📗 Understand
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16 déc. 2024
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7 min read
You really want to do it, to finally finish that thing you started and that has been dragging on for weeks… But when it’s time to get started, it’s always the same: motivation has once again let you down! Do you recognize yourself? Then this article is for you.
🧠 Dopamine and the Reward Circuit
In 1953, James Olds and Peter Milner made a tremendous (unforeseen) discovery about a topic that concerns us all.
The two researchers were trying to understand the brain processes related to attention by conducting experiments with rats. Due to an error, Olds positioned electrodes in the limbic system of one of the rats.
These electrodes were configured so that, by pressing a lever, the rat could self-stimulate this area of its brain, responsible for the sensation of pleasure. Once the rat discovered this process, it began to press the lever obsessively, up to 7,000 times per hour.
Conducting the experiment on several rodents, the researchers made a shocking observation. The rats stopped eating and were willing to endure intense pain just to press the lever again. The direct stimulation of this circuit was so powerful that the animal forgot its fundamental needs.
These discoveries demonstrated that pleasure is a real neurological function linked to a reward system.
The same principle applies to humans.
In concrete terms, this system provides the necessary fuel in motivation to persist in a behavior that gives us a sensation of pleasure. Since this experiment, numerous studies have detailed the importance of a biochemical molecule in this system: dopamine.
Many know it as “the pleasure hormone.”
It has gained quite a bit of hype over the years. Some people even tattoo the chemical structure of the molecule.
To define it, dopamine is a neurotransmitter that allows neurons to communicate with each other. It plays a crucial role not only in the sensation of pleasure but also in motivation and action-taking. It is responsible for the positive reinforcement of certain actions through a reward mechanism.
American psychiatrist Dr. Anna Lembke, an expert on addiction, explains an important nuance.
Dopamine does not provide intrinsic pleasure; it motivates us to do things we anticipate will bring us pleasure.
Two releases of dopamine are therefore associated with an action:
Before: when we anticipate the action
After: when we have just performed it
Thus, when the urge is satisfied, a greater amount of dopamine is released to reinforce it, motivating you to pursue it in the future.
We all have a baseline level of dopamine, but this level experiences spikes when we have a pleasurable experience.
Here are some examples observed in rats, which Anna Lembke cites in her book Dopamine Nation:
Chocolate increases dopamine by about 55% compared to baseline.
Sex: 100%.
Nicotine: 150%.
Cocaine: 250%.
Amphetamines: 1,000%.
As soon as the experience is over, there is a crash. And the higher the spike, the deeper the drop.
This process is possible because the brain has a self-regulating system, homeostasis, that rebalances the level of dopamine. Here is a simple diagram to understand:
After the euphoria, there comes a descent that pushes the individual to seek that high again. This is the mechanism of all addictions.
And like in any dependency, successive and excessive spikes of dopamine will decrease sensitivity: it will require an increasingly larger dose to feel the same pleasure.
This is the vicious cycle of tolerance.
📱 Technology and the Reinforcement of Immediate Pleasure
“Our brains haven’t changed much since prehistoric times; what has changed is access to things with addictive potential.” —Dr. Anna Lembke
Humans are programmed to seek pleasure and avoid pain.
This instinct goes back millions of years to a time when we had to actively seek food, clothing, and shelter for our survival.
The advent of digital technology (especially smartphones and social media) has accelerated the disruption of this reward system that had thousands of years of R&D behind it.
When our ancestors put all their efforts into seeking and finding a reward, we can now do it almost instantaneously. It is possible to do almost anything without waiting and without effort…
Order food in one minute with Uber Eats
Watch eight episodes in a row of a Netflix series
Buy anything in three clicks on Amazon
Our digital environment allows us to “binge” on an unprecedented scale: there are no practical limits forcing us to wait or stop.
Of course, tech giants exploit this human flaw, which was once a strength. Dozens of neuroscientists have built a 2.0 slot machine that pushes us to constantly check our phones and spend as much time on them as possible.
This is especially true by inducing a very frequent release of dopamine.
Smartphones have thus become a powerful source of immediate gratification, and we have quickly adapted to it. These instant rewards cause a rapid and significant release of dopamine. But there is a big problem with all this: dopamine is a limited resource.
All these spikes of “cheap dopamine” deplete your reserves over the course of the day. As a result: your motivation is reduced, and you feel more mentally fatigued.
This is why you might feel apathetic or less motivated by other activities after scrolling for too long.
In the long term, Andrew Huberman tells us in his Huberman Lab podcast episode that excess of this type of stimuli leads to “fatigue” of the dopaminergic circuits. Which can:
Reduce sensitivity to natural stimuli
Decrease your baseline level of dopamine over time
By constantly self-stimulating with digital tools, we find it harder to experience pleasure in a simple conversation, reading a book, or contemplating a landscape.
The succession of spikes of “cheap dopamine” is, in reality, very costly in terms of energy and motivation. They leave you dopamine-depleted. 🤯
🧗 The Taste of Effort and “Delayed Gratification”
Thanks to new technologies, obtaining a reward for our brains has never been easier. Unfortunately, the more we access instant rewards, the less inclined we are to engage in activities requiring effort.
Why climb a mountain if we can take an elevator to the top?
However, the mechanism of the reward circuit teaches us another crucial thing: pleasure and pain are located in the same area of the brain.
They are interdependent and work as a balance, inverting each other.
For neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, one of the ways to combat certain easy pleasures is to gradually replace them with steeper paths. Indeed, when you do difficult things that put you in discomfort, such as:
Going for a run
Taking a cold shower
Talking to strangers
You won’t experience spikes of dopamine in anticipation but only afterwards. And it’s much sweeter and more sustainable in the long term.
Activities that require time and effort to obtain a reward then lead to a slower and more sustained release of dopamine. It is an effective path to achieving a sense of well-being in the long term.
Huberman’s advice is clear: it is important to seek discomfort in the short term rather than immediate pleasure.
“The amount of pleasure you ultimately feel is directly related to the amount of pain you experience.”
Below is a very illustrative diagram to understand his thinking:
Overcoming a challenge or pain (like an ice bath) can also reinforce the feeling of achievement and accomplishment, which is itself associated with a healthy release of dopamine.
To summarize, Anna Lembke adds that our constant quest for immediate pleasure is precisely what makes us unhappy and unmotivated.
The key lies in the conscious regulation of our sources of dopamine, recognizing the value of long-term rewards.
Here are the two levers to activate (with some examples) according to your aspirations and interests:
📉 Reduce External Stimuli and Instant Gratification
Limit notifications to only those that are truly urgent
Use a blocker like the Jomo app (available for free on iPhone, iPad and Mac) for certain targeted sites during focus time. The fun part about Jomo is that you can block apps of your choice by default.
Then, you'll need to ask Jomo for permission to take a break. You can add more or less friction to unblock your apps: wait for a delay (which will gradually increase), write a valid reason to use your apps, enter a random code, and more!
Avoid your phone upon waking and before sleeping
😌 Maximize More Sustainable Rewards and Reconnect With Yourself
Activities requiring physical or mental effort: sports, brain games, writing… If you're struggling at first, you can also use Jomo to help. With the "Good Apps First" rule, make yourself use "positive" apps (for you) before diving into social media! If your goal is to exercise more, then set the "Walk First" rule (or run, swim, work out, meditate…). That way: no choice! If you want TikTok, run first!
Mindfulness activities to take a step back from your habits and better regulate your emotions (meditation, breathing…)
In an age where distraction reigns, it is imperative to first understand how your brain works to regain your capacity for concentration and motivation. It’s a journey: every choice, every action counts towards building a balanced reward system. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
