8 lessons from Dopamine Nation by Dr. Anna Lembke

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Introduction

Dopamine Nation by Dr. Anna Lembke, an addiction psychiatrist, explores how the relentless pursuit of pleasure leads to addiction and pain. Image: wikipedia.org/EthicsinSociety

Here are eight key lessons from Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence! Image: Shutterstock

The happy hormone

Our brain releases dopamine, a “feel-good” neurochemical responsible for pleasure and motivation as a response to external stimuli like food, social media, books, movies, etc. Image: Shutterstock

Measure of addiction

Scientists use dopamine to measure the addictive potential of any experience. The more dopamine in the brain’s reward pathway, the more addictive an experience. Image: Shutterstock

Pleasure-pain balance

Imagine our brain has a seesaw, on one side pleasure, on the other pain. If the balance tips towards pleasure for too long, our brain will do everything to bring it back to level. Image: Canva

Dopamine and addiction

With prolonged use of high-dopamine substances, our brain adjusts to that level of dopamine, leading us to seek more and more to feel the same level of pleasure. Image: Shutterstock

Paradox

The pursuit of pleasure for its own sake leads to anhedonia, which is the inability to enjoy pleasure of any kind. Image: Pixabay

Dopamine deficiency

The prolonged pursuit of high-dopamine activities leads our brain to tilt to the side of pain as a counterbalance, leading to low dopamine levels, which are linked to depression. Image: Shutterstock

Pursuit of pain

Painful activities like intense workouts or ice-water plunges cause the brain to release dopamine as a counterbalance. Thus, the pursuit of pain leads to pleasure. Image: Pixabay

Awareness is key

Being aware of the difference between authentic gratification and artificial pleasure is a crucial step to regain balance. Image: Shutterstock

Final thoughts

“The reason we're all so miserable may be because we're working so hard to avoid being miserable,” says Dr Anna Lembke. Image: Pixabay

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