Q: What motivates you?
A: Dopamine. You’re motivated by dopamine.
Dopamine is the brain chemical responsible for motivation and drive. When dopamine levels are high we feel like we can take on the world. When dopamine levels are low, we feel unmotivated, or even depressed. Every behavior that we engage in throughout the day influences our dopamine levels. From this mechanistic vantage point we have control over our motivation levels through engaging in behaviors that elevate dopamine levels, not necessarily to a higher level, but to an optimal level.
Students at our campus in Freeport, Maine. Cold plunging elevates dopamine levels, resulting in an increased feeling of motivation throughout the day.
When students and families visit our campus we teach them a number of ways to increase dopamine levels through behaviors such as cold plunging, strength training, and high intensity conditioning exercises. We also teach them how to avoid experiencing a dopamine deficit, which feels like depression. By avoiding chronic overstimulation we allow our dopamine levels to return back to baseline. Understanding how to control our own dopamine levels in an age of abundance, overstimulation, and increasing rates of anxiety and depression is a critical 21st century skill that all students and families should seek to master.
As Dr. Anne Lembke, author of Dopamine Nation points out “The first most important change is to recognize that too much stimulation with too many reinforcing substances and/or behaviors can actually reset the brain and put it into a dopamine deficit state, which is akin to a clinical depression or a clinical anxiety.”
The following is a list of activities and substances that increase our dopamine levels.
Chocolate 55%
Nicotine 100%
Sex 100%
Cocaine 225%
Amphetamine 1000%
Adderall 1000%
The kind of dopamine increases that we want from a long term health perspective are those that require a physical cost in order to prompt a recovery period in which dopamine levels can replenish. Ideally, we also want to build our behavior and reward pathways to crave a run, hike, or cold plunge more than a cigarette, or a line of cocaine.
Exercise:
One hour of walking, jogging, and strength training three times a week for an eight weeks period has been shown to cause an increase in dopamine receptor availability in the reward system. As mentioned in the podcast episode, you are literally creating more real estate in your brain for sustained motivation.
Cold Plunge:
The literature on cold plunging, or cold therapy, demonstrates that duration and temperature make the biggest difference in terms of dopamine increase. This paper shows a significant increase in dopamine following immersion in cold water that was 14 degrees celsius.
Cold water immersion (14 degrees C) increased metabolic rate (by 350%), heart rate and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (by 5%, 7%, and 8%, respectively). Plasma noradrenaline and dopamine concentrations were increased by 530% and by 250% respectively. But even a cold shower can elevate dopamine levels enough to feel a significant boost in mental focus, motivation, and drive.
The data is that not studied but no less important is the benefit of engaging in a difficult challenge for the sake of self-development, self-knowledge, and improved mental and physical fitness. I’ve personally seen the changes in confidence, resilience, and attitude towards embracing future challenges that the regular practice of cold immersion has had on students and adults at our campuses throughout the years.
Another energized and motivated young leader learning about the power of her physiology through experience at our Freeport, Maine campus.
Sleep:
Our sleep quality plays a significant role in dopamine uptake, particularly the amount of REM sleep that we get on a regular basis.
Below are some of the ways that REM sleep impacts dopamine release.
Dopamine release: Dopamine is released more during REM sleep than during other stages of sleep.
Dopamine reuptake: Dopamine reuptake also increases during REM sleep.
Dopamine receptor activity: Dopaminergic neurons in the VTA are active during REM sleep.
Dopamine plays a critical role in the sleep cycle, including:
Initiating REM sleep: A temporary increase in dopamine levels in the basolateral amygdala (BLA) causes the brain to switch from non-REM to REM sleep.
Regulating REM sleep: Dopamine may contribute to the positive regulation of REM sleep.
By treating sleep as a 21st century skill we can build a stronger foundation for motivation across the lifespan. Stay posted for a Physiology First Foundations podcast episode all about sleep coming very soon.
We offer one on one online coaching on all of our Foundations curriculum for youth and families. These sessions cover the foundations of breath, sleep, nutrition, exercise, and brain health in the digital age.
Building a training program for brain and body health is key to optimizing the mechanism of motivation. Physiology First Level One Certification Instructor Lorraine Lyons at our annual Seminar in Freeport, Maine
Our Physiology First Online platform covers a new elements of our curriculum each month. This January we will showing members how to design an exercise program that empowers, inspires, and produces a wide range of health and performance benefits.
Join the evolution and be part of our January cohort!
These behaviors are hugely beneficial for long term health despite the dopamine increase. This gets us closer to the essence of what dopamine is for from an evolutionary perspective. It is a mechanism designed to move us towards the pursuit of goal directed behavior. When this mechanism is hi-jacked by hyper stimulating technology, hyper palatable foods, and an economy that runs on sensory overload we run into a problem that is new for us as a species.
Being mentally exhausted without physical effort.
This problem isn’t solved simply by jumping in a cold plunge, although it can be a powerful reset. It is solved by cultivating the clarity and focus to know who we are, and what we choosing to move towards.
For the remainder of this article I’m going to share what I call The Motivation Equation to help you stay motivated without hacking your physiology through behavior.
The Motivation Equation: Clarity, Focus, and 21st Century Skills
The mechanism of motivation is understanding our own dopaminergic system.
The mastery of motivation is building a life that we are actually motivated to life.
The incremental progress on the path to purpose is what sustains motivation across the lifespan. Small wins, related to big goals, that drive us to evolve into the person that we know at heart we are capable of becoming, is the only path toward intrinsic motivation that doesn't run out.
As I said in Episode One of the Physiology First podcast, I believe that the secret to life is manifesting the essence of our individuality through the art of living. This requires finding our individual path to continual development and growth, in alignment with our deepest purpose. If we can focus with heightened clarity on the core tasks necessary to accomplish our biggest goals, we can proceed to build the skills and collect the tools to meet these goals successfully.
There is nothing about an unfulfilling life that is supposed to make us feel fulfilled, no matter how many times we jump in the ice bath each day. We each have a unique blend of core insights, personal passions, and problems that we see as being the most important to solve. When we get clear about what to focus on, while acquiring the skills to successfully turn focus into focused action, our baseline levels of dopamine increase in relation to the level of satisfaction, motivation, and drive that we have in our everyday lives.
The most motivated people I know are 85 years old. They are bounding with energy, filled with spirit, and resilient to the challenges of life at a level that inspires me more than words can say. They do meet their physical activity requirements (2 full body strength training sessions per week, 180 minutes of aerobic conditioning.) They do engage in cold water swimming on a regular basis. But more importantly they are driven forward by a force far beyond pure physiology. It is the kind of energy that is created when mechanism meets mastery through the pursuit of our most authentic desires and deepest personal goals.
In future episodes of the Physiology First podcast I’m going to share a formula that we share with our students to help you find your path to purpose. I’m going to share a framework for cultivating the skills to thrive in our modern world as well.
For this episode I wanted to provide a short overview of the motivation cycle, from mechanism to mastery. Summary: Dopamine is the mechanism. Building a life that you are widely excited to life is the mastery.
At Physiology First we believe that the future of education is a lifelong process that begins with learning about ourselves. I look forward to sharing an episode on the Foundations of Breath with you next week, and to hearing what topics you’d like to see covered on the show!
Wishing a very inspired holiday season to all who are celebrating, and looking forward to seeing some of you on the Physiology First Online platform for our first live cohort in January!
David
David Bidler is the President of Physiology First. As a speaker, educator, and social entrepreneur David is working to reinvent education for the 21st century.
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