“Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. Dopamine also helps regulate movement and emotional response, and it enables us not only to see rewards, but to take action to move toward them.”
– Psychology Today
There are a lot of articles on the internet about dopamine and how it affects your mood, behaviour, energy, and focus. What’s not commonly spoken about, however, is how dopamine is affected by your perception. Discussed more rarely still is the reason why your dopamine levels may be low. Below are 10 ways to increase your dopamine levels, courtesy of Power of Positivity, as well as my own observations regarding the underlying issues which may have led to each situation and how to tackle them.
Related CE Article: Dopamine & Serotonin: Is Depression Really The Result of a Chemical Imbalance?
「ドーパミンは、脳の刺激と快感の中心を制御するのに役立つ神経伝達物質です。ドーパミンは動きや感情反応を調節するのにも役立ち、刺激を得るだけでなく、それらに近ずくために作用することもできます」
– 今日の心理学
ドーパミンについてのインターネット上の記事や、それがあなたの気分、行動、エネルギー、および細胞増殖/病巣にどのように影響するかについての多くの記事があります。 しかし、一般的に言われていないことは、あなたの知覚によってドーパミンがどのように影響されるかです。 あなたのドーパミンレベルが低いかもしれない理由はまだまれに議論されています。 以下は、それぞれの状況につながった可能性のある根本的な問題と、それに取り組む方法に関する私自身の観察と同様に、ポジティブパワーの源であるドーパミンレベルを高める10の方法です。
関連するCEの記事：ドーパミンとセロトニン：うつ病は本当に化学的不均衡の結果ですか？
やる気やパワーの代名詞というと「アドレナリン」だが、そのアドレナリンの前駆体（アドレナリンが生成する前の段階の物質）が「ドーパミン」だ。
中枢神経に存在する神経伝達物質だが、運動やホルモン調節、快の感情、意欲、学習などに関わっており、このドーパミンを増やしてチャージできるかが、人生における楽しみや至福感、幸福感を感じさせる鍵のひとつになりそうである。
投薬なしでちょっとしたところから始められる、10の方法をお伝えしたい。
1. Don’t Get Addicted
“Many people get addicted to something because it gives them some kind of instant gratification – drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, shopping, and other addictive behaviors actually have the opposite effect on dopamine levels in the long-term. In essence, when we get overly addicted to something, the ‘reward circuitry’ of our brain kicks into overdrive and we crave the ‘quick hit.’ This is not a sustainable solution for dopamine production, which can and should be done naturally.”
What’s missing here is the fact that addiction is quite often a result of low dopamine, meaning addiction is more of an attempt to fix an already existing problem. In essence, “the underpinning of your addictive personality is a lack of fulfillment from within, with a resulting urge to achieve fulfillment through substances, objects, or events that relieve the inevitable pain – for a while.” (source)
“When we receive a reward of any kind, dopamine is released in our brains. Over time, this stimulus and release of dopamine can lead to learning. Researchers have recently found that how quickly and permanently we learn things relates directly to how much dopamine we have available in our brains. As we get rewarded over and over again for something, we learn that we should keep doing whatever that is very deeply, and it’s hard to unlearn those kinds of behaviours.” (source)
What this means is that low dopamine is a response to a lifestyle that doesn’t offer much in terms of reward to the person living it. It may be a response to the environment you’re living in, the clothes you’re wearing, the tight budget you’re working within, the relationship choices you’ve made or have been made for you, or a result of trauma where there was no perceived reward. It’s very easy to understand how dopamine levels may appear low when we consider all the potentials leading to less rewarding lifestyles and life experiences.
What’s necessary, then, is less of a ‘don’t get addicted’ approach and more of an ‘increase the rewards in your life’ style of applied advice. The fact is, you’ll constantly feel less fulfilled through low dopamine when you’re not (or are unable to) fill your day with things that inspire and reward you. What this means is, the most effective protection against addiction and the greatest advantage to high dopamine levels is a defense against low-rewarding activities and an offence of rewarding actions, activities, and ultimately, a lifestyle of fulfillment and achievement.
Also, because addiction is most often rooted in past traumatic experiences, where emotions create a fight-or-flight response that becomes rooted in your core emotions, it’s vitally important to seek proper and effective help in dissolving past trauma. Doing so can only help you perceive more rewarding experiences in your life, rather than filtering experiences through a ‘traumatized’ awareness.
「薬物、アルコール、セックス、ポルノ、ショッピング、その他の中毒性行動は、実際には長期的にはドーパミン濃度に逆効果があります。本質的に、私たちが何かに過度に耽溺すると、脳の「刺激回路」がオーバードライブに襲い掛かり、「速い成功」を渇望します。これはドーパミン生産の持続可能な解決策ではありません。
ここで欠けているのは、中毒が低ドーパミンの結果であるという事実であり、中毒というのは既存の問題を解決する試みであるということです。本質的には、「中毒性の根底にあるのは、内部からの達成が不十分であり、必然的に痛みを和らげる物質、物体、または出来事によって達成しようとする強い衝動である。
「何らかの刺激を受け取ると、ドーパミンは私たちの脳に放出されます。時間の経過とともに、この刺激とドーパミンの放出は学習につながる可能性があります。研究者たちは最近、私たちがどのくらい迅速かつ永久に物事を学ぶかは、私たちが脳でどれくらいのドパミンを利用できるかに直接関係していることを発見しました。私たちが何かのために何度も何度も何度も報われるようになると、それは非常に深いことを何でもしなければならないことを学びます。そして、そのような種類の行動を忘れるのは難しいのです。
これが意味することは、ドーパミン濃度が低いということは、それが生活する人に刺激をあまり提供しないライフスタイルに対する反応であるということです。あなたが住んでいる環境、あなたが着ている服、あなたが働いている厳しい家計、あなたが作った、またはあなたのために作られた関係の選択、または知覚された刺激がない場合のトラウマの結果。それほど報われないライフスタイルと生活経験に至っているすべての可能性を考慮に入れるとき、ドーパミンレベルがどのように低く現れようとするか理解することは非常に容易です。
それで、必要なことは、それほど「中毒にならない」アプローチとむしろ「あなたのライフスタイルで報酬を増やす」という適用されたアドバイスです。
事実、あなたがインスピレーションと刺激を与えるものであなたの一日を満たしていない（またはそうではない）時は、ドーパミン濃度が低いことによって、あなたは常に満たされにくく感じられます。
これが意味することは、中毒に対する最も効果的な防御と高ドーパミンレベルへの効率的到達は、刺激の少ない活動と刺激のある行動、活動、最終的には満足感と達成感のライフスタイルに対する脅威を除くことです。
また、中毒は、過去のトラウマ体験に根ざしているため、感情があなたの中核感情に根ざした争いまたは逃走の反応を作り出すため、過去のトラウマを解消するための適切で効果的な助けを求めることが極めて重要です。そうすることで、経験を「傷つけられた」意識でフィルタリングするのではなく、より豊かな経験を知覚するのに役立ちます。
1. 手近なものに依存しないこと
喫煙やアルコール、ショッピングなどが習慣化している人は多くいるだろう。一見、手軽に楽しめて満足感を得ているように見えるが、これらはドーパミン生産にはつながらない仮の充足に過ぎない。
最新の研究では、何かの物事に対して深くそして努力して成果や報酬が出た際には脳内にドーパミンが放出されることがわかっている。自分の過去の経験やライフスタイルから時にトラウマを抱え、何らかの依存症になる可能性は大いにあるが、その場合はトラウマを克服しようとするよりも、自分にとってより価値のある経験を積んで認められていくことが重要である。
2. Checklist Small Tasks
“Dopamine increases when we are organized and finish tasks – regardless if the task is small or large. So, don’t allow your brain to worry about things that need to be done. Instead, write these tasks down and then check them off one at a time. It’s been shown that it’s more satisfying to the brain’s dopamine levels when we physically check something off of our to-do list. Also, write down and check stuff off regardless if you can mentally remember the tasks.”
While reading the book Principles of Self-Management, I came across a brilliantly well-researched understanding of motivation when it comes to tasks. In short, if a task is greater than 25% of a change in a person’s routine, the person will be overwhelmed and feel incapable of achieving it. This leads them to self-defeat and self-sabotage to avoid accomplishing the task. On the other side, if a task is less than 10% different from a person’s normal routine, they won’t do it because it won’t have enough meaning for them to do so. As such, it’s wise to make sure you write down goals and tasks that are in between this 10-25% range of new behaviours and actions; otherwise, you just won’t do it.
However, this 10-25% range is simply a guide for tasks that are not directly linked to our highest values. In reality, if you can link a task to your highest values and see clearly how it will help you accomplish what’s truly most important to you, you’ll do it. If you can’t see how it will help fulfill your highest values, you’ll procrastinate, hesitate, and get frustrated in the attempt to do it. By linking a task to your highest values, you’ll both increase the chances of you doing it and also increase the reward you will feel when you accomplish it, a result of producing more dopamine in the brain.
仕事や勉強など果たすべきタスクの量や、時間にかかわらずドーパミンは自分の責務を達成させた時に増加する。手の届きやすい小さな目標を複数設けたリストを作成して、完了するごとにチェックをつけてこまめに自分を肯定しよう。するとドーパミンが脳内を駆け巡った状態で、次の課題へと向き合えるようになる。
3. Create Something
“For us writers, painters, sculptors, poets, singers, dancers, and other artists, we can identify with this. When we’re in creative mode, we can become hyper-focused. As a result, we can enter a state called flow. Dopamine is the brain chemical that allows us to achieve this state. The lesson is this: take up a hobby or activity in which you actually create something tangible. Try something like arts, crafts, auto repair, drawing, photography, or something else that sounds interesting.”
Sparking your creative drive is an effective way to increase your potential for feeling great, achieving goals, and inspiring yourself through your accomplishments. However, it can also be a distraction from a feel-bad lifestyle, if it’s not maintained with a purpose in mind. Whenever you’re working on a project, creative or not, that truly inspires you, you’ll activate your ‘flow state,’ where time and space seem to stand still. So how to you determine what it is that truly inspires you?
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The most important goal in revealing your most authentic creative energy is to remove the creative energies of other people from your life. So many of us look up to the creations of others, whether works of art or music, and their works or talents take up time and space in our own minds. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it can influence your own beliefs about what you can create. If you compare yourself to others and minimize yourself, you’ll repress your own creative ability. This can affect your dopamine levels, because if you can’t see your own creations as rewarding to you, as much as someone else’s, you’ll feel inferior and incapable.
One very effective way of neutralizing the influence other people have on your mind is to literally look at the negatives or downsides of their accomplishment. This isn’t to practice being a critic, but rather, enable you to de-infatuate with their creative powers and stop minimizing your own. Once you recognize that your creative endeavours can exist on the level of those you admire, through practice (just like they did), you’ll increase your ability to see your own creations as meaningful and rewarding.
音楽、絵、工作、写真、手芸、DIY、ガーデニング、車や家の修理 etc……。何か創造的なことに没頭し、脳が集中している間はドーパミンが増加する。ただし出来栄えを他者と比較したりしないこと。自分の世界にどっぷり浸かることが肝心である。
4. Exercise
“Same ‘ole, same ‘ole, we know. We’ve discussed repeatedly the importance and benefits of physical exercise, and we’re just going to add to this list again. So, not only does exercise help us relieve stress, achieve better physical health and make us more productive; it boosts our dopamine levels. More specifically, exercise increases multiple neurotransmitters – serotonin and endorphins, besides dopamine, receive a boost. Here’s something else cool: the exercise needn’t not be arduous. Simply taking a stroll or climbing some stairs will achieve a good dopamine jolt.”
Exercise is important, but it can also become a crutch or an addiction if it’s not something being integrated into your daily life. Many people go to the gym to work out, yet don’t live a life that requires the body they’re building. Another thing is actually placing a value on exercise itself. Many people buy the gym memberships, yet never use them. So what’s the easiest way to make exercise a part of your life?
There’s a branch of exercise called ‘functional training’ in which exercises are tailored to help you with your daily tasks. This is much more helpful than just ‘workouts,’ because if you can train your body into a state where your daily tasks are not taxing on your energy, you’ll breeze through the day and have more energy at the end of it. Staying in a high energy state instead of being brought down by your daily tasks will help you be more inspired during your day and innately feel more inspired to exercise.
5. Get a Streak Going
“As with creating a checklist, getting a streak going is a great way to increase dopamine levels. For the purpose of this article, a streak is a visual reminder of how many days in a row you’ve achieved something.
Get a calendar specifically for this purpose: write down whatever goal you have and the days of the week or month when they are scheduled. For example, if you work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, mark these days on the calendar for the month. As you finish a workout, mark it off on the calendar. Keep a streak going, and you’ll keep the dopamine coming.”
While the ‘streak’ is a useful tool for celebrating accomplishments, it unfortunately has a downside: routine. Doing something enough times becomes a routine, especially if the action isn’t continuously fulfilling to your highest values. To counter this, try adapting the ‘goal’ or ‘action’ in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. By continuously finding ways to improve the performance of the behaviour, over time, you can look back at how many times you’ve done it, but also how much better you’ve become at it. This way, your performance becomes a competition with yourself, which increases your potential for feeling rewarded as you master a skill.
「チェックリストを作成することと同じように、続けられるようにすることはドーパミンレベルを増やす素晴らしい方法です。
この記事の目的上、一時期は何日続けてあなたが何かを達成したのかを視覚的に思い出させるものです。
この目的のために特別なカレンダーを入手してください：あなたの目標と予定されている週または月の日数を書き留めます。
例えば、もしあなたが月曜日、水曜日と金曜日に練習をするなら、その月カレンダーでこれらの日を記録してください。
運動を終えたら、カレンダーでそれをマークをつけてください。
一連性を保つと、ドーパミンが出続けるでしょう。」
「ストリーク」が成果を祝うための便利な道具であるのに対して、それは残念なことに下降気味な側面を持っています：日常性。
十分な時間何かをすることが日常になる、特にもし行動があなたの最高の価値を継続的に満たしていない場合は特にそうです。
これに対処するために、効率と有効性に関して「目標」あるいは「行動」に順応しようとしてください。
絶えず行動のパフォーマンスを改善する方法を見いだすことによって、長い間に、あなたが続けてどれぐらいより良くなったかをあなたが続けてきた多くの時間を振り返ることができます。
このように、あなたのパフォーマンスは自分と競争し、スキルを習得すると報酬を受ける可能性が高まります。
前述のチェックリストと同様に、目標を立てる際にはカレンダーをつけてその目標を定めてみよう。ドーパミンは欲求が満たされた時だけではなく、報酬を得ることを期待して行動をしている時にも活性化する。
また、自分の行動とゴールをカレンダー上で視覚的に捉えることで、今後のパフォーマンスへとつながっていくはずだ。
6. Increase Tyrosine
“Of the chemicals that make up dopamine, none are more important than tyrosine. In fact, tyrosine is considered the building block of dopamine. Therefore, it is important that you get enough of this protein. There’s a large list of foods that increase Tyrosine, including: Almonds, Avocados, Bananas, Beef, Chicken, Chocolate, Coffee, Eggs, Green Tea, Watermelon, Yogurt.”
Food is a reward, not a chore. This is the difference between living to eat and eating to live. While it’s important to utilize foods to your advantage, it’s just as important to recognize that the brain is its own best pharmacy. Few foods actually make it past the blood-brain barrier and this actually includes tyrosine.
“Tyrosine is one of the 22 key amino acids that are used for building proteins around the body. In addition to this, however, it also raises the levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain, namely dopamine and norepinephrine. These are famous for being ‘feel good’ chemicals that can help boost mood and elevate concentration, making tyrosine a popular nootropic. However, tyrosine is completely incapable of passing the BBB. This way, no matter how much of it you were to take, you’d feel almost no effects.” (source)
The truth is, tyrosine must be bonded with another molecule to make it past the blood-brain barrier, so tyrosine in itself isn’t capable of making significant impacts on the brain. However, through natural digestion and regulating healthy bodily function, it can assist the brain in having to work less on fixing an unhealthy system, which in turn can help increase the potential for dopamine and dopamine related good feelings.
7. Listen to Music
“Do you ever wonder why music makes you happy? I mean, we can be in the dumps one moment but once we put on our favorite jam, we’re swaying and shaking away…feeling pretty good about ourselves too! The reason for this is that listening to music increases dopamine levels. In fact, scientists say that listening to music has the same effect as eating our favorite foods or watching our favorite T.V. show. So, when you’re feeling down, throw on some of your favorite tunes and jam out!”
Listening to music can increase dopamine levels temporarily, but what we’re really looking for is a lasting fulfillment feeling so you can make your daily life enjoyable and productive for your goals. Also, popular music these days is often manufactured in such a way as to prey on your brain’s chemical dependency, making much of music a form of substance addiction.
However, music has been a part of human history since as far as we can see, so its influence on our brain is greatly appreciated. In fact, one of the greatest cultural appreciations throughout history has been music. So, listen to music, but just make sure it’s not the only source of dopamine in your life.
音楽を聴くことは好きな食べ物や映画を見たりするのと同じくらいハッピーな効果があり、落ち込んでいる際には、お気に入りの曲をかけてドーパミンを分泌させよう。
8. Meditate
“As with exercise, we are discovering more and more benefits to meditation. We are again adding to the list. As we discussed, the human brain is susceptible to a variety of addictions. One other addictive habit that we have is overthinking. In fact, some Buddhists have a phrase for this addiction: ‘monkey mind.’
Overthinking is not merely a distracting habit, it’s also a genuine compulsion that leaves us in a perplexing state, while also having a negative effect on our spiritual development. However, scientists are finally catching up to what Buddhists have known for thousands of years: meditation and mindfulness are essential to a healthy mind.”
Meditation can be a highly effective form of dopamine increase if done properly, as it can weed out the mental influences which may be causing your chemistry to be less than desired. With the intent of reaching a state of self-fulfillment, meditation clears out the mental clutter and replaces it with presence and fulfillment for just being alive. This is a state available to every human and can help assist our daily lives by increasing our awareness of what feels good for us and what we don’t resonate with.
9. Take Supplements
“While there are some great ways to increase dopamine levels, sometimes we’re facing a time crunch. Fortunately, there are natural supplements on the market that have been shown to increase dopamine levels. Here are a few:
Acetyl-l-tyrosine: Another building block of dopamine. A healthy dose of this makes it easier for the brain to produce dopamine.
Curcumin: An active ingredient that’s also common in curry spices and turmeric.
Ginkgo Biloba: A tremendously popular wonder supplement that’s also believed to boost dopamine levels and keep it circulating in the brain longer.
L-theanine: Increases multiple neurotransmitters in the brain, including dopamine. Green tea is a terrific source for this.” (source)
While supplements can impact our dopamine response, they should by no means replace your own inner potential for fulfillment. That responsibility lies with you and you alone. However, with respect to inner wisdom, without knowing what feeling amazing actually feels like, it’s difficult to strive for it as a goal. Supplements can help us get there so we can have a reference point for what our potential can be. The trick is to facilitate change in our lives, enough so that the need for supplementation to feel good is lower than the feel goods we actually experience in our life.
“As miraculous as our bodies are, we do accumulate toxins and bacteria that is bad for us. Endotoxins are the kind that can cause our immune systems to get out of whack, and it also constrains the production of dopamine. Here are a couple tips for helping cleanse the gut of endotoxins: eat fermented food, get enough sleep, and resist the urge to indulge in fatty or sugary foods.”
Whenever you’re not fulfilled in your life, you run the risk of overindulging in sugary and sweet foods in an attempt to temporarily fulfill yourself. However, if you find fulfillment through the challenge and support of your day, you’re more likely to eat for the tasks you’re doing instead of eating just to feel good.
How you eat and how fulfilled you are are directly correlated. If you’re actively enjoying the challenges of your life, you’re more likely to consume foods that serve your highest interests and health, because you see a reason to eat well. Controlling how you eat is less important than finding fulfillment in what you do.
So the next time you find yourself craving that candy bar, ask yourself if there isn’t something else you could eat that could help you find fulfillment. Also, notice what you are doing at the time you’re craving sugar and ask yourself if it’s really something you need to do, or can you delegate it to someone else so you can get back to things that inspire you. By focusing on what inspires and fulfills you, you’ll find yourself actively seeking to better your health without having to really focus on it.
体内に取り入れるものは良くも悪くもダイレクトに影響を及ぼすので、心身ともに健康に過ごすためには食事の内容と量に気をつけたい。食欲のままに暴飲暴食をすることは一時的には満足感や幸福感を得るが、長期的には良い影響をもたらさない。発酵食品を摂取し、十分な睡眠、そして油や糖分は控えること。
ドーパミンの増加には基本的なことも多くあるが、意外に出来ていないこともありそうだ。まずは手近なことから気負わずにはじめてみてはいかがだろうか。
（文＝Maria Rosa.S）
参考：「Collective Evolution」、ほか