What Does Dopamine Do and How to Increase It Naturally

In layman’s terms, dopamine is what helps you feel motivated, excited, enthusiastic, and accomplished. Along with serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins, dopamine is often referred to as one of the brain’s feel-good chemicals.

Speaking more scientifically, dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays an important role in motivation, reward, learning, movement, attention, and emotional responses. Dopamine signaling is an important part of the brain’s reward system, although dopamine does not simply produce pleasure on its own. When dopamine signaling is disrupted, it can be associated with symptoms such as:

• anxiety,
• depression,
• lack of motivation,
• poor performance,
• general lack of zest for life,
• disorganized thinking,
• feeling emotionally flat,
• poor concentration,
• low libido,
• memory problems,
• social withdrawal,
• difficulty expressing emotions,
• fatigue,
• learning difficulties.

However, these symptoms can have many different causes, and experiencing them does not necessarily mean that you have low dopamine.

Dopamine is also deeply involved in addiction. Addictive drugs can produce unusually large changes in the brain’s reward system, including dopamine signaling. Over time, repeated drug use can change the way this system responds to both drugs and everyday rewards.

Talking about drug addiction, repeated drug use can alter dopamine signaling and make the brain less responsive to ordinary rewards. This may contribute to craving and continued drug use even when the person no longer experiences the same level of pleasure from the drug [source].

On the other hand, differences in dopamine signaling have also been associated with thrill seeking and risky behaviors — think gambling and extreme sports. According to research, extreme risk takers and thrill seekers tend to have fewer dopamine-regulating receptors [source].

While there is still a lot to learn about the role of dopamine, we know that it is important for motivation, reinforcement, learning, and our ability to pursue rewards and goals. This leads us to the question: What can we possibly do to support healthy dopamine function?

First and foremost, avoid behaviors that can disrupt the brain’s reward system. This includes:

• psychostimulant abuse,
• alcohol and drug abuse,
• addictive behaviors.

Psychostimulant drugs can produce large increases in dopamine, particularly when they are misused. Repeated drug abuse can lead to changes in the brain’s reward system and withdrawal symptoms.

Moreover, research shows that dopamine agonists can cause compulsive behaviors in some patients with Parkinson’s disease. These behaviors may include compulsive eating and associated weight gain, hypersexuality, gambling, hobbyism, and other repetitive purposeless activities [source].

Similarly, many addictive drugs produce large changes in dopamine signaling. With repeated use, the brain can become less responsive to ordinary rewards, while drug-related cues become increasingly powerful. This is one of the mechanisms that can help maintain addiction.

What about natural ways to support healthy dopamine function? The following may be helpful:

Nutrition.
Dopamine is made from amino acids obtained through food, so adequate nutrition is important. One study found that chronic mild food restriction changed the activity of dopamine neurons, but this research was conducted in mice and doesn’t show that calorie restriction should be used to increase dopamine in humans [research].

Consuming foods containing L-Tyrosine.
Our bodies use L-Tyrosine to produce dopamine. However, eating more tyrosine doesn’t necessarily mean that your brain will simply produce more dopamine or that your mood will improve. Still, tyrosine is an essential part of the dopamine-production process [research]. There are many natural sources of L-Tyrosine, including:

• meat,
• soy,
• cheese,
• peanuts and almonds,
• milk,
• yogurt,
• pumpkin seeds,
• sesame seeds,
• lima beans.

With so many natural sources of L-Tyrosine, most people can obtain it through their regular diet.

Exercise.
Exercise has many effects on the brain, and research suggests that dopamine is involved in some of them. Earlier human studies produced mixed results. For example, a study conducted in 2000 by Gene-Jack Wang, Nora D. Volkow, Joanna S. Fowler, Dinko Franceschi, Jean Logan, Naomi R. Pappas, Christopher T. Wong, and Noelwah Netusil concluded:

Even though the subjects ran vigorously on the treadmill for 30 min, we did not detect significant changes in the striatal raclopride binding compared with the baseline scan. This study suggests that this level of exercise does not induce changes in striatal DA release that are large enough to be detected with the PET raclopride method.

[research paper]

More recent research, however, has found evidence of dopamine changes following physical activity in humans. So the relationship between exercise and dopamine appears to be more complicated than earlier studies suggested.

Whether or not dopamine is responsible for the way you feel after a workout, exercise has many powerful benefits and is likely to make you feel better and more productive.