Dopamine: more happiness when dopamine is in balance

Dopamine is one of four important happiness hormones/neurotransmitters

DOSE is the abbreviation for the happiness hormones/neurotransmitters that most influence your mood. DOSE stands for dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. In this blog post, we'll discuss dopamine and how you can become happier by balancing dopamine. More on oxytocin and endorphins will follow soon.

About dopamine

Dopamine is a key neurotransmitter that helps control the reward and pleasure centers of our brain. It also keeps us motivated and focused, so we can work toward achieving our goals.

Symptoms of a dopamine deficiency

Signs of low dopamine include decision stress, low libido, fatigue, depression, an inability to manage stress, poor concentration and memory, mood swings, a lack of motivation, and failure to complete tasks or work toward goals. You can also develop a sugar addiction, which causes dopamine and serotonin levels to drop (further). This makes you even more susceptible to addiction.
Those with addictions may also have low dopamine levels, as engaging in addictive behavior is one of the body's shortcuts to increasing dopamine levels in the brain. In conditions like ADD and ADHD, dopamine levels can be either low or too high relative to other neurotransmitters. People with ADD and ADHD are, on average, 20 times more susceptible to addictions. These are particularly addictions that temporarily increase dopamine levels, such as alcohol, smoking, cocaine, MDMA/ecstasy, heroin, gambling, and sex addiction.

Symptoms of an excess of dopamine

Anorexia, other eating disorders, and hyperactivity can be a consequence of high dopamine levels. However, we want to emphasize that high dopamine levels cause fewer problems if they are more in balance with other neurotransmitters, particularly serotonin. Too much dopamine has been linked to menstrual irregularities, delayed puberty, infertility, and reduced immunity.

According to the British Journal of Nursing, elevated dopamine in the limbic system is linked to schizophrenia, paranoia, and withdrawal from social situations. Drugs like amphetamines and cocaine cause dopamine buildup, leading to drug-induced psychosis or schizophrenia.
High concentrations of dopamine in the brain are found in patients with ADHD and Parkinson's disease. These individuals with elevated dopamine levels were more likely to act impulsively, seeking immediate gratification, and develop addictions.

We'd like to add that elevated dopamine levels cause far fewer, if any, problems if dopamine is more effectively converted into norepinephrine and adrenaline. This improves the balance between serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, allowing you to live a fulfilling life.

Dopamine in balance in a natural way

1. Set achievable short-term and long-term goals.
2. Meditation in any form.
3. Drink as little alcohol as possible. Remember that half a glass of red wine a day is the maximum a person can drink without causing too much harm.
4. Listen to your favorite music.
5. Physical contact with other living beings. For example, contact with pets, cuddling, or massage.
6. A healthy dose of sunlight for more vitamin D3, serotonin and dopamine
7. Avoid empty calories, especially from sugars, and replace them with slow carbohydrates from vegetables, for example.
8. Avoid Omega 6 fats (vegetable oils) and increase Omega 3 intake (this helps against 90% diseases of affluence)
9. Increase your turmeric intake in combination with black pepper. This combination boosts three happy hormones and prevents certain types of cancer.
10. Take a good multivitamin. For example, vitamin B complex, zinc, magnesium, manganese, and copper also help boost your serotonin levels.
11. Tyrosine-rich foods such as almonds, pumpkin seeds, avocado, banana, fresh unsweetened dairy products, and fresh lean meats.
12. Probiotics in the form of yoghurt, kefir or supplement.
13. Say goodbye to social media.
14. Turn off your smartphone an hour before going to bed and use it minimally during the day.
15. Don't drink coffee, drink green tea.
16. Do something creative.
17. Good food, good food, and more good food!

Correcting Too Much Dopamine

Symptoms primarily arise when dopamine is too high in relation to serotonin and norepinephrine. A better balance can be achieved by increasing serotonin levels.

You can support the balance between dopamine and norepinephrine by increasing your copper and vitamin C intake. This can be achieved with legumes, nuts, and seeds.

Afterword

As you can see, your lifestyle and gut flora significantly influence your dopamine levels and mood. Most strikingly, the bacteria in your gut influence your mood and behavior by producing or not producing signaling molecules that make you happy or unhappy. So, take good care of your gut and, as a first step, ensure you have the right gut bacteria by taking a probiotic. A very good probiotic, for example, is Ultra Jarro Dophilus.. After this probiotic treatment, which you only do once, you give those bacteria and yourself the right nutrition and dietary fiber from mainly vegetables, legumes, nuts, moderate fruit and some whole grain products such as oatmeal.

In addition to these foods, there are natural MAO inhibitors that slow the breakdown of dopamine and serotonin, among other things. These come with a warning: excessive use of MAO inhibitors and/or in combination with psychoactive medications can cause complications. Regular foods like aged cheese, beer, wine, pickled herring, chicken liver, yeast, excessive coffee, citrus fruits, figs, broad beans, chocolate, or cream can cause headaches and nausea and even become toxic. Here are some mild natural MAO inhibitors that carry less risk: seaweed, turmeric, passion flower, and rhodiola.

Warning: Never experiment with the stronger MAO inhibitors yourself, but always seek the expertise of a specialist first, especially if you are already taking psychoactive medication.

You want to live healthier and be happier, but it doesn't work

You're trying so hard to live a healthy and happier life, but it's not working out. If you fall back into old habits, you'll remain stuck in a negative spiral. A neurotransmitter imbalance leads to depression, poor eating, and anxiety. Poor eating, depression, and anxiety, in turn, lead to a worsening neurotransmitter balance. We offer personalized services that include behavioral and nutritional counseling. We test your neurotransmitters using a comprehensive questionnaire and consider any medication or mental health issues you're taking.

We can also discuss a trip therapy with magic mushrooms/truffles, which can help you break this negative spiral through temporarily elevated serotonin levels and introspection. This can increase your self-esteem and self-love, helping you take better care of yourself and those around you.