The level of dopamine: how to regain a real pleasure

Let us imagine two people of the same weight and height. Both brain dopamine receptors 40.000 (conventional), but their sensitivity is different. One human receptor sensitivity is reduced by 10 times, while the other - normal. Both men see the same pleasant sight, say a cute kitten. This event causes the production of, say, a 10,000 molecular dopamine i.e. Dopamine levels in both the same. But any perception of this event? In this case, the first human satisfaction by 25%, and another - by 2.5%.

The first person to focus on what a cute cat. The second think: cute cat. but he had toxoplasmosis, and in general he was dying in the streets from starvation. And every such event, the first person to believe that his day was a success, and the second? The second is, of course, unhappy day. Decreased levels of dopamine reduces our ability to notice the "rewarding" -something positive and increases sensitivity to anxiety, to the "threatening".

Throughout his life, the first man will almost certainly never suffer from dissatisfaction with himself, but he will have little incentive to personal development. He will be happy if you just fed, dressed for the weather, etc. He almost never want to change something for the better in yourself or in your life. But this man for the consumer society is not profitable: it is very difficult to get to buy something and change something.

The second man is bound to be dissatisfied with something. He can always strive to correct something for the better, but it will not bring him pleasure. And probably, that such a person will look for a strong stimulant to develop 40,000 molecules of dopamine and has a high risk of addiction.

The second important point is not associated with pleasant moments and problems. If the first person screwed up and he will drop production of dopamine (say 20,000 molecules), it feels worse than 50%. And it will make it to avoid unpleasant situations in the future, ie, learns from mistakes. And here is the second well-being will fall by only 5%. Those. this decrease is not enough, so he drew his conclusions.

German neuroscientists have suggested that perhaps the lack of dopamine receptors reduces people's ability to learn from their mistakes, that is, to draw correct conclusions from the negative experience and not to repeat the actions that led to bad consequences (Klein et al., 2007). Overall, the results suggest that the normal operation of the dopamine systems of the brain is necessary for a person to be able to effectively learn from their mistakes. Disruption of dopamine neurons (for example, due to a lack of dopamine receptors, as in A1 allele carriers) may result in ignoring the adverse experiences. Man simply does not respond to the negative consequences of their actions and therefore can repeatedly step on the same rake. "

There are several mutations in the genes for dopamine receptors. In the case of dependency analysis can be taken in order to choose the right tactics treatment for such patsietov.

The mutation C2137T (Glu713Lys) dopamine receptor gene in type 2, DRD2

This mutation is associated with alcoholism, drug addiction, nicotine addiction, gambling addiction. Genotype A1A1 can lead to a relative decrease in the number DRD2 receptor, thereby further weakening the response has reduced amounts of dopamine. Reduction of dopamine D2 receptors, reduces sensitivity to the effects of negative actions, this may explain the increased risk of addictive behavior in carriers of the A1 allele variant.

Conducted research related to the study of the relation of genotype on the marker C2137T and teaching based on processing the feedback stimuli - evaluated the ability of people to learn to avoid actions with negative consequences. In the group of carriers of the minor (rarer) allele A1 is held less effective than in the group of the main carriers of the allele.

There is also the DRD4 gene is associated with the desire for new experiences. Long allele of this gene occurs with increased frequency in families of patients with a hereditary form of alcoholism, and it is associated with the "fashionable" children diagnosed - a syndrome of hyperactivity with impaired attention. Children with this diagnosis in schools can not sit at their desks. Interestingly enough, this disease is treated effectively without any tablets at the gym with feedback. Children cartoon show on the computer screen, and cartoon looks dramatically when they please. Mindfulness is secured by encephalograms, and depending on the care of children vary cartoon sharpness.

Scientists studying the "syndrome of lack of reward" (a condition in which "rewarding the brain center" is activated slowly), there was an interesting hypothesis about the possible significance of the low density of dopamine receptors. It is well known that under normal conditions, dopamine is released in the synapse, binds to receptors, dopamine causes euphoria and relieves stress. lack of compensation syndrome is characterized by a decrease in the basal levels of dopamine due to lack of receptor capacity, and this leads to human need to find factors that can cause an increase in dopamine levels.

If this behavior is long (addiction), it perestaraivaet brain and worsens the situation. For example, experiments with cocaine (which causes severe dopamine release).

The action of cocaine in rats was studied. In rats with cocaine dependence formed neurons mediating the action of cocaine have more synapses than those of normal rats. That is, cocaine in rats had the same effect as training. That is, a person or a rat, which enjoyed the drug, was "trained" to respond to a drug, and it formed abnormal neural connections that make the experience easy recoverable because neural connections are already there for him. And other neural connections that would normally provide him a pleasant feeling of healthy experiences for competitive form are weakened. That is, the use of drugs, especially at an early age, changes the morphology and anatomy of neurons, the structure of the cerebral cortex, and avoid the development of a normal way.

Thus, the increase in the external short-term dopamine helps to improve the condition but blunt the sensitivity of dopamine receptors. The sharper the rise of dopamine, the stronger will be his downfall after. At constant fluctuations of dopamine, dopamine sensitivity will fall.

That's why many people, often invested with power or money, develop schizoid and sadistic behavior. To have fun, they have to resort to hyperstimulation. For people with normal receptors, these hyperstimulation look wild and disgusting. In principle, schizophrenia and is based overstimulation of dopamine receptors.

Many aspects of life related to the level of dopamine. For example, raising the social status associated with the density of dopamine D2 / D3 receptors in the striatum - the brain areas responsible for reward, motivation, and other behavioral processes in the management of which plays a decisive role is dopamine. The survey results show that people who have attained a higher social status, attach greater importance to reward and encourage, because in their striatum more objects that are affected by dopamine. It has been found that the low density of dopamine receptors has been associated with low social status, and the high - respectively, with higher social status. A similar relationship was found when our volunteers spoke of the support that they have friends, relatives or someone important to them.

This data is interesting to highlight the desire to improve social status as a basic social process. It sounds plausible that people with higher levels of D2 receptors, ie with a higher motivation and involvement in social relations, will achieve greater success and higher levels of social support.

Low levels of D2 / D3 receptors may contribute to the risk of developing alcoholism among people whose relatives have abused alcohol. People with a low density of D2 / D3 receptors tend to have lower social status and less support, and these social factors increase the risk that the person will become an alcoholic or a drug addict.

The possibility of self-realization is also related to dopamine receptors. In the absence of demand for and the feasibility of individual possibilities of human consciousness ceases to be satisfied, the dopamine neurons are "hungry", and the person is reduced mood and self-esteem. It turns out that a large number of dopamine receptors can lead to low self-esteem a person due to a lack of dopamine due to the feasibility of individual possibilities of consciousness. In the presence of a large number of dopamine receptors a person should strive for greater knowledge, development and implementation of individual capabilities that will increasingly reflect the reasonable behavior. Therefore, for people with a high number of dopamine neurons boredom and lack of opportunity simply disastrous.

A few tips on how to restore the sensitivity of dopamine receptors and dopamine levels. Beforehand I would say that this is just general advice, guarantee one hundred percent recovery no one will. I advise you to do a genetic test to correctly estimate the amount of work.

Dopamine protocol.

1. Dopamine detox.

Remove all external sources of dopamine: lottery, tobacco, drugs, masturbation, coffee, shopping. Remove all "false" pleasure, leaving only natural potrebnosti.Trebuetsya time and patience. Do not give up all at once, do it gradually.

From dependency it is difficult to get rid of, but this is the first step in the return of the taste of life. You know that among smokers, 40% more depression. The likelihood of depression among former smokers decreases sharply after just a few months after smoking cessation. Look at the picture. See how depending reduce the level of dopamine?

For example, take smoking. Low levels of dopamine, which occurs as a result of quitting smoking actually contributes to the emergence of smoking relapse. Dopamine acts as a chemical signal in the process of regulation of motivation and reward. Recent studies show that one of the main functions of dopamine -. Send a signal to the brain, "look for something nice" Indeed, dopamine is released in the process of drug use, smoking, sex and eating. Since dopamine is released in response to smoking, it is logical that the level of dopamine out of the norm, where the smoker wants to quit smoking. Scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas conducted a study to characterize these changes. They studied mice administered nicotine cigarettes active ingredient over several weeks. The researchers then measured the nicotine and canceled subsequent changes in brain dopamine signaling. They said that the rejection of nicotine leads to a deficiency of dopamine, which takes place when re-exposed to nicotine.

1. Nizkostressovaya monotonous Wednesday.

To go to a boring predskazuetmoe place (or create themselves such). No news, movies. Make your mini-monastery.

In the conqueror of the Arctic asked: - "How do you determine the time the need to return the polar expedition? ". What conqueror of the Arctic is quite simply replied: - "I have in the expedition only one woman is present. At a set of people in the expedition, I choose the most ugly woman you meet. And if in the period of the expedition, to me this woman seem beautiful, it means it's time I return to the mainland. "

3.Kultiviruyte shy, engaged in monotonous monotonous chores.

Skill to do small things, conceiving and implementing them. Plant a flower bed, to drive a nail. For rehabilitation do not plan Affairs, occupying more than two hours. Then, over time, can increase their duration. The rhythmic monotonous actions help stabilize fluctuations of neurotransmitters.

1. Techniques of mindfulness.

Adoption of negative emotions without twisting a negative spiral. Education withstand feelings.

1. Technique of presence in the moment, to avoid the fantasies of the past or the future. The flow of dopamine may increase even at the mere recollection of the promotion. The mere thought of the positive experience may already be a little encouragement. We all love to dream about interesting things for us to cheer yourself up. Even if the thought of a negative, then perhaps pleasure for performance even as the person moves away from the chase, conquer enemies, solve global problems and to cope with personal difficulties (which is why we love the militants, for example). However, some people abuse this method deliberately overtaxed the system of promotion and artificially causing interesting for their memories and thoughts over and over again, because in this way a good mood neurotransmitters naturally made (dopamine and serotonin), losing self-control.

2. Work with the fear of death (for people without suicide risk)

3. Cognitive therapy and cognitive improvement of the individual (work on himself and his actions) on the basis of simple algorithms and daily analysis, such conduct diaries: thought, estimated responded, why, what other options.

4. Making "real joy" list (see. The differences between real and false pleasure). Create and follow a network of small pleasures.

5. High-quality sleep. Lack of sleep leads to a sharp decrease in dopamine receptors! But it had nothing to do with changes in the level of the neurotransmitter.

6. Navigate to the everyday life in the process, not the result.

Individuals who once focusing on opportunities to obtain satisfaction from anything, can no longer rebuild their behavior as long as they achieve their own. The desire for pleasure "covers" just common sense.