In the health world, there’s a ton of buzz around dopamine—how to spike it, protect it, and avoid tanking your levels. But what exactly is dopamine? Simply put, it’s a chemical messenger, or neurotransmitter, in your brain that plays a huge role in pleasure, motivation, and reward. It’s the thing that drives us to chase the things that feel good, like crushing a workout or acing an exam, and reinforces those behaviors when we repeat them.
Think of dopamine as your brain’s motivational fuel: it pushes you to take action and then rewards you when you get the job done. The catch? Too much of it can backfire (because even too much of a good thing isn’t good).
In a recent video on Huberman Lab Essentials, Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., revealed the exact ways he ensures he can peak his dopamine without disrupting his baseline.
“The key lies in intermittent release of dopamine,” he says. “The real key is to not expect or chase high levels of dopamine release every time we engage in these activities.”
Related: Andrew Huberman Reveals Cortisol Rhythm Tips to Achieve Peak Physical and Mental Health
An intermittent reward schedule is a concept from both psychology and behavioral science where a reward is given to a subject only occasionally after a certain behavior, not every time. This type of unpredictable pattern actually makes seeking out the reward more enticing because you’ll never know when it will come.
“Intermittent reward schedules are the central schedule by which casinos keep you gambling,” Huberman says. “The central schedule by which elusive partners or potential partners keep you texting and pursuing on either side of the relationship. Intermittent schedules are the way that the internet and social media, and all highly engaging activities keep you motivated and pursuing.”
Overstimulation, which can lower your baseline dopamine, happens when we have too much of a good thing. Constantly chasing quick hits of pleasure, like scrolling through social media or snacking on a bag of chips, without tying them to long-term goals, can erode your dopamine levels. A better approach is to work toward goals in small increments, celebrating each win, rather than constantly seeking instant gratification.
