How to Increase Motivation & Drive | Huberman Lab Essentials
摘要
TLDREn aquesta edició del Huberman Lab, Andrew Huberman aprofunditza en la neurociència darrere de la motivació, el plaer i la recompensa, centrant-se en la dopamina. La sessió examina com la dopamina influeix en la nostra capacitat d'actuar i en el desig constant de buscar plaer, alhora que es destaca la seva relació amb les addicions. Huberman detalla com funciona el sistema de recompensa al cervell, presentant la dopamina com un motor de motivació relacionat amb el dolor i el plaer. També s'esmenta el paper de la serotonina com a modulador del benestar immediat i es proporcionen estratègies per gestionar millor la motivació i evitar comportaments destructius.
心得
- 🧠 La dopamina és clau per a la motivació i el desig.
- ✨ La serotonina contribueix al benestar i a la satisfacció del moment present.
- 🎯 Equilibrar plaer i dolor és essencial per a la motivació saludable.
- 🔄 La procrastinació pot estar relacionada amb nivells baixos de dopamina.
- 💡 Crear un 'horari de dopamina' pot ajudar a gestionar les recompenses amb més eficàcia.
- 🪄 La anticipació genera més dopamina que el plaer immediat mateixa.
- 🔗 Comprendre la relació entre dopamina i addicions és crucial per a la salut mental.
- 🎲 El reforç intermitent és una poderosa eina en les recompenses.
- 🔍 Mindfulness pot ajudar a canviar el focus de la anticipació al moment present.
- 🌱 Prendre consciència del sistema de dopamina pot millorar la qualitat de vida.
时间轴
- 00:00:00 - 00:05:00
En aquest episodi de Huberman Lab, Andrew Huberman discuteix el tema fonamental de la motivació, abordant la neurociència del plaer i la recompensa, així com la química del cervell relacionada amb el benestar emocional i les addiccions. Huberman destaca la importància de la dopamina, un neurotransmissor clau que influeix en la nostra motivació per a l'acció, i com pot conduir a comportaments addictius.
- 00:05:00 - 00:10:00
Huberman explica que la dopamina és responsable no només del plaer, sinó també de l'anticipació i el desig. Detalla com el sistema de recompensa del cervell opera, incloent estructures com l'àrea tegmental ventral (VTA) i el nucli accumbens, que treballen juntes per influir en la nostra voluntat d'actuar. Aquesta relació entre la dopamina, l'acció i l'anticipació és essencial per entendre la motivació humana.
- 00:10:00 - 00:15:00
Els nivells de dopamina poden augmentar significativament en resposta a estímuls com el menjar, el sexe i les drogues. Huberman explica que, fins i tot pensar en estimulants pot afavorir l'alliberament de dopamina, cosa que implica una profunda connexió entre pensaments, desitjos i comportaments addictius. A més, es discuteix el paper de la novetat i l'expectativa en la motivació i l'addicció.
- 00:15:00 - 00:20:00
El detallat equilibri entre plaer i dolor en el sistema dopaminèrgic és crucial per a la motivació. Huberman destaca que la recerca de plaers repetits pot conduir a un augment de la sensació de dolor i desig, així com a una disminució del plaer experimentat amb el temps, un procés que pot explicar les dinàmiques addictives.
- 00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Huberman proporciona exemples pràctics sobre com gestionar aquest equilibri, incloent la importància d'alliberar-se dels estímuls per evitar l'addicció. Discuteix també l'ús del sistema de serotonin com a contrapartida a la dopamina, enfocant-nos en el benestar del moment present, i com les pràctiques de mindfulness poden contribuir a aquesta estabilitat emocional.
- 00:25:00 - 00:34:08
Finalment, Huberman brinda consells sobre la programació de la dopamina i la importància de les recompenses intermitents per a la motivació. Afirma que és clau gestionar els nostres objectius i recompenses per assegurar una recerca constant de plaer sense caure en el daltabaix emocional que pot provocar un excés de dopamina, fomentant una vida emocional més equilibrada.
思维导图
视频问答
Què és la dopamina i quin paper té en la motivació?
La dopamina és un neurotransmissor clau que influeix en la motivació, la recompensa i el moviment. Es relaciona amb la nostra sensació de desig i esforç.
Com afecta la dopamina a les addicions?
La dopamina pot ser un factor en les addicions, ja que impulsa el desig de repetir comportaments que generen plaer, conduint a cicles d'addicció.
Quina és la diferència entre dopamine i serotonina?
La dopamina està relacionada amb l'anticipació i el desig, mentre que la serotonina es relaciona amb la satisfacció i el benestar present.
Quin és l'efecte de la procrastinació en la motivació?
La procrastinació pot ser causada per nivells baixos de dopamina o per l'estrès relacionat amb les dates límit.
Quines estratègies es poden utilitzar per millorar la motivació?
Establir un 'horari de dopamina' per gestionar les recompenses i equilibrar les experiències de plaer i dolor.
查看更多视频摘要
- 00:00:00welcome to huberman lab Essentials where
- 00:00:02we revisit past episodes for the most
- 00:00:04potent and actionable science-based
- 00:00:06tools for mental health physical health
- 00:00:09and
- 00:00:10performance I'm Andrew huberman and I'm
- 00:00:13a professor of neurobiology and
- 00:00:15Opthalmology at Stanford school of
- 00:00:16medicine today we're going to talk about
- 00:00:18an extremely important topic that's
- 00:00:20Central to our daily life and that's
- 00:00:23motivation we're going to talk about
- 00:00:25pleasure and reward what underlies our
- 00:00:27sense of pleasure or reward we're going
- 00:00:30to talk about addictions as well we're
- 00:00:32going to talk about the neurochemistry
- 00:00:35of drive and mindset but for now let's
- 00:00:38just talk about the Neuroscience of
- 00:00:40motivation and reward of Pleasure and
- 00:00:42Pain because those are Central to what
- 00:00:45we think of as emotions whether or not
- 00:00:46we feel good whether or not we feel
- 00:00:48we're on track in life whether or not we
- 00:00:49feel we're falling behind so motivation
- 00:00:53is fundamental to our daily life it's
- 00:00:56what allows us to get out of bed in the
- 00:00:57morning it's what allows us to pursue
- 00:00:59longterm goals or short-term goals
- 00:01:02motivation and the chemistry of
- 00:01:04motivation is tightly wound in with the
- 00:01:08neurochemistry of movement in fact the
- 00:01:11same single molecule dopamine is
- 00:01:14responsible for our sense of motivation
- 00:01:17and for movement it's a fascinating
- 00:01:20molecule and it lies at the center of so
- 00:01:23many great things in life and it lies at
- 00:01:26the center of so many terrible aspects
- 00:01:28of Life namely addiction and certain
- 00:01:30forms of mental disease so if ever there
- 00:01:32was a double-edged blade in the world of
- 00:01:36Neuroscience it's dopamine there's a
- 00:01:38fundamental relationship between
- 00:01:40dopamine released in your brain and your
- 00:01:42desire to exert effort and you can
- 00:01:45actually control the schedule of
- 00:01:47dopamine release but it requires the
- 00:01:49appropriate knowledge this is one of
- 00:01:51those cases where understanding the way
- 00:01:53the dopamine system works will allow you
- 00:01:54to leverage it to your benefit let's get
- 00:01:56a few basic facts on the table dopamine
- 00:02:00was discovered in the late 1950s and it
- 00:02:03was discovered as the precursor meaning
- 00:02:06the thing from which epinephrine or
- 00:02:08adrenaline is made epinephrine is the
- 00:02:11same thing as adrenaline except in the
- 00:02:13brain we call it epinephrine
- 00:02:15epinephrine allows us to get into action
- 00:02:19it stimulates changes in the blood
- 00:02:21vessels in the heart in the organs and
- 00:02:22tissues of the body that bias us for
- 00:02:25movement dopamine was initially thought
- 00:02:27to be just the building block for
- 00:02:29epinephrine
- 00:02:30however dopamine does a lot of things on
- 00:02:32its own it's not always converted to
- 00:02:34epinephrine dopamine is released from
- 00:02:37several sites in the brain and body but
- 00:02:39perhaps the most important one for
- 00:02:40today's discussion about motivation and
- 00:02:42reward is something that sometimes just
- 00:02:44called the reward pathway for the
- 00:02:47afficianados it's sometimes called the
- 00:02:48misol limic reward pathway but it's
- 00:02:51fundamentally important to your desire
- 00:02:54to engage in action and it's
- 00:02:57fundamentally important for people
- 00:02:59getting addicted to substances or
- 00:03:02behaviors so how does this work well
- 00:03:04you've got a structure in the Deep part
- 00:03:06of your brain called the VTA the VTA or
- 00:03:09vental tegmental area contains neurons
- 00:03:12that send what we call axons little
- 00:03:14wires that spit out dopamine at a
- 00:03:17different structure called the nucleus
- 00:03:19accumbent and those two structures VTA
- 00:03:21and nucleus accumbent form really the
- 00:03:24core Machinery of the reward pathway and
- 00:03:27the pathway that controls your
- 00:03:28motivation for anything you can think of
- 00:03:31them like an accelerator they bias you
- 00:03:34for Action however within the reward
- 00:03:37pathway there's also a break the break
- 00:03:39or restriction on that dopamine which
- 00:03:41controls when it's released and how much
- 00:03:43it's released is the prefrontal cortex
- 00:03:46the prefrontal cortex is the neural real
- 00:03:48estate right behind your forehead you
- 00:03:50hear about it for decisionmaking
- 00:03:52executive function for planning Etc and
- 00:03:55indeed it's responsible for a lot of
- 00:03:56those it's this really unique real
- 00:03:58estate that we were all endowed with as
- 00:04:00humans other animals don't have much of
- 00:04:02it we have a lot of it and that
- 00:04:03prefrontal cortex acts as a break on the
- 00:04:06dopamine system and that brings us to
- 00:04:09the important feature of motivation
- 00:04:11which is that motivation is a two-part
- 00:04:13process which is about balancing
- 00:04:16Pleasure and Pain so when you're just
- 00:04:19sitting around not doing much of
- 00:04:20anything this reward pathway is
- 00:04:23releasing dopamine at a rate of about
- 00:04:25three or four times per second it's kind
- 00:04:27of firing in a low level if suddenly you
- 00:04:30get excited about something you
- 00:04:31anticipate something not receive an
- 00:04:34award but you get excited in an
- 00:04:36anticipatory
- 00:04:38way then the rate of firing the rate of
- 00:04:41activity in this reward pathway suddenly
- 00:04:44increases to like 30 or 40 times and it
- 00:04:47has the effect of creating a sense of
- 00:04:50action or desire to move in the
- 00:04:51direction of the thing that you're
- 00:04:52craving in fact it's fair to say that
- 00:04:55dopamine is responsible for wanting and
- 00:04:58for craving and that's distinctly
- 00:05:00different from the way that you hear it
- 00:05:02talked about normally which is that it's
- 00:05:03involved in pleasure so yes dopamine is
- 00:05:06released in response to sex it's
- 00:05:08released in response to food it's
- 00:05:10released in response to a lot of things
- 00:05:12but it's mostly released in anticipation
- 00:05:15and craving for a particular thing it
- 00:05:17has the effect of narrowing our Focus
- 00:05:20for the thing that We crave and that
- 00:05:22thing could be as simple as a cup of
- 00:05:23coffee it could be as um important as a
- 00:05:26big board meeting it could be a big
- 00:05:27final exam it could be uh the person
- 00:05:29that we're excited to meet or see
- 00:05:31dopamine doesn't care about what you're
- 00:05:34craving it just releases at a particular
- 00:05:36rate if we just take a step back and we
- 00:05:38look at the scientific data on how much
- 00:05:42the dopamine firing increases in
- 00:05:44response to different things you get a
- 00:05:46pretty interesting window into how your
- 00:05:49brain works and why you might be
- 00:05:50motivated or not motivated let's say
- 00:05:52you're hungry or you're looking forward
- 00:05:54to a cup of coffee or you're going to
- 00:05:57see your partner well well your dopamine
- 00:06:00neurons are firing at a low rate until
- 00:06:02you start thinking about the thing that
- 00:06:04you want or the thing that you're
- 00:06:05looking forward to when you eat that
- 00:06:08food the amount of dopamine that's
- 00:06:10released in this reward pathway goes up
- 00:06:12about 50% above
- 00:06:15Baseline sex which is fundamental to our
- 00:06:18species continuation and reproduction
- 00:06:21sex does release dopamine and it
- 00:06:24increases dopamine levels about 100% so
- 00:06:27basically doubles them Nic
- 00:06:30increases the amount of dopamine about
- 00:06:32150% above Baseline cocaine and
- 00:06:35amphetamine increase the amount of
- 00:06:37dopamine that's released a thousandfold
- 00:06:39within about 10 seconds of consuming the
- 00:06:42drug however just thinking about food
- 00:06:46about
- 00:06:46sex about nicotine if you like nicotine
- 00:06:50or cocaine or amphetamine can increase
- 00:06:52the amount of dopamine that's released
- 00:06:54to the same degree as actually consuming
- 00:06:57the drug now it depends in some cases
- 00:07:00for instance the cocaine user the addict
- 00:07:02that wants cocaine can't just think
- 00:07:04about cocaine and increase the amount of
- 00:07:07that's released about a thousandfold
- 00:07:08it's actually much lower but it's just
- 00:07:10enough to put them on the motivation
- 00:07:12track for to Crave that particular thing
- 00:07:15now there are reasons why you would have
- 00:07:16brain circuitry like this I mean brain
- 00:07:18circuitry like this didn't evolve to get
- 00:07:19you addicted brain circuitry like this
- 00:07:23evolved in order to motivate behaviors
- 00:07:26toward particular goals water when
- 00:07:28you're thirsty sex and in order to
- 00:07:30reproduce these things and these brain
- 00:07:33areas and neurons were part of the
- 00:07:35evolutionary history that led to the
- 00:07:37continuation of our species things like
- 00:07:40cocaine and amphetamine are disastrous
- 00:07:42for most people because they release so
- 00:07:44much dopamine and they create these
- 00:07:46closed Loops where people then only
- 00:07:48crave the particular thing cocaine
- 00:07:50amphetamine that leads to those massive
- 00:07:53amounts of dopamine release most things
- 00:07:55don't release that that level of
- 00:07:57dopamine now nowadays there's a ton of
- 00:07:59Interest in social media and in video
- 00:08:01games and it there have been some
- 00:08:04measurements of the amount of dopamine
- 00:08:06released video games especially video
- 00:08:08games that have a very high update speed
- 00:08:11where there's novel territory all the
- 00:08:12time novelty is a big stimulus of
- 00:08:14dopamine those can release dopamine
- 00:08:17somewhere between nicotine and cocaine
- 00:08:19so very high levels of dopamine release
- 00:08:22social media is an interesting one
- 00:08:24because the amount of dopamine that's
- 00:08:26released in response to logging onto
- 00:08:28social media initi could be quite high
- 00:08:30but it seems like likely that there's a
- 00:08:33taper in the amount of dopamine but and
- 00:08:35yet people still get addicted so why why
- 00:08:38is it that we can get addicted to things
- 00:08:40that fail to get to elicit the same
- 00:08:42massive amount of pleasure that they
- 00:08:44initially did being addicted to
- 00:08:46something isn't just about the fact that
- 00:08:48it feels so good that you want to do it
- 00:08:50over and over again and that's because
- 00:08:52of this pleasure pain balance that
- 00:08:55underlies motivation so let's look a
- 00:08:56little bit closer at the pleasure pain
- 00:08:58balance because therein lies the tools
- 00:09:01for you to be able to control motivation
- 00:09:03toward healthy things and avoid
- 00:09:05motivated behaviors towards things that
- 00:09:06are destructive for you there are a lot
- 00:09:08of reasons why people try novel
- 00:09:10behaviors whether not those are drugs or
- 00:09:12whether not those are Adventure
- 00:09:14thrill-seeking things or you know they
- 00:09:16take a new class as you'll notice I'm
- 00:09:18not placing any judgment or value on
- 00:09:20these different behaviors although I
- 00:09:22think it's fair to point out that for
- 00:09:24most
- 00:09:25people addictive drugs like cocaine and
- 00:09:27amphetamine are very
- 00:09:30destructive actually we know that about
- 00:09:3215 to 20% of people have a genetic bias
- 00:09:37towards addiction that you know you
- 00:09:40sometimes hear that the first time that
- 00:09:41you use a drug you can become addicted
- 00:09:43to it that's actually not been shown to
- 00:09:45be true for most things and most people
- 00:09:47but for some people that actually is
- 00:09:49true but in any case the way that
- 00:09:51addiction works and the way that
- 00:09:53motivation Works generally in the
- 00:09:55non-addictive setting is that when you
- 00:09:57anticipate something a little bit of
- 00:09:58dopamine is released and then when you
- 00:10:00reach that thing you engage in that
- 00:10:02thing the amount of dopamine goes up
- 00:10:04even further but as you repeatedly
- 00:10:07pursue a behavior and you repeatedly
- 00:10:09engage with a particular thing let's say
- 00:10:11you love running or you love chocolate
- 00:10:14as you eat a piece of chocolate believe
- 00:10:17it or not it tastes good and then
- 00:10:19there's a shift away from activation of
- 00:10:22dopamine and there are other chemicals
- 00:10:24that are released that trigger a
- 00:10:27low-level sense of pain now you you
- 00:10:29might not feel it as physical pain but
- 00:10:31the craving that you feel is both one
- 00:10:34part dopamine and one part the mirror
- 00:10:36image of dopamine which is the pain or
- 00:10:39the craving for yet another piece of
- 00:10:41chocolate and this is a very important
- 00:10:43and subtle feature of the dopamine
- 00:10:45system that's not often discussed people
- 00:10:47always talk about just as pleasure you
- 00:10:49love social media so it gives you
- 00:10:51dopamine and so you engage in that you
- 00:10:53like chocolate it releases dopamine so
- 00:10:54you do that but for every bit of
- 00:10:56dopamine that's released there's another
- 00:10:58circuit in the brain
- 00:10:59that creates you can think of it as kind
- 00:11:01of like a downward deflection in
- 00:11:03pleasure so you engage in something you
- 00:11:04really want and there's an increase in
- 00:11:06pleasure and then there's a without you
- 00:11:10doing anything there's a mirror image of
- 00:11:12that which is a downward deflection and
- 00:11:14pleasure which we're calling pain so for
- 00:11:16every bit of pleasure there is a mirror
- 00:11:18image experience of pain and they
- 00:11:20overlap in time very closely so it's
- 00:11:22sometimes hard to sense this but try it
- 00:11:24the next time you eat something really
- 00:11:25delicious you'll take a bite it tastes
- 00:11:27delicious and part of experience is to
- 00:11:30want more of that thing this is true for
- 00:11:32any pleasureful
- 00:11:34experience now the Diabolical part about
- 00:11:36dopamine is that because it didn't
- 00:11:39evolve in order to get you to indulge in
- 00:11:41more and more and more of something what
- 00:11:44happens is that initially you experience
- 00:11:48an in an increase in pleasure and you
- 00:11:51also experience this increase in pain
- 00:11:53shortly after or woven in with the
- 00:11:55pleasure that makes you want more of
- 00:11:57that thing but with each subsequent time
- 00:12:01that you encounter that thing the
- 00:12:03experience of dopamine release and
- 00:12:05pleasure is diminished a little bit and
- 00:12:09the Diabolical thing is that the pain
- 00:12:11response is increased a little bit and
- 00:12:14this is best observed in the context of
- 00:12:16drug-seeking behavior the first time
- 00:12:18someone decides to take cocaine or
- 00:12:20amphetamine they will experience a huge
- 00:12:22dopamine release and they will feel
- 00:12:24likely very good however the next time
- 00:12:27they take it it won't feel quite as good
- 00:12:29and it won't feel even as good the third
- 00:12:31time or the next time but the amount of
- 00:12:35pain the amount of craving that they
- 00:12:37experience for the drug will increase
- 00:12:39over time so much of our pursuit of
- 00:12:41pleasure is simply to reduce the pain of
- 00:12:44craving so the next time you experience
- 00:12:46something you really like I don't want
- 00:12:48to take you out of that experience but
- 00:12:49it's really important that you notice
- 00:12:51this that if there's something you
- 00:12:53really enjoy part of that enjoyment is
- 00:12:56about the anticipation and wanting of
- 00:12:58more of that thing and that's the pain
- 00:13:01system in action and so we can
- 00:13:03distinguish between dopamine which is
- 00:13:05really about pleasure and dopamine which
- 00:13:06is really about motivation to pursue
- 00:13:08more in order to relieve or exclude
- 00:13:12future pain let me repeat that dopamine
- 00:13:14isn't as much about pleasure as much as
- 00:13:16it is about motivation and desire to
- 00:13:19pursue more in order to reduce the
- 00:13:22amount of pain and we are now talking
- 00:13:25about pain as a psychological pain and a
- 00:13:27craving although people that Miss a
- 00:13:30lover very badly or that really crave a
- 00:13:34food very badly or that are addicted to
- 00:13:38a drug and can't access it will
- 00:13:40experience that as a physical craving
- 00:13:42and a mental craving the body and brain
- 00:13:44are linked in this way it's almost
- 00:13:46they'll describe it as painful they
- 00:13:48yearn for it and I think the word
- 00:13:50yearning is one that's very valuable in
- 00:13:52this context because yearning seems to
- 00:13:54include a whole body experience more
- 00:13:57than just wanting which could just be up
- 00:13:58in the mind mind so your desire for
- 00:14:02something is proportional to how
- 00:14:05pleasureful it is to indulge in that
- 00:14:07thing but also how much pain you
- 00:14:09experience when you don't have it and
- 00:14:11you can now start to let your mind
- 00:14:13wander into all sorts of examples of
- 00:14:15addictions or things that you happen to
- 00:14:16like um I'll use the example that I
- 00:14:18sometimes use on here which is my love
- 00:14:20of croissants the taste of that
- 00:14:21croissant makes me want to eat more
- 00:14:23croissant now eventually blood sugar
- 00:14:25goes up satiety is reached Etc what
- 00:14:27happens then what is s isfaction and
- 00:14:29satiety about well that's a separate
- 00:14:31neuromodulator that's about the
- 00:14:33neuromodulator serotonin it's about
- 00:14:36oxytocin it's about a hormone system
- 00:14:39that involves something called prolactin
- 00:14:40so we're going to talk about all all of
- 00:14:42those in the book The molecule of more
- 00:14:44wonderful book uh those were described
- 00:14:47as the Here and Now molecules the ones
- 00:14:49that allow you to experience your
- 00:14:51Sensations and pleasure in the present
- 00:14:53and for which the brain stops projecting
- 00:14:55into the future so now let's talk about
- 00:14:57craving and and the these so-called Here
- 00:14:59and Now molecules and how those engage
- 00:15:02in a kind of pushpull balance that will
- 00:15:04allow you to not just feel more
- 00:15:06motivated but also to enjoy the things
- 00:15:08in life that you are pursuing to a much
- 00:15:11greater degree we have neurons in an
- 00:15:13area of our brain called the rap r a p
- 00:15:15he e the RAF releases serotonin at
- 00:15:19different places in the brain serotonin
- 00:15:22is the molecule of bliss and contentment
- 00:15:25for what you already have I've talked
- 00:15:28before about exteroception exteroception
- 00:15:31is a focus on the outside world
- 00:15:32everything beyond the confines of your
- 00:15:34skin I've also talked about
- 00:15:36interoception a focus on things that are
- 00:15:38happening internally within the confines
- 00:15:40of your
- 00:15:41skin dopamine and
- 00:15:45serotonin can be thought of as related
- 00:15:48to exteroception dopamine makes us
- 00:15:50focused on things outside us that are
- 00:15:52beyond what we call our personal space
- 00:15:54where we actually have to move and take
- 00:15:57action in order to achieve things
- 00:15:59and serotonin in general has to do with
- 00:16:01the things that are in our immediate
- 00:16:03Here and Now hence the description of
- 00:16:04these as the Here and Now molecules so
- 00:16:07it's interesting to point out that the
- 00:16:10body and the Brain can direct its
- 00:16:12attention towards things outside us or
- 00:16:14inside us or split our attention between
- 00:16:16those just understand that dopamine
- 00:16:18biases us toward thinking about what we
- 00:16:20don't have whereas serotonin and some of
- 00:16:23the related molecules like the endoc
- 00:16:25canabo if you picked up on the word
- 00:16:27cannabinoid yes it's like cannabis
- 00:16:29because cannabis attaches to endoc
- 00:16:31canabo receptors and the endoc canabo
- 00:16:34are receptors and chemicals that the
- 00:16:36cannabinoids that you naturally make
- 00:16:38that are involved in things like
- 00:16:39forgetting but you make these molecules
- 00:16:42that bind to these receptors that make
- 00:16:43you feel kind of bliss out and content
- 00:16:45in the present so you got these two
- 00:16:47systems they're kind of like a push pull
- 00:16:50and if you were to say do the um you
- 00:16:52know in the book wherever you go there
- 00:16:54you are John katzin talks about this
- 00:16:56meditation practice that's different
- 00:16:57than most meditation prct ractic is
- 00:16:59where you eat one almond and you focus
- 00:17:01all of your attention on the Almond the
- 00:17:03taste of the Almond the texture of the
- 00:17:05Almond that's really a mindfulness
- 00:17:08practice that's geared towards trying to
- 00:17:09take a behavior which is normally about
- 00:17:12Pursuit normally feeding is we going we
- 00:17:15engage in feeding because of dopamine we
- 00:17:18pursue more of a food because of that
- 00:17:19pleasure pain relationship I talked
- 00:17:20about before the focus on the one almond
- 00:17:23or the or becoming very present in any
- 00:17:26behavior that normally would be a kind
- 00:17:28of extra receptive Pursuit behavior and
- 00:17:31bring it into the here and now that's a
- 00:17:34mental trick or a mental task that the
- 00:17:38mindfulness Community has really
- 00:17:40embraced in order to try and create
- 00:17:41increased pleasure for what you already
- 00:17:43have it's really trying to accomplish a
- 00:17:46shift from dopamine being released to
- 00:17:48serotonin in the cannabinoid system
- 00:17:51being involved in that behavior dopamine
- 00:17:53has the quality of making people kind of
- 00:17:55rabidly in pursuit of things drugs like
- 00:17:59marijuana the opioids anything that um
- 00:18:04really hits the serotonin system hard
- 00:18:06tend to make people rather lethargic and
- 00:18:08content to stay exactly where they are
- 00:18:10they don't want to pursue much at all so
- 00:18:12you've got these molecules like dopamine
- 00:18:14that make you focused on the things you
- 00:18:16want and the things you crave and then
- 00:18:18you've got the molecules that make you
- 00:18:19content with what you have so the most
- 00:18:22important thing perhaps in creating a
- 00:18:25healthy emotional landscape is to have a
- 00:18:27balance between these two neuromodulator
- 00:18:30systems so at about this point in the
- 00:18:31podcast I'm guessing that some of you
- 00:18:33are thinking okay great I want more
- 00:18:35dopamine I want to be more motivated I
- 00:18:37don't want to procrastinate as much and
- 00:18:40I want to be able to experience life I
- 00:18:42want these Here and Now molecules to be
- 00:18:43released as well well there is a way to
- 00:18:45do that but you have to understand the
- 00:18:47source of procrastination is not one
- 00:18:50thing there are basically two kinds of
- 00:18:52procrastinators or so says the research
- 00:18:55the first kind are people that actually
- 00:18:57really enjoy the stress of the impending
- 00:19:01deadline it's the only way they can get
- 00:19:03into action there are other
- 00:19:04procrastinators for which they simply
- 00:19:06are not releasing enough dopamine for
- 00:19:08those people there are a variety of
- 00:19:10things that can increase dopamine I do
- 00:19:11suggest you talk to a psychiatrist or
- 00:19:13doctor I've talked about makuna purines
- 00:19:15which is
- 00:19:1799.9% L Doopa the precursor to dopamine
- 00:19:21there are anti-depressants like
- 00:19:23Wellbutrin Bryon is the other name for
- 00:19:26it which increase dopamine and
- 00:19:27epinephrine
- 00:19:29however if you think back to our earlier
- 00:19:31discussion about
- 00:19:33dopamine dopamine if it's very high
- 00:19:37creates a sense of pleasure and the
- 00:19:39desire for more so you can also become a
- 00:19:42person for which enough is Never Enough
- 00:19:45the only thing that dopamine really
- 00:19:47wants is more of the thing that releases
- 00:19:49dopamine and so one of the things that
- 00:19:51you can do in order to generally just be
- 00:19:53a happier person especially if you're a
- 00:19:55person in pursuit of long-term goals of
- 00:19:57any kind is the longer that you can
- 00:20:00extend that positive phase of the
- 00:20:03dopamine release and the more that you
- 00:20:05can blunt the pain response to that the
- 00:20:08better and you can actually do this
- 00:20:09cognitively I used to joke with my lab
- 00:20:11that when we'd publish a paper I would
- 00:20:13get really excited but I wouldn't allow
- 00:20:15myself to get too excited what I wanted
- 00:20:17to do instead and what I've still tried
- 00:20:19to do is try and extend the Arc of that
- 00:20:22positive experience as long as I
- 00:20:23possibly can simply by thinking back
- 00:20:25like oh that was really cool I really
- 00:20:26enjoy doing that work I really enjoyed
- 00:20:29the discovery I really enjoyed doing
- 00:20:30that with the people that I was working
- 00:20:33with at the time what a pleasure that
- 00:20:34was so you can extend pleasure without
- 00:20:37having to engage in the behavior over
- 00:20:39and over that's extending the Arc of
- 00:20:41that dopamine release as well it offsets
- 00:20:44some of the pain of not having that
- 00:20:47experience occur over and over and over
- 00:20:49again now for the high performers out
- 00:20:51there you're probably familiar with this
- 00:20:53many people who have a big achievement
- 00:20:55their first thoughts are well now what
- 00:20:56what am I going to do next how am I ever
- 00:20:58going to exceed that and indeed many
- 00:20:59people who are very high on this kind of
- 00:21:02dopamine sensation and novelty-seeking
- 00:21:04scale uh are prone to addiction they're
- 00:21:06prone to the Rabid pursuit of external
- 00:21:08goals of exter reception to the neglect
- 00:21:11of these internal mechanisms that allow
- 00:21:13them to feel calm and happy so for
- 00:21:15people that are very driven very
- 00:21:18motivated adopting a practice of being
- 00:21:20able to engage in the here and now the
- 00:21:22sort of omen type practices we talked
- 00:21:24about earlier um of learning how to
- 00:21:27achieve a really good night's sleep on a
- 00:21:29regular basis through tools and
- 00:21:30mechanisms I talked about in previous
- 00:21:32podcast gives us sort of balance to the
- 00:21:35pleasure seeking and offsetting of pain
- 00:21:38and the pleasure in the here and now so
- 00:21:40pleasure is really two things it's a joy
- 00:21:43in
- 00:21:44Pursuit but it's also the joy in what
- 00:21:46you have the cool thing is you can
- 00:21:49actually regulate this whole system in a
- 00:21:51way that will steer you or lean you
- 00:21:55towards more positive anticipation of
- 00:21:57things in life and less disappointment
- 00:21:59it's simply a matter of adjusting what
- 00:22:01we call the dopamine schedule in order
- 00:22:04to understand how to control the
- 00:22:05dopamine system how to leverage it for a
- 00:22:08better
- 00:22:08life you need to understand the results
- 00:22:11of a very important
- 00:22:13experiment this experiment was able to
- 00:22:16separate pleasure from motivation it's a
- 00:22:20very simple but like many simple
- 00:22:23experiments a very elegant experiment
- 00:22:25what they did and this has now been done
- 00:22:27in animals and in humans
- 00:22:30they offered rats food it was a food
- 00:22:32that they particularly liked and the
- 00:22:35animals would lever press for rep pellet
- 00:22:36of food kind of classic experiment
- 00:22:38they'd eat the food and they presumably
- 00:22:41like the food because they were
- 00:22:42motivated to press the lever and eat it
- 00:22:45great they took other
- 00:22:47rats they eliminated the dopamine
- 00:22:50neurons you can do this by injection of
- 00:22:51a neurotoxin that destroys these neurons
- 00:22:54so they actually had no dopamine in
- 00:22:56their brain they have no ability to
- 00:22:57release dopamine
- 00:22:59and they gave them a lever the rats
- 00:23:02would sit there and they'd hit the lever
- 00:23:03and they'd eat the food they're still
- 00:23:05enjoyed the food so you say well okay so
- 00:23:08dopamine isn't involved in motivation it
- 00:23:10isn't involved in pleasure no it
- 00:23:12absolutely is they could still enjoy the
- 00:23:15food but if they moved the rat literally
- 00:23:18one body length away from the lever what
- 00:23:21they found was the animals that had
- 00:23:23dopamine would move over to the lever
- 00:23:24press it and eat and the ones the rats
- 00:23:27that did not have dopamine available to
- 00:23:29them wouldn't even move one body length
- 00:23:32one rat length to the lever in order to
- 00:23:35press it and get the food dopamine
- 00:23:37therefore is not about the ability to
- 00:23:40experience pleasure it is about
- 00:23:42motivation for pleasure and so many of
- 00:23:44you are probably thinking wow I'm not a
- 00:23:47very motivated person like you talked
- 00:23:48about the one kind of procrastination
- 00:23:49earlier what about when I just feel kind
- 00:23:52of meh about life now for some of you
- 00:23:54there may be a real clinical depression
- 00:23:56and you should talk to a professional
- 00:23:57there are very good prescription drugs
- 00:24:00that can really help people there's also
- 00:24:02great non-drug treatments of uh
- 00:24:05Psychotherapy and other treatments that
- 00:24:07are being developed in addition to
- 00:24:09psychotherapy and the various kinds of
- 00:24:10psychoanalysis Etc that one can use I
- 00:24:13think the data really point to the fact
- 00:24:15that a combination of pharmacology and
- 00:24:18talk therapies are generally best and
- 00:24:20there are a huge range of these things I
- 00:24:22know many of you are in these
- 00:24:23professions so we're not going to talk
- 00:24:24about that right now there is a compound
- 00:24:26that's kind of interesting in the
- 00:24:27supplement space that isn't um munan
- 00:24:30alopa it's not El tyrosine that isn't
- 00:24:34promoting massive releases of dopamine
- 00:24:37or even dopamine alone but a combination
- 00:24:40of dopamine and serotonin and it's an
- 00:24:42intriguing molecule it's um sold over
- 00:24:44the counter again you have to check with
- 00:24:46your Healthcare um uh provider before
- 00:24:48you would take anything or remove
- 00:24:50anything that's very important but it's
- 00:24:52phenol ethyl amine or
- 00:24:55pea pea
- 00:24:58or beta phenol ethyl aiming releases
- 00:25:03dopamine at low levels but also
- 00:25:05serotonin at low level so it's kind of a
- 00:25:07cocktail of the motivation molecules as
- 00:25:10well as the quote unquote Here and Now
- 00:25:12molecules and people's response to this
- 00:25:15varies widely but many people report
- 00:25:19feeling heightened sense of mental
- 00:25:21acuity well-being Etc it is a bit of a
- 00:25:24stimulant like anything that triggers
- 00:25:26activation of the dopamine and
- 00:25:27norepinephrine pathway but is an
- 00:25:29interesting supplement so now let's talk
- 00:25:30about what is a dopamine schedule and
- 00:25:32how you can leverage this in order to
- 00:25:35have heightened levels of motivation but
- 00:25:37not get so much dopamine that you're
- 00:25:39experiencing a crash afterwards and also
- 00:25:41so that you can experience heightened
- 00:25:43pleasure from the various Pursuits that
- 00:25:44you are engaged in in life and here's
- 00:25:47the key
- 00:25:48principle dopamine is very subjective
- 00:25:52meaning you can either allow yourself to
- 00:25:55experience the pleasure of reaching a
- 00:25:57milestone of a achieving or some craving
- 00:26:00or not it's actually pretty powerful
- 00:26:03what one can do with the subjective
- 00:26:05system in fact I'm going to describe you
- 00:26:07an experiment that highlights just how
- 00:26:09powerful the subjective readout or the
- 00:26:12subjective interpretation of a given
- 00:26:14experience really can be even at the
- 00:26:16level of pharmacology and the title of
- 00:26:18the experiment is expectation for
- 00:26:21stimulant type modifies caffeine's
- 00:26:23effects on mood and cognition this was
- 00:26:26done in college students it's a f
- 00:26:28fascinating study what they did is they
- 00:26:31gave college students either
- 00:26:35Placebo essentially nothing or 200
- 00:26:38milligrams of caffeine 200 milligrams of
- 00:26:40caffeine is about what's in a typical
- 00:26:42coffee like a medium coffee that you
- 00:26:44would buy a drip coffee so they took 65
- 00:26:47undergraduate
- 00:26:48students in college they randomized them
- 00:26:51to either Placebo or caffeine and they
- 00:26:54told them that they were either getting
- 00:26:57caffeine or adero
- 00:26:59now Aderall cognitively carries a very
- 00:27:02different um expectation college
- 00:27:05students know Aderall to be a much
- 00:27:07stronger stimulant than caffeine they
- 00:27:09know it to create a sort of high this is
- 00:27:11the way the students described it and
- 00:27:13they thought that it would increase
- 00:27:14their level of focus and their ability
- 00:27:17to perform work so what's really
- 00:27:18interesting is there
- 00:27:20was definitely an effect of placebo
- 00:27:22versus caffeine that's not surprising
- 00:27:24however right you take a placebo you may
- 00:27:26or may not feel more alert
- 00:27:28um but you take 200 milligrams of
- 00:27:30caffeine very likely you're going to
- 00:27:31feel very alert but there was also an
- 00:27:33effect of whether or not the students
- 00:27:36thought they were getting caffeine or
- 00:27:37Aderall the subjects receiving caffeine
- 00:27:40reported feeling more stimulated anxious
- 00:27:42and motivated than the subjects that
- 00:27:44received the placebo okay but the ones
- 00:27:46that expected Aderall reported stronger
- 00:27:49amphetamine effects they performed
- 00:27:50better on a working memory test and in
- 00:27:53general they had all the increased
- 00:27:56cognitive effects that would have been
- 00:27:58seen with adol but they were only
- 00:28:00ingesting caffeine so it led to
- 00:28:03heightened performance simply because
- 00:28:05the students thought they were getting
- 00:28:07Aderall and I think this is very
- 00:28:09important because I think that it points
- 00:28:10to the fact that the the the top down
- 00:28:14the kind of higher level cognitive
- 00:28:15processes are impacting even the most
- 00:28:17basic fundamental aspects of say
- 00:28:20dopamine release or our uh adrenaline
- 00:28:23release or epinephrine release in ways
- 00:28:24that can positively impact performance
- 00:28:26in this case it was a positive
- 00:28:28Improvement in working memory and focus
- 00:28:30so today we've talked a lot about the
- 00:28:33dopamine system and and those kinds of
- 00:28:35schedules that will allow craving or
- 00:28:38addiction but what's the schedule of
- 00:28:40dopamine that's going to allow you to
- 00:28:42maximize on your pursuit of pleasure and
- 00:28:45your elimination of pain and we get the
- 00:28:48answer to that from our good friend
- 00:28:51gambling the reason gambling works the
- 00:28:54reason why people will throw their lives
- 00:28:56away the reason why people go back again
- 00:28:58and again and again to places like Las
- 00:29:01Vegas and Atlantic City is because of
- 00:29:05the hope and anticipation it's a those
- 00:29:07are cities and places built on dopamine
- 00:29:09they are leveraging your dopamine system
- 00:29:11and as a friend of mine who's a
- 00:29:13certified addiction treatment specialist
- 00:29:15tells me that you know gambling
- 00:29:16addiction is a particularly Sinister
- 00:29:19because the next time really could be
- 00:29:21the thing that changes everything unlike
- 00:29:23other addictions the next time really
- 00:29:25could change everything and that's
- 00:29:26embedded in the mind of the gambling
- 00:29:28addict and rarely does it work out uh in
- 00:29:31favor of the well-being of the gambling
- 00:29:32addict and their family however the
- 00:29:36intermittent reinforcement schedule was
- 00:29:38discovered Long Ago by scientific
- 00:29:40researchers so this is the slot machine
- 00:29:42that every once in a while gives you a
- 00:29:44win to keep you playing this is the the
- 00:29:47probability of winning on the craps
- 00:29:49table or the roulette table or at
- 00:29:50Blackjack just often enough that you're
- 00:29:53willing to buy tickets head out there
- 00:29:55play again go downstairs again from your
- 00:29:57room even though you swear you were done
- 00:29:58for the night intermittent reinforcement
- 00:30:00is the most powerful form of dopamine
- 00:30:03reward schedule to keep you doing
- 00:30:05something so we can export that we can
- 00:30:07use it for good if there's something
- 00:30:10that you're pursuing in life whether or
- 00:30:11not it's an academic goal or a financial
- 00:30:13goal or relationship
- 00:30:15goal one of the things that you can do
- 00:30:17to ensure that you will remain on the
- 00:30:19path to that goal for a very long time
- 00:30:21and that you will continue to exceed
- 00:30:23your previous performance as well as
- 00:30:26continue to enjoy the dopamine Rel that
- 00:30:28occurs when you hit the Milestones that
- 00:30:30you want to achieve is to occasionally
- 00:30:34remove reward subjectively let's say you
- 00:30:38set out a goal of making I'm going to
- 00:30:40make this quantitative with respect to
- 00:30:41finances because it just is an easy
- 00:30:43description but this could also be in
- 00:30:45sport this could be in school this could
- 00:30:46be in music could be in anything
- 00:30:48creative Endeavors but let's say you set
- 00:30:49out a certain Financial goal or let's
- 00:30:52say you want to get a certain number of
- 00:30:53followers on whatever social media
- 00:30:55platform as you reach each one of those
- 00:30:58goals you should know now that the
- 00:31:00amount of dopamine is not going to Peak
- 00:31:02it's actually going to diminish and make
- 00:31:03you crave more the key to avoiding that
- 00:31:06crash but to still keep it in healthy
- 00:31:08levels that will allow you to continue
- 00:31:10your Pursuit is as you are staircasing
- 00:31:13toward your goal you actually want to
- 00:31:15blunt the reward response for some of
- 00:31:17those intermediate goals now I'm not
- 00:31:20telling you you shouldn't celebrate your
- 00:31:21wins but I'm telling you not to
- 00:31:22celebrate all of them or as a good
- 00:31:24friend of mine who uh recently uh
- 00:31:27fortunately for him uh had a great
- 00:31:29financial success he asked me and
- 00:31:31somebody else a good friend of mine
- 00:31:33who's very tuned into dopamine reward
- 00:31:35schedules understands how they work at a
- 00:31:37really deep level and he said I don't
- 00:31:38know what to do next and we said oh well
- 00:31:41that's simple you should just give most
- 00:31:43of it away and this wasn't a ploy to
- 00:31:45receive any of the money ourselves this
- 00:31:47was really about reducing the impact of
- 00:31:49that reward now hopefully giving him
- 00:31:52money away if you already have enough of
- 00:31:54it would be something that was rewarding
- 00:31:56in and of itself but if you're a student
- 00:31:58who's pursuing goals in University or
- 00:32:01you're an athlete who's pursuing goals
- 00:32:03it actually makes sense from a rational
- 00:32:06perspective once you understand these
- 00:32:08mechanisms to hit a new high point of
- 00:32:12performance or to get that A+ or for you
- 00:32:15if it's an A minus Etc and to tell
- 00:32:18yourself okay that was good but to
- 00:32:20actually actively blunt the reward to
- 00:32:23not go and celebrate too intensely
- 00:32:26because in doing that you keep your
- 00:32:28dopamine system in check and you ensure
- 00:32:31that you're going to stay on the path of
- 00:32:33continued Pursuit not just for that
- 00:32:34thing but for all things big increases
- 00:32:37in dopamine lead to big crashes in
- 00:32:39dopamine and big increases in dopamine
- 00:32:41up the anti so you can lift the uh what
- 00:32:45Las Vegas and Atlantic City and other
- 00:32:47gambling uh mechanisms and places have
- 00:32:50known for a long time they lifted it
- 00:32:52from the scientists you can now take it
- 00:32:54back and you can start to leverage that
- 00:32:56and you just make it intermittent you
- 00:32:57reward yourself not on a predictable
- 00:33:00schedule so not every other time or
- 00:33:02every third time or every 10th time but
- 00:33:03sometimes it's three in a row then not
- 00:33:05at all for 10 days so reward is
- 00:33:09important self-reward is critically
- 00:33:10important but make sure that you're not
- 00:33:13doing it on such a predictable schedule
- 00:33:15that you burn out these dopamine
- 00:33:17circuits or that you undercut your own
- 00:33:20ability to strive and Achieve hopefully
- 00:33:24you now know far more about the dopamine
- 00:33:26system reward and motivation than you
- 00:33:29did at the beginning of this podcast
- 00:33:31hopefully you also understand the other
- 00:33:34side of dopamine and reward which is
- 00:33:35pain and the balance of this pleasure
- 00:33:37pain system as well as the molecules
- 00:33:40that we call or that were described in
- 00:33:42the molecule of more book I should say
- 00:33:45as the Here and Now molecules things
- 00:33:46like serotonin and the endoc canabo
- 00:33:49finally I want to thank you for your
- 00:33:50time and attention today I hope you
- 00:33:52learned a lot and that you learned a lot
- 00:33:54of possible tools that you could
- 00:33:56incorporate into your life as it relates
- 00:33:58to motivation and emotions thank you for
- 00:34:01your interest in science
- 00:34:05[Music]
- dopamina
- motivació
- plaer
- reward
- addicció
- neuromoduladors
- serotonina
- procrastinació
- neurociència
- emocions