Getting 'high' from a dopamine rush

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced in the brain. It is chemical messenger of sorts between neurons. It does not function in isolation and interfaces which hormones such as adrenaline and seratonin which is vital to our sleep cycle.

It is also involved in a variety of physiological and neurological activities. Some of these include influencing our ability to maintain focus, mood, decision making, heart rate, sleep, processing of pain and movement . 

It is usually released when the brain is expecting a reward. When we link or associate certain actions or activities with pleasure, the mere thought or anticipation of such actions is usually enough to trigger an increase in the dopamine levels. 

This is what comes to play whenever we interact with any of our favourite activity such as food , movie or a tv show which brings us pleasure. The presence of any stimulus which brings the favourite activity to memory sets off triggers in the brain, when we eventually engage in the said activity, there's a dopamine rush which creates a connection to satisfying the crave in future due to the pleasure obtained from engaging in the activity. 

Thus a cycle of motivation, reward and reinforcement is birthed irrespective of whether the activity is harmful or beneficial. Due to this strong association with reward and pleasure, It is often termed the "feel good" neurotransmitter . 

It is therefore not surprising when individuals exhibit signs of moodiness when they are denied of participating in their favourite activity or eating their favourite food. This can also be linked to being the reason why people who derive pleasure from the likes or shares their posts get on social media tend to feel down when they don't get likes or shares as expected from their posts.

Due to the cycle or connection that has previously been formed whose end result is pleasure as a result of dopamine rush, the denial of such activity could also increase the craving for such activity. This is likely what happens when trying to quit any form of addiction.

Just as it is important to have the right amount of blood sugar and normal heart rate, it is also important to have the right amount of dopmaine . Having the right amount of dopmaine enhances our productivity due to its role in helping us maintain focus , alertness as well as in decision making. Sleep deprivation or inadequate sleep time is capable of lowering dopamine to unhealthy levels. Depression and conditions such as parkinson's disease have been associated with low levels of dopamine.

Similarly excess of or very high levels of dopamine are unhealthy. Although such levels can make one experience feelings of euphoria irrespective of how long it lasts, such levels are injurious to one's health and have been associated with addiction, obesity and schizophrenia.

In these conditions the individual tends to act compulsively even when their actions will harm them. In the case of addiction, the connections formed in the brain have become so powerful due to the cycle of that has been established that the individual hungers for a new 'high' each time he interacts with the source of the addiction as the previous high has been normalized by the brain. Thus there is a craving for more and more after each successive exposure to the activity. If you've watched the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, this can be likened to what happened to Frodo Baggins after using the ring of power for the first time albeit out of necessity. He kept craving to use the ring more often after each successive use.

Another negative effect is that due the fact that the dopamine receptors have become attuned to being fired up by the source of the addiction, there's a lack of interest in other activities which are deemed incapable of eliciting the 'high' that the addiction delivers.

Thus any activity which comes to us compulsively and causes us to abandon healthy habits or social interaction should sound alarm bells as we may well be on our way down the slippery slope of addiction. With such activities , restrictions or denial of access to them could result in depression or other negative tendencies.

There was once a time when the mention of addiction was usually associated with that use of illicit drugs or pornography but with the evolution of social media and technology, a new type of addiction has emerged which is that of addiction to social media and by extension our mobile devices. 

This new addiction has destroyed many homes and relationships. Because of this addiction, spouses, parents and children living under the same roof have become nothing more than strangers to one another, they derive more pleasure by staring at their screens rather than by spending time with each other. Ironically as someone once put it, the stranger in the home (the screens) has turned its inhabitants to strangers to one another.

It is therefore necessary to have a regular regime dedicated to taking time off our screens so as the enjoy the simple things in life which are healthy for our mental health and of course free. This is also important to allow our brains forms strong connections with healthy habits as the focus.

The healthy habits I would recommend but not limited to the following include reading good books, spending quality time with family, taking a walk or going hiking. The experiences from these activities are often what form the priceless moments in our lives as the give us a healthy rush of dopamine.