You’re Not Lazy, You’re Overstimulated: The Dopamine Crisis Explained - Dr. Barrett Deubert

Dopamine is not happiness. It is a reward hormone, but it doesn't equate to more dopamine means more happiness. It's not a pleasure hormone in and of itself, but it does stimulate the brain in a way that makes us want more of it. Dopamine is all about motivation. It's anticipation.

If it's pursuit, drive. And at some level it's reward prediction. So we know that if we pursue something, we'll get a reward out of it. That is dopamine. And it's the chemical that says, hey, I want that.

That matters and I'm gonna go get it, right? So practically in non modern history, historically, dopamine was really used for hunting, right? So it's like, hey, I'm hungry. I've been fasting. I see an animal. I want to eat that. I'm gonna go get it. That was dopamine.

Well, welcome back to another episode of the Real Health Podcast. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to sit still or even just be in the quiet?

Read a book. Just sit down and just read a book, or sit down and pray, or sit down and journal or meditate without feeling the need to do something else. Even just having quality conversation today I think is becoming less common. And I think we're living in one of the biggest neurological experiments in human history. Today's episode is all about the dopamine crisis and why you feel unmotivated, why you feel fatigued, why your energy levels are drained and you have no drive.

Today, we're gonna fix that. It isn't testosterone, it isn't estrogen, it isn't other hormones, it's not your thyroid. It fundamentally could be the dopamine crisis that we're all under. And truthfully, our brains weren't designed for this level of stimulation that we have in our society today. This month, heading into the next few weeks, we are talking about brain health because we are doing our workshop on brain health in June.

If you are in the Knoxville area, make sure you attend our workshop from development to degeneration. We're gonna talk through ADHD and we're gonna talk through dementia. And we're gonna help you understand more about your brain health and what you can do to support it. When we look at what we're feeding our bodies, it's infinite scrolling. It's notifications left and right on our phone every few minutes.

We're getting a notification for an email, a message, a text, social media app. We are looking at short videos that are eight seconds long. We're in a world where movies today are constantly changing frame rates at a really high level. Online shopping, Amazon gives it to you today. We have hyper stimulating or palatable foods and all of these things have a commonality to it and it's dopamine.

And so from the effects of that what we're struggling with is anxiety, depression, low motivation, emotional instability, less emotional resilience than ever, brain fog. We're dealing with poor focus, attention and memory formation. And so today I wanna talk about dopamine. What it actually is. I wanna talk through the modern culture of hijacking it.

Our brains are being hijacked. They are being experimented on. And I wanna help you understand how to reclaim your brain and your motivation and energy. Dopamine is not happiness. It is a reward hormone, but it doesn't equate to more dopamine means more happiness.

It's not a pleasure hormone in and of itself, but it does stimulate the brain in a way that makes us want more of it. Dopamine is all about motivation. It's anticipation. If it's pursuit, drive and at some level it's reward prediction. So we know that if we pursue something we'll get a reward out of it.

That is dopamine. And it's the chemical that says, hey, I want that. That matters and I'm gonna go get it, right? So practically, in non modern history, historically, dopamine was really used for hunting, right? So it's like, I'm hungry.

I've been fasting. I see an animal. I want to eat that. I'm gonna go get it. That was dopamine.

Or hey, we are designed for procreation. We're designed to have children. So there's a dopamine component to the, I'm gonna, with my wife, I'm gonna make babies. And that in of itself is another form of dopamine. But today, it's not survival, it's not hunting, it's not relationships, it's not achievement, it's not learning or movement.

What we're seeing is it's social media scrolling, it's binge watching, it's processed foods that are hyper palatable, it's online shopping and constant notifications. This is what's robbing or hijacking the brain from where historically it's been survival, hunting, relationships, offspring and movement. So we can see why then we would be deficient in things that matter. And those things could be relationships and those things could be wanting to work out. It's most of the time when you think, I don't wanna work out, you think, oh, well, maybe it's just an issue with my repetition, my schedule.

No, it's something is hijacking your dopamine that is to your brain more rewarding than working out or training. And so we just gotta reset that. And today's episode will help you understand how to reset what you were designed to do because the brain was never designed for this. It's not designed for constant novelty and learning like never before. It's algorithmic stimulation where we're getting entertained by algorithms that are stimulating what we just ingested.

It was more for like slow Like we were designed for slow stimulation. We were designed for gradual gratification, not instant gratification. We were designed to move our bodies and expose ourselves to sunlight and real human connection and relationships. But it's so opposite our culture today to what we see to be true. What comes to mind is Romans 12 is, do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by renewing of your mind.

Our mind needs to be renewed and that's where we can be transformed. The renewal comes from understanding the dopamine crisis and then how to start turning maybe putting some boundaries up. And listen, I'm not preaching to you, I'm preaching to myself. We're all in the same human experiment. But let's be real, we need someone to say, hey, this is what we should do.

This is how we should do it. So your brain right now is absolutely drowning in artificial reward. It's being rewarded by everything that you're watching, everything that you're seeing. And these repeated dopamine spikes are creating an issue where our baseline sensitivity is just getting more elevated. Our receptors for dopamine are down regulating and we need more and more and more.

Welcome to the addiction crisis of our modern society today. And this is leading to restlessness. This is leading to anxiety. This is leading to emotional numbness and we're subject to it. So let's talk about why attention spans particularly are collapsing.

And it's because if you watch a movie today compared to where it was twenty years ago, the frame rate is a few seconds long. It's gonna change frame rate to keep you stimulated. If you look at shorts and reels, it's something that you're trying to grab your attention. And the longer the reel, usually the less you see audience viewing. It's because we're only seeing five, six, seven, eight seconds of that reel.

And if it doesn't stimulate us, we're moving on to the next one. And we're swiping, we're swiping, we're swiping. And that swipe, that constant swipe is a new stimulus that our bodies are getting used to, and it's constantly driving a desire to do that again and again. And and their phone, right? Just be having the phone next to you makes you feel like you gotta pick it up and look to see who called, who texted, what email has come through.

And these are the boundaries we're talking about. Many people now cannot just sit in silent, drive without something playing in the background, right? Pray or meditate without some music and hey, again, I'm subject to this. Or even just sit quietly in a space of silence. And so we need to reset.

And this dopamine, and emotional exhaustion is leading us to a place where high stimulation is repeated dopamine spikes. Repeated spikes is receptor down regulation and then down regulation leads us to needing more of that over stimulation and that's the vicious cycle that we all need a break. The doom scrolling, we hear about it, we laugh about it, but it truly is a cultural problem. So one area that I felt like touching base on today is particularly, with moms. And the social media has created, I think, not just this doom scrolling, you know, behavior, but a constant comparison also to to our environment.

And and moms are getting subject to the dads as well, but moms particularly getting subject to this. And we're seeing this, social media world that just isn't real. We're comparing ourselves to this perfect parent or these perfect children or the pressure to optimize everything. You know, social media has been great to help educate, but at the same time, it's like, hey. You're you're constantly feeling like you're behind.

Like, I I need to clean this up. I need to optimize this. I need to detox this. I need to take this supplement. I need to take this herb.

I need to do this to my home. And you're always in a state of lack, and that creates a sense of anxiety without question because you're never good enough. And you're feeling always like you're behind, behind the culture, behind the times. And again, it's good. Information is powerful, but it can also grab us, by the neck and and and and make us a slave to it.

So when we look at these topics today, just be mindful of what you're looking at. Parenting influencers or unrealistic expectations are always performing and doing more and being more is a situation where even me as a performer, within myself always feeling like the need to do more, it's just not healthy. And God says that you are enough or he wouldn't have died for you. And so you are enough, and we're all trying to do the best we can with what we have in front of us. Let's talk about how to reclaim the brain.

Let's talk about solutions. So the first one is we need to create friction. And the friction is where your brain wants something, but you're not gonna give it. That's the friction. So turn off notifications.

So just silence notifications would be one recommendation. Another one is remove apps that are addictive. And maybe there's a season to that. Sometimes the best fasting is fasting from social media, but remove the apps that you are quick to just open and scroll. Don't put a phone in your bedroom.

Right? That would be a simple thing. Or or when you're at home, one day per week, have a Sabbath from your phone. Or maybe it's not a whole day. Maybe it's just like three hours and then six hours and then it's twelve hours.

But have a place where phones go that in essence you don't feel the need to pick up and play with. So number one, create friction. Number two, rebuild healthy dopamine levels. And how do you do that? So some of the things that you do is sunlight exposure, going for walks in the sunlight, heat exposure, cold exposure, sleep, going out and just walking with, like my wife and I this past week, we just went for a long walk in the sunlight.

It's amazing. Pray and meditate without sound in the background that you feel stimulated from. Do fasting. Fasting is a great way to reset your dopamine system because a lot of these things, sunlight, strength training, walking, you know, this creates more of a slower dopamine signaling than the big hit that you get from a phone or from a reel. Number three, learn to be bored again.

We need to learn the art of boredom. Boredom is not a bad thing. And if you are bored, this is a good thing. Okay? This is walks without radio, audio, headsets, and music.

This is quiet mornings. Be intentional with your morning time. It's journaling. It's no phone time. But boredom is where creativity, reflection, and prayer, this is where it all, happens.

Number four, don't be a consumer, be a creator. We are made to create, not just consume. And so, at home, build something with your kids. Learn through a book. Not necessarily like I do all the time, Audible.

That's great. But learn by reading. Develop a new hobby. Maybe it's playing the piano. Maybe it's playing the guitar.

Maybe it's, learning how to play golf. But some novelty that is non stimulating. Although golf can be pretty frustrating at times, as anything that we learn that's new, novelty is a good thing. Number five, protect your sleep. This is one of the most important ways to reset.

Protect sleep. Sleep should be seven to eight hours a night. Should be structured where you go to sleep and wake up at the same time. And we should have no blue light exposure in our room or before bed. So protect your sleep.

Sleep is where you heal. Sleep is where you take a stimulated brain and calm it down. Okay? So when we look at those five categories of creating friction, rebuilding healthy dopamine levels, learn to be bored again, become a creator, not a consumer in sleep, These are ways to reclaim your brain as we remove some of the things in our life that are overstimulating to us. In the end, this is a process.

This is where you are slowly putting putting guardrails around areas of your life that honestly is hard to control. And we're all fall into the pit of stimulation and needing more. This is a way to reclaim your brain and reset your dopamine levels. We have a stimulation problem in our society. And so, know, most people aren't lazy, they're overstimulated and they lose their drive to do normal everyday activities.

Where we all fall short, this is just your quick encouragement to start getting back on the path of guardrailing your brain. And don't forget that in June, look at our social media because we are we are putting together an incredible workshop. It's gonna teach you how to reclaim your brain, how to prevent prevent neurodegenerative conditions, and how to how how to create healthy brains in your children. Thanks for listening to another episode of The Real Health Podcast.