Understanding Dopamine – The Light and the Dark Side

Dopamine is a word that gets thrown around a lot. If you want to live a well-balanced life, it’s vital to understand a bit more about it. Like many things that contribute to our health and well-being, there’s both a light and a dark side to dopamine. A bit of pleasure here and there is what makes being human amazing, but too much all the time—or none at all—can lead to depression, addiction, and imbalance. So let’s dive in and learn more.

Dopamine is a chemical messenger in the brain that plays a key role in how we experience pleasure, motivation, and reward. When we do something enjoyable—like eating good food, exercising, or achieving a goal—dopamine is released, starting a cascade of chemical and neurological processes. This gives us that “feel-good” sensation and encourages us to repeat the behaviour. It’s part of the brain’s reward system, helping us learn what actions lead to positive outcomes. However, an imbalance in dopamine can contribute to various health issues. Low levels of dopamine are linked to conditions like Parkinson’s disease and depression, while too much dopamine is associated with disorders like schizophrenia and addiction. In short, dopamine is a powerful force that drives our everyday actions, shaping how we learn, move, and experience pleasure.

It’s not just about pleasure, though. Dopamine also plays a huge role in motivation, drive, cravings, and even how we perceive time. It’s not limited to short-term pleasures, like eating a piece of chocolate or checking off a goal. It’s the universal currency of life, pushing us to seek out things that provide long-term satisfaction and sustenance.

Why Do We Have Dopamine?

To understand why dopamine exists, we need to look back at evolutionary psychology and physiology. Let’s take Homo sapiens a few hundred thousand years ago, when life was vastly different. Pleasurable feelings were rare and fleeting—just out of reach most of the time. But occasionally, you’d strike gold: finding a beehive full of honey, encountering a potential mate, or having a successful hunt. In that ancestral environment, an overabundance of pleasure wasn’t possible, so we never became addicts or lived in a constant state of euphoria. If we had, we would’ve been easy prey, too distracted to survive.

Over millennia, this “thrill of the chase” shaped our nervous system’s delicate balance. We evolved to get just enough pleasure to keep us motivated and seeking new rewards. When we achieved something, we’d feel the dopamine-fuelled rush of satisfaction, but that feeling would gradually fade. This tapering off allowed our bodies and minds to rest, reset, and start the pursuit again.

When the dopamine high wears off, we return to our baseline level. But this baseline isn’t one of feeling settled or content. It might be for a short moment, but it soon turns into a feeling of restlessness. This can be a tough pill to swallow, but it’s important to recognize that, for most of us, our default state—our baseline—is a bit restless. This mild discomfort keeps us on the lookout for our next hit of dopamine, driving our motivation to seek out the next reward.

Modern Life and Dopamine

I see this neurophysiology in action all the time, and maybe you can relate. Like many people, I live a busy life. Every now and then, I get some rare downtime. What happens? Do I feel at ease with the world? Do I relax and just chill out? No. I find it hard to sit still or need to occupy my mind. Before I know it, I’m doing anything to feel that dopamine-driven motivation: watching a Netflix series, scrolling through social media, writing a blog, or heading to the gym. The same thing happens when I’m on holiday or camping.

This restlessness probably served our ancestors well. If they stayed in one place for too long, or if a hunt had been unsuccessful for a while, that feeling of unease likely kicked in. The tribe would grow restless, eager to move on or seek out new opportunities. This constant drive, fuelled by dopamine and our other neurobiological systems, played a huge role in our survival.

The Stark Contrast with Modern Life

Now, compare that to life today, and the differences are staggering. You don’t even need to go back hundreds of thousands of years—just a few generations will do. What gave our ancestors their hit of pleasure is vastly different from what we experience now. They had far fewer sources of pleasure, and those moments were spread out. I, on the other hand, can pull a supercomputer out of my pocket and do almost anything instantly. I can gamble, doom scroll, learn new things, use AI, explore social media, watch pornography, play games—almost anything at the touch of a button.

We live in a world where we can buy an infinite array of foods and products that have been designed to hook us, keeping us addicted to junk food, binge-watching, and endless stimulation. We can break out of the slightest discomfort in seconds. And it’s far too easy to do so.

The Dangerous Side of Dopamine

Herein lies the danger of dopamine. It’s too easy to get nowadays.

When I’ve written about stress, depression, and anxiety before, psychological treatments like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) often explain these experiences in cycles. Dopamine production is no exception to this idea of a cycle or a downward spiral. One of the best metaphors I’ve come across to explain addiction is from Episode #1708 of the JRE Podcast, where Dr. Anna Lembke, a world-renowned psychiatrist specializing in addiction, describes the “pleasure-pain seesaw.” We seek pleasure, but what happens next? The seesaw swings back. There is always a “see” and a “saw.” The more we seek pleasure, the more we experience the pain side. And every time the seesaw tilts toward pain, a little extra weight is added—stress, fatigue, or life challenges. Soon, we need a bigger hit of pleasure just to get back to feeling normal. Fast forward, and we’re simply fighting to keep that seesaw level.

Take chocolate, for example. You’re stressed at work, feeling mentally and physically exhausted. Dopamine is at rock bottom. Cortisol and adrenaline have been pumping through your body all day. Your blood sugars are low. You think, “I deserve a little treat.” The pleasure-pain seesaw is fully loaded on the pain side. That little voice in your head whispers, “Just one piece of chocolate won’t hurt… I’ll hit the gym in the morning… I haven’t eaten that many calories today, so a bit of chocolate is fine.” Before you know it, you’ve got a mouthful of chocolate, and your dopamine spikes 1.5 times above baseline.

Sound familiar? You could swap chocolate for alcohol, video games, gambling, or any other vice.

The risk here is that you’re falling into that cycle. You’re learning, “When I feel stressed, doing X makes me feel better quickly.” Next time you’re stressed, that neural pathway connecting stress with chocolate is a little more well-trodden, and you’ll reach for the bar without questioning it. Over time, you might not even get that feel-good rush anymore, but you keep eating it because it’s become a habit. The secondary effects—screwed-up blood sugar levels, caffeine intake affecting sleep—lead to feeling even worse the next day. Add that to the stress of work, and you’re stuck in a vicious cycle.

Fast forward a few months, and you’ve gained weight, lost energy, and struggle to find pleasure in things you once enjoyed. Stress is rampant, and burnout is looming.

Simple Tips for a Balanced Life in a World Full of Quick Fixes

One thing I’m not a massive fan of is life hacks and introducing crazy things into your routine. Social media is full of bro science, life hacks, clickbait, and the next best product. My attitude is to keep it simple and doable without introducing too many tough things at once. After all, if you’re stressed and on that see-saw, finding the drive to turn your life upside down with a load of new routines and hacks is doomed to fail in most cases. So here are some back-to-basics tips we should all bear in mind:

1. It’s Okay to Feel Restless Sometimes
   Example: You’re sitting at home with nothing pressing to do, and you feel a bit uneasy. Maybe you instinctively reach for your phone or start browsing social media to distract yourself. Instead, acknowledge that feeling of restlessness—it’s perfectly normal.
   Why it works: Our brains are wired to seek stimulation, but constantly satisfying this urge with quick fixes only leads to more dissatisfaction. By accepting restlessness as a natural part of life, you build resilience and learn to sit with discomfort without immediately seeking distractions.
2. The Basics: Sleep, Eat, and Move Well
   Example: Set a bedtime that allows for 7-9 hours of sleep, aim to eat balanced meals with whole foods like vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats, and commit to moving your body daily—even if it’s just a 20-minute walk.
   Why it works: Sleep, nutrition, and exercise are the pillars of mental and physical health. Sleep helps regulate dopamine levels, eating well fuels the brain and body, and exercise boosts natural dopamine production and reduces stress. Without these basics in place, it’s harder to resist the lure of quick-fix distractions like junk food, social media, or binge-watching.
3. Set a Routine: Create Boundaries with Your Phone
   Example: Turn off your phone or put it in “Do Not Disturb” mode after 8 PM. Instead of grabbing your phone first thing in the morning, take a few minutes to stretch, breathe, or enjoy a cup of coffee without screens.
   Why it works: Constant phone use floods the brain with dopamine from notifications, social media, and instant gratification apps. By setting a clear boundary—like no phone use after a certain hour—you reduce overstimulation, giving your brain time to wind down before sleep. Likewise, avoiding your phone first thing in the morning helps you start the day grounded rather than immediately seeking dopamine hits.
4. Choose Wholesome Hobbies
   Example: Instead of spending hours scrolling through social media, engage in a hobby that challenges you or provides deeper satisfaction. This could be something physical like martial arts, CrossFit, open-water swimming, or something creative like painting, learning an instrument, or calming like gardening. These activities provide a “dopamine hit” but in a way that’s productive and fulfilling.
   Why it works: Hobbies like BJJ or running require focus and effort, releasing dopamine through accomplishment and progress rather than passive consumption. Creative hobbies like painting or crafts also tap into flow states, where time seems to fly by, offering a deeper, more meaningful sense of reward than watching TV or scrolling online. Engaging in these kinds of activities helps regulate dopamine levels in a healthier way, keeping you engaged and satisfied for longer. Additionally, wholesome hobbies give us a sense of achievement and, if done with others, provide that much-needed social connection.

Closing Remarks
In a world where quick dopamine fixes from social media, junk food, and instant gratification are everywhere, it’s easy to become trapped in a cycle of overstimulation and dissatisfaction. Dopamine, the brain’s chemical messenger for pleasure and motivation, is essential, but too much or too little can lead to imbalance, affecting our mental health and well-being. By understanding how dopamine works, embracing occasional restlessness, focusing on the basics like sleep, nutrition, and exercise, and engaging in meaningful hobbies, we can regain control over our dopamine-driven behaviours and lead more balanced, fulfilling lives.