you diabetes. You’re welcome.

I recently discovered, however, that we ought to throw probiotics’ many hats in the ring. Apparently, harmful gut bacteria have been shown to decrease dopamine production, and probiotics can do the opposite. This discovery lead scientists to coin the term “psychobiotics—” or good bacteria that affect the brain. This study is just one of several done on rats that show increased dopamine production and improved mood and anxiety from probiotic supplements.

So for an extra boost of the happy juice, eat plenty of natural probiotics like yogurt, kombucha, sauerkraut, apple cider vinegar and miso.

Meditate

This study measured dopamine release in participants during meditation-induced changes of consciousness. What is interesting about this is that meditation is characterized by a decreased desire for action. And here we thought all dopamine was good for was prompting us to do things. It also rewards us for chilling out.

If you’re new to meditation or just not good at it, I highly recommend these guided meditations from Tara Brach. She’s my absolute fave.

Get a Massage

It may not surprise you to see this on the list, as massage has long been considered an ideal method for producing warm and fuzzies. It does this by decreasing cortisol and increasing seratonin and dopamine–the latter by over 30%!

Listen to Music

There’s a good reason why music is of such high value across all human societies. You’ve probably experienced for yourself how music can improve your mood. (Have you tried making a Happiness Playlist yet)? It can also reduce stress and help you focus. Apparently the intense pleasure we feel in response to music can lead to dopamine release.

And if you dance to it, that’s even better, because–wait for it–exercise is proven to boost your feel-good hormones.

Take a Cold Shower

It sounds a little nuts, but try it.

After a cold shower, you will most likely feel a full-body buzz. It’s believed that the mood-lifting effect is the stimulation of dopamine in the mesocorticolimbic and nigrostriatal pathways. This admittedly-not-very-scientific study suggests that taking cold showers may even help in the treatment of depression.

You can slowly cool the water down over a 5-minute period, but I recommend taking the proverbial plunge all at once. Then stand in the cold water for 2 to 3 minutes. The results may surprise you.

Share Your Results

Communicating about your results means that others will recognize you and your work. I know this is somewhat similar to the rush we get from checking our recent Facebook status to see how many likes it’s garnered–something I’m advocating against–but stay with me.

Publicly sharing your goals, progress and especially your wins is a proven tactic for staying accountable to yourself. I wanna say it has something to do with avoiding the shame of public failure? Bottom line, it works.

So I’m arguing that it’s okay to subject yourself to giving a fuck about what others think if, at the same time, it’s helping you get things done. Let folks serenade you with a  chorus of “for he’s a jolly good fellow” once in a while.

For extra credit, spread the love. Recognizing the accomplishments of your colleagues, kids or significant other allows them a dopamine hit that will also increase their motivation and productivity. Words of encouragement, being acknowledged when correct and social praise are all dopamine triggers. No one has to know that complementing them gives you a little hit too.

Have You Heard of a Dopamine Fast?

Yeeeeeah.

This silliness hit the internet last year, touting a way to increase dopamine by denying oneself all pleasure–in order to reset an overstimulated mind. One practitioner described how he wouldn’t even make eye contact with people during his fasting days because he knew that doing so excited him.

Can we all agree that denying ourselves enjoyment of any kind sounds ridiculous? And not looking anyone in the eye?! It’s cool, your neighbors all think you’re a psychopath now. NBD.

The fact is, the dopamine system is dynamic, meaning that it’s always changing and adapting according to what our body needs. The brain will respond to the levels of stimulation we are exposed to: if the cells are firing, they are released, and more dopamine is synthesized. If they are not firing, the dopamine will just hang out, waiting to be released.

In other words, avoiding pleasure to prevent dopamine release has no real impact on the backstock of the stuff in your brain’s inventory. It is possible to retrain an addicted person’s dopamine system, but it usually takes many months. And giving up everything else during that time, like eye contact and tasty foods, sounds like a pretty miserable way to go about it.

The moral of the story? Don’t try this at home, kids.

The other stuff, though?

Do it all the time.

Every day.

Go now.