Controlling Your Dopamine For Motivation, Focus & Satisfaction

**Andrew Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we are going to talk all about dopamine and what drives you to do the things that you do. We're going to talk about motivation and desire and craving, but also how dopamine relates to satisfaction and our feelings of well-being. And of course, any discussion about dopamine has to include a discussion about the potential for dopamine-induced addiction. Indeed, dopamine lies at the heart of addiction to all things. But today, we are mainly going to focus on how what we do and how we do it and how we conceptualize those things leads to changes in this amazing molecule in our brain and bodies that we call dopamine. I'm going to teach you what dopamine is and what it is not. There are a lot of myths about the molecule dopamine. We often hear about so-called dopamine hits. Today, we are going to dispel many common myths about dopamine and we are going to talk about how dopamine actually works. We're going to discuss the biology of dopamine, the psychology. We will discuss some neural circuits and a really exciting aspect of dopamine biology or so-called dopamine schedules. In other words, we are going to discuss how things like food, drugs, caffeine, pornography, even some plant-based compounds can change our baseline levels of dopamine. And in doing so, they change how much dopamine we are capable of experiencing from what could be very satisfying events or events that make us feel not so good because of things that we did or took prior. So I promise you, it's going to be a vast discussion, but I will structure it for you and you'll come away with a deep understanding of really what drives you. You will also come away with a lot of tools how to leverage dopamine so that you can sustain energy drive and motivation for the things that are important to you over long periods of time. Before we dive into the meat of today's discussion, I'd like to share with you a fascinating result that really underscores what dopamine is capable of in our brains and bodies and underscores the fact that just through behaviors, no drugs, nothing of that sort, just through behaviors, we can achieve terrifically high increases in dopamine that are very long and sustained in ways that serve us. This is a result that was published in the European Journal of Physiology. I'll go into it in more detail later, but essentially what it involved is having human subjects get into water of different temperatures. So it was warm water, moderately cool water and cold, cold water. Had them stay in that water for up to an hour and they measured by way of blood draw, things like cortisol, norepinephrine and dopamine. What was fascinating is that cold water exposure led to very rapid increases in norepinephrine and epinephrine, which is also just called adrenaline. It also led to increases in dopamine and these increases in dopamine were very significant. They kicked in around 10 or 15 minutes after submersion into the cold water and I should mention the head wasn't below water, it was just up to the neck. And the dopamine release continued to rise and rise and rise and eventually reached 250% above baseline. Now what was interesting is after subjects got out of this cold water, that dopamine increase was sustained. And I know nowadays many people are interested in using cold water therapy as a way to increase metabolism and fat loss, but also to improve sense of well-being, improve cognition, improve clarity of mind. There's something really special about this very alert, but calm state of mind. That seems to be the one that's optimal for pretty much everything except sleep. But for all aspects of work and for social engagement and for sport, that highly alert, but calm state of mind really is the sweet spot that I believe most of us would like to achieve. And this cold water exposure, done correctly, really can help people achieve that state of mind through these increases in dopamine that last a very long time. So I will later detail the specifics of that study, what it entailed in terms of how long the variations that different subjects experienced, as well as how to limit the amount of stress hormone, cortisol, that's released as a consequence of the cold water. And we will also talk about compounds, supplements that people can take in order to increase their levels of dopamine should they choose. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens is an all-in-one vitamin mineral probiotic drink. I've been taking Athletic Greens since 2012, so I'm delighted that they're sponsoring the podcast. The reason I started taking Athletic Greens and the reason I still take Athletic Greens once or twice a day is that it helps me cover all of my basic nutritional needs. It makes up for any deficiencies that I might have. In addition, it has probiotics, which are vital for microbiome health. I've done a couple of episodes now on the so-called gut microbiome and the ways in which the microbiome interacts with your immune system, with your brain to regulate mood, and essentially with every biological system relevant to health throughout your brain and body. With Athletic Greens, I get the vitamins I need, the minerals I need, and the probiotics to support my microbiome. If you'd like to try Athletic Greens, you can go to athleticgreens.com/huberman and claim a special offer. They'll give you five free travel packs plus a year's supply of vitamin D3K2. There are a ton of data now showing that vitamin D3 is essential for various aspects of our brain and body health. Even if we're getting a lot of sunshine, many of us are still deficient in vitamin D3. And K2 is also important because it regulates things like cardiovascular function, calcium in the body, and so on. Again, go to athleticgreens.com/huberman to claim the special offer of the five free travel packs and the year's supply of vitamin D3K2. Today's episode is also brought to us by Element. Element is an electrolyte drink that has everything you need and nothing you don't. That means the exact ratios of electrolytes are in Element, and those are sodium, magnesium and potassium, but it has no sugar. I've talked many times before on this podcast about the key role of hydration and electrolytes for nerve cell function, neuron function, as well as the function of all the cells and all the tissues and organ systems of the body. If we have sodium, magnesium and potassium present in the proper ratios, all of those cells function properly, and all our bodily systems can be optimized. If the electrolytes are not present and if hydration is low, we simply can't think as well as we would otherwise. Our mood is off, hormone systems go off, our ability to get into physical action, to engage in endurance and strength and all sorts of other things is diminished. So with element, you can make sure that you're staying on top of your hydration and that you're getting the proper ratios of electrolytes. If you'd like to try element, you can go to drink element, that's lmnt.com/huberman, and you'll get a free element sample pack with your purchase. They're all delicious. So again, if you want to try element, you can go to element, lmnt.com/huberman.