#38 How to Increase Serotonin and Dopamine Levels (Of Lobsters and Men VOL 2)

Siim Land (0:00)

Welcome to the Body Mind Empowerment Podcast. I'm your host Siim Land, and this episode is the second part of a series about optimizing your neurotransmitters and well-being. If you haven't heard the first episode, then make sure you check it out. It's called Rule Number One, Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back.

In this episode, I'm gonna be talking about how to increase serotonin and dopamine levels from the perspective of the dominance hierarchy of lobsters. So let's get on with it. Of Lobsters and Men, Vault Two.

SPEAKER_2 (0:37)

Do you want to know what it is?

Siim Land (0:40)

Body Mind Empowerment.

SPEAKER_2 (0:42)

Get stronger, faster, smarter, quicker, friendlier, more helpful, more driven.

Siim Land (0:48)

Everything the body needs.

SPEAKER_2 (0:50)

And control your mind.

Siim Land (0:53)

Okay, I'm gonna also bring you up to speed. I'm gonna give you a brief overview of the first episode. In part one, I talked about one of the most fundamental principles of your embodied experience of reality.

Namely, that the way you hold your posture and in what physiological state you're in has a profound impact on your psychological state of mind and vice versa. Jordan Peterson wrote in his book, The 12 Rules of Life, how male lobsters engage in brutal dominance fights between each other.

Jordan Peterson (1:23)

So these creatures engage in dominance disputes and I think dominance is the right way to think about it because lobsters aren't very empathic and they're not very social and so it really is the toughest lobster that wins.

Siim Land (1:36)

The winning lobster is going to experience a surge in the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is gonna make it feel more confident and better about itself.

Thus, it increases its chance of winning again in the future. They're gonna get access to more food, better mating opportunities and lower stress, which makes them hold themselves upright and with a dominant position. This is also going to lead to even more serotonin.

Jordan Peterson (2:01)

Now, and what's so cool about the lobster is that when a lobster wins, he flexes and gets bigger. So he looks bigger because he's a winner. It's like he's advertising that and the biological, the neurochemical system that makes him flex is serotonergic.

And you think, well, who cares? What the hell does that mean? Well, I'll tell you what it means. It's the same chemical that's affected by antidepressants in human beings. And so, like, if you're depressed, you're a defeated lobster. Like you're, you're like this. I'm small, I'm not, you know, things are dangerous. I don't want to fight. You give somebody an antidepressant, it's like up, they stretch, and then they're ready to like take on the world again.

Well, if you give lobsters who just got defeated in a fight serotonin, then they stretch out and they'll fight again.

Siim Land (2:43)

The losing lobster will start to feel inferior and pathetic because of a decrease in their position in the dominance hierarchy. This creates anxiety, low levels of serotonin, loss of pride, depression, and the feeling of being sentenced to death. That's what basically happens. The loser lobster will slouch over in fear and it'll start taking less action in the future, which hinders their ability to win another fight ever again. Winning once is going to predict the future successes of a lobster because of the neurochemical performance enhancing effect, as well as the other boons that accompany being at the top of the dominance hierarchy. So it's apparently very good to be a winner, especially if you're a lobster. As the saying goes, like attracts more like, money makes more money, the rich get richer, winners keep winning and the losers keep losing.

It's the compounding effect of momentum, which Albert Einstein called the eighth wonder of the world.

Serotonin plays an important role in decision making, cognitive performance, risk seeking behavior and social affiliations. Low serotonin will lead to low serotonin producing behavior and depression. Therefore, if you ever want to get yourself back on the right track of health, wealth, love and happiness, you need to know how to manage and optimize your neurotransmitter, even after having suffered from detrimental defeat.

Standing up straight with your shoulders back is the first and easiest thing you can do to change your perspective on the world and your place in it. It's very difficult to feel depressed and sad if your physiology emanates confidence and pride. The problem with slouching over or suffering from low serotonin levels is that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you're stressed out, then you're less likely to do anything that could potentially get you out of that rut because you're already so overwhelmed.