Feel Like Doing Nothing? It May Be a Dopamine Deficit

Source: DALL-E/OpenAI

The pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of pain is one popular explanation of what motivates a person to act. What we consider pleasure or pain is highly subjective and varies dramatically among individuals. Pleasure can take many forms including eating delicious food, engaging in sexual activity, or receiving social praise. We can also gain pleasure from seemingly effortful activities such as learning new things or the feeling we get after completing a vigorous workout. Conversely, pain can be physical but also includes the discomfort associated with illness, fear, or excessive risk. For some, psychological and emotional pain such as sadness, grief, or anxiety is just as powerful as experiencing physical pain.

From a biological standpoint, the motivation theory of pleasure and pain (Harris & Peng, 2020) aligns with the idea that our physiological makeup, influenced by neuromodulators like dopamine, motivates us to seek rewarding experiences and avoid unpleasant ones. Dopamine influences the overall excitability and responsiveness of our neurological system and plays a crucial role in various functions, including motivation, pleasure, reward, and motor control. This means that when pursuing and engaging in certain activities such as eating, sex, or exercise, we experience pleasure and achieve satisfaction because these activities catalyze the removal of dopamine deficits. Dopamine release returns us to our baseline level of dopamine, which feels good. Dopamine is produced in several areas of the brain, including the substantia nigra and the ventral tegmental area, which are all part of the mesocorticolimbic pathway, the neural circuit implicated in the brain's reward system and the primary determinant of what we perceive to be satisfying or distressing.

The power of dopamine

First, it is because of elevated dopamine levels that we become alert and hone our attention on what we hope to accomplish (Pezze et al., 2007). In other words, dopamine levels influence the degree of perceived willingness to pursue goals. Low levels and you sit on the couch; high levels prompt intentional action to achieve a goal. The dopamine impact is not just about attainment but is about the desire to act, the thrill of the chase, and the anticipation of the reward associated with reaching a goal. When you anticipate something enjoyable, dopamine is released in your brain and the release reinforces that behavior, encouraging you to repeat it. In the absence of perceived enjoyment, dopamine levels stagnate or drop and, thus, we feel unmotivated to move and pursue important and effortful tasks, often termed procrastination. Deficiencies, as seen in Parkinson's disease, are due to the degeneration of dopamine-producing neurons, leading to motor difficulties like tremors, rigidity, and immobility. Conversely, overproduction from specific experiences perceived as rewarding can backfire and can contribute to addictive behaviors. Substances like drugs or activities like gambling or promiscuity can lead to an increase in dopamine levels, reinforcing the negative behavior and fostering addiction or compulsive behavior.

Timing is everything

Each of us has a different genetically determined dopamine baseline, which changes based on various behaviors, thoughts, and actions, including ingesting substances that can temporarily modulate our dopamine baseline. Like most optimal physical functioning, sufficient sleep and nutrition influence dopamine levels (Nolan et al., 2020). Surprisingly, more dopamine is not necessarily better. What counts is the deviation from the baseline with the avoidance of high spikes or precipitous (steep) declines. Modulating the baseline level is tricky because dopamine increases are followed by dopamine deficits meaning that a sustained feeling of euphoria (unless drug-induced) is impossible to sustain. Anyone who has achieved personal greatness knows that a crescendo is transient and always followed by a measurable decrease in euphoria, including uncertainty as to how to replicate the highly elevated dopamine state. Thus, our goal is consistency in the baseline as opposed to dramatic shifts, which can be harmful, resulting in amotivation or compulsion to engage in certain highly risky behaviors that the brain perceives as rewarding.

Strategies to maintain baseline dopamine for motivation

Numerous no-cost strategies can be used to modulate dopaminergic levels. Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman recommends dozens of approaches for a healthy level of baseline dopamine (Huberman, 2021); the strategies described below are specifically related to enhancing motivated effort:

1. Get some sunlight. Get outside every morning for 10 to 30 minutes, not wearing sunglasses. In a study by Scholl et al. (2015) investigating which lighting conditions promoted genetic variation in the dopamine-receptor-D4 (DRD4), findings suggested that more daylight was related to greater focused attention. Conversely, dim the lights four hours before sleep. Light impacts circadian rhythm (controlled by dopamine), meaning light inhibits sleep potential, a dopamine determinant.
2. Eat red meat, nuts, or hard, fermented cheese. These foods contain the amino acid tyrosine, which enhances dopamine production. Tyrosine can also be taken as a supplement, but consider that supplements prone us to dopamine spikes and valleys, which, if unregulated, can decrease dopamine baseline levels.
3. Judiciously use rewards. One of the most well-documented approaches to motivated behavior is the use of rewards, intermittently. This is why slot machines pay off at random times. Fixed payouts would mean you would no longer play, and the same paradigm applies to self-reward. Randomness is the best reinforcer of behavior; thus, avoid celebrating every time you reach a goal. Instead, strive for higher lows and lower highs for better dopamine modulation.
4. Reward the process of goal attainment, not the outcome. Haberman argues that optimal dopamine production takes place in the pursuit of a goal. Thus, a focus on the process of learning, achievement, or performance is the best catalyst for modulating baseline dopamine levels. Train yourself to get excited about doing what it takes to reach a goal. Use strategies like planning, self-talk, and affirmations to acknowledge the effort expended to get started and make progress. Eventually, the effort should become the reward.
5. Don’t double-dip dopamine. We generate dopamine in many ways, depending on our subjective interpretation of reward. For example, eating, listening to music, socializing, and drinking alcohol are all potential dopamine producers. When we combine activities, we dilute the overall effectiveness of each, ultimately inhibiting dopamine production for any individual activity. In other words, we need more substance to replicate the previous high. Thus, avoid routinely stacking dopamine generators.

Finally, realize the power of dopamine and know that sometimes your lack of energy and motivation is determined more by your hidden physiological makeup. This doesn’t mean your strategic effort won’t accelerate performance, but it does mean that absent of sufficient dopamine your motivation will habitually suffer.