What is a neurotransmitter, exactly?
Well, in a nutshell, without getting too complex about it, they are really just our body’s chemical messengers.
We have billions of these molecules and they are always at work keeping our brains running, and they manage our breathing, heartbeat, as well as our learning and concentration levels. Not only that, but they affect perceptions such as fear, mood, pleasure, and joy. Pretty powerful stuff.
So, let’s learn a bit more about Dopamine.
Dopamine is kind of the sexy one, and it’s mostly associated with pleasure. Dopamine is a powerful driver of human motivation. It gets released when we eat something yummy, after sex, after exercise, and when we hang out with our friends.
Looking at it from an evolutionary perspective, it is designed to reward us for certain behaviours and then motivates us to do them again. But it’s not all about pleasure and rewards. It also assists with memory, attention and even the regulation of our body movements.
Low levels of dopamine might cause us to feel less motivated, or lose our enthusiasm about things or activities that we love. Other not so great things can happen too, like the inability to concentrate or even poor coordination.
Like our friend Serotonin, It’s also a reward chemical and your body will make more to encourage you to engage in activities that make more. So if you are spending time with people you like, for example, your body will create more dopamine.
There is a bit of a dark side to Dopamine though, as it’s often associated with addictive behaviours; but that also shows how motivating and powerful it can be. Sometimes when we aren’t producing enough we look for the quick dopamine fix, and we look to naughty things like junk food or gambling.
What are healthy ways to raise dopamine levels?
Get more sleep; when you are getting good quality sleep you keep your dopamine levels balanced and that’s going to help you to feel more alert and awesome during the day and less likely to eat an entire chocolate cake.
Other ways to balance Dopamine? We can listen to music, get more sunlight, and by a meditation/hypnosis practice.
Want to learn how to incorporate hypnosis into your life as a wellness practice? Get in touch, I’m happy to help.
Peace, love, & calm,
Judi Q
