💥 Optimize Dopamine for Peak Creativity + Productivity

Dopamine is largely responsible for our quality of life.

It governs:

• The level of satisfaction we experience from our actions & life

• Our motivation to do challenging things

• Our belief that we can achieve things

Knowing that, we should do everything we can to preserve our baseline dopamine levels - this is our wellspring of motivation and energy, to be able to create & execute.

It's also especially relevant in feelings of depression and anxiety - what could feel like a mental health downswing may be arising from a dopamine deficit.

I've distilled the takeaways & protocols from Huberman + Anna Lembke's work on Dopamine below.

Dopamine is a Currency — Spend Wisely

Use your dopamine on things you value and want to cultivate.

Don't spend too much at once

• Either by layering dopamine-releasing activities, or from engaging in extremely high dopamine-releasing activities often (i.e. nicotine, video games, desserts, sex, adderall, social media)

Don’t spend too frequently

• i.e. checking the slot machine of email, instagram, texts constantly. This will keep you in a deficit state

• In a deficit state, you feel restless from the craving for more, and you don't have enough system-wide dopamine to use to feel motivated to do difficult things, experience the richness of life, or be satisfied with those experiences

General principle: the reward from the activity should be equal to the effort.

What Goes Up, Must Come Down

When you experience a spike in dopamine from an activity or substance, you'll experience an equal and opposite dip afterwards.

You experience this largely as: a craving for more.

The opposite is true - after doing challenging things, you'll experience a rise in dopamine as your body aims to balance the reward system. 

Weather the Dips

When you experience a dip, stay with it.

Resist the craving to do something to get back to baseline — this will drive you further into a dip and keep you in a perpetual deficit state; restless, craving, anxious, unmotivated.

Stewing in boredom is the most effective thing for this.

Reduce the Easy Spikes

Reduce highly dopamine spiking activities that don’t correspond to good effort, or things that matter to you.

Doing these continually will incorrectly train your reward system.

Things that spike dopamine in a big way, leading to a deficit state:

• Chocolate / Cacao

• Cannabis

• Alcohol

• Nicotine (incl. vapes)

• Orgasm

• Notifications: email, text, instagram, news

• Pornography

• Adderall, Modafinil

• Some supplements: L-Tyrosine, Bacopa

Caffeine surprisingly only moderately spikes.

The point is to limit these to occasional, mindful use.

Chronic use of these can affect the reward system and lead to perpetual deficit states.

Do Hard Things

Challenging, effortful activities train your reward system, and induce a natural rise in system-wide dopamine levels.

You can subjectively (mentally) affect the reward system by  telling yourself 'this hard work is great, this is good for me, i enjoy this' -- this will affect the level of dopamine release from doing challenging things.

Dopamine Optimization Protocols

Morning Sunlight Exposure

• Morning sunlight exposure: increases cortisol and dopamine levels, leading to states of well-​​being and alertness

Cold Shower, Ice Bath, Cold Plunge in AM

• Duration: 30 seconds to 2 minutes

• Temperature: 37 - 55 degrees Fahrenheit

• Increases baseline dopamine levels significantly (2x or more)

Regular Exercise

• Both cardiovascular and resistance training help maintain elevated baseline dopamine levels

Effortful Activity

• Have a short list of about five different effortful activities to use when feeling amotivated or procrastinating

  • Exercise

  • Cold Plunge

  • Hot Sauna

  • Practicing Skill

• Goal is not to accomplish something within the activity, but to force the body and mind into a deeper state of pain and discomfort

• This helps return to baseline dopamine levels more quickly and robustly

NSDR / Yoga Nidra

• Listening to a NSDR (Non-Sleep Deep Rest) or Yoga Nidra track increases dopamine reserves by up to 65%.

• Here’s a good one on Youtube (25 min)

Dopamine-Boosting Supplements

• Be mindful of use with these — as you will experience a crash after the initial spike

• Mucuna Pruriens, L-Tyrosine

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