In this thread i will explain to you guys why dopamine is very important in regards to looksmaxxing and ill also be telling you ways to to get ideal dopamine levels naturally without taking hard to get prescription items.
What is Dopamine?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that transmits messages (thrive/motivation) in our nervous system that goes from neuron to neuron basicly motivating or rewarding how a certain action felt making us repeat that certain action more likely.
Dopamine is the 'motivational' neurotransmitter to do certain activities in your day to day normie life whether they are good or bad for you, this doesnt instantly mean you enjoy doing those things. You do those activities because you 'crave' them like wanting to eat some junk food or watching porn or go to the gym and following a good diet. So in this thread i will explain to you how to take advantage of it without taking hard to get prescription items like amphetamines.
How does Dopamine work?
How its created: Dopamine is created due to your tyrosine converting to L-DOPA and then to the magic dopamine.
From there the dopamine could still be converted into 2 other neurotransmitters called norepinephrine and epinephrine.
But dont worry the dopamine stored in your brain will mostly (90%+) be used as dopamine unlike the dopamine that is stored in the nervous system and the adrenal glands that could get converted up to 90% in the norepinephrine and epinephrine which is used to regulate cardiovascular functions, blood vessel tones and the gastro activitity, it also activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight).
How it works: Dopamine itself doesnt make you 'happy' nor 'sad' since its neutral.
If you under expect your results/rewards your brain releases dopamines which motivates you to go do that by binding to a dopamine receptor (D1-D5) which triggers a signal telling you to redo it. Vice versa if you expected a better result/reward
There also is 2 'types' of dopamines; Long term gains (LTG) and Short term fixes (STF).
LTG: long term gains of dopamine is often related to a productive or challenging task which made you put effort in like going to the gym and following a strict diet.
STF: short term fixes of dopamine is created by doing 'easy' things like eating junkfood and doomscrolling black pill edits on you phone.
Receptors: There is 5 different receptors dopamine can bind too; D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5 i will explain them below.
D1: the main role of the D1 receptor is motivation and action, having high D1 results to more motivation for a specific goal like working out and staying consistent.
Having low D1 could result to apathy and low energy levels.
D1 is mostly found in the prefrontal cortex and striatum, you can see this receptor like the fuel for your motivation.
D2: the main role of the D2 receptor is linked to self control/habit, having stable D2 results to better self control due to you deciding if something is worth the effort or not by comparing the LTG to SFT. Unstable D2 results in addiction.
D2 is mostly found in the striatum, pituitary gland and in the limbic system, you can see this receptor like a scale which balances the reward system and avoids bad habits.
D3: the main role of the D3 receptor is regulating your emotions, anticipations and cravings meaning that balanced D3 could result to less desire for short term dopamine fixes. Unbalanced D3 could lead to addictions, intense cravings, mood swings, depression and lack of pleasure.
D3 is mostly found in the limbic areas, you can see this receptor like a amplifier of short term dopamine fixes.
D4: the main role of the D4 receptor is novelty and risk seeking, meaning that controlled D4 results to a balanced curiosity meaning you experiment with new things, uncontrolled D4 results to overly risk taking, lack of interest and adhd like symptoms.
D4 is mostly found in the frontal cortex, amygdala and hippocampus.
D5: the main role of the D5 receptor is focus and clear thinking, active D5 meaning that you are able to focus sharply and think clearly in regards of making decisions, unactive D5 could lead to anxiety, overthinking, brain fog and lack of attention.
D5 is mostly located in the hippocampus hypothalamus and the thalamus
How to dopamine max
In this part i will explain how to maximise each receptor and what to avoid to get its best potential.
D1 optimization;
1. Tyrosine rich diet, as we now know dopamine productions starts of as L-tyrosine, L-DOPA and then dopamine do this by eating 1.2-1.6g/kg so if 70 kilo eat 84g of Protein to maximise brain optimisation and D1 levels, since proteins turns into tyrosine.
2. Reduce short term dopamine overload to rebalance D1 levels by cutting back watching too much tiktok, eating junk food etc.
3. Weightlifting, ideally heavy weightlifting so meaning low volume high intensity.
4. Cold exposure, this has been proven to make the dopamine receptors more sensitive there for increasing D1 levels, this study isnt done on humans yet only on rats so this might be cope.
5. Sunlight exposure, more sunlight exposure (30mins in midday) creates more vitamine d which indirectly supports dopamine production there for increasing the chances of increasing your D1 levels, especially morning sunlight exposure (20mins) is good since it makes you more alert and is better for your mood.
6. Sleep, FIX your circadian rhythm and sleep for 8-9 hours. Sleep deprivation decreases the D1 receptors sensitivity.
7. Avoid bright artificial lights after sunset, you can do this by using warm lighting (redlight) on your phone and avoid screen 1 hour maximum before going to sleep.
Must avoid;
1. Dont chase dopamine spikes like watching tiktok and eating junk food.
2. Stress, stress lowers D1 receptors density.
D2 Optimization:
1. Avoid over stimulation, especially short term dopamine fixes since it makes your D2 sensivity lower.
2. Walking, go for atleast 30 minute walks a day, the best is 45-60 minutes a day. This improves your D2 density meaning bigger chances of D2
3. Routines, go make a solid routine this works due to the D2 receptors liking predictability, so plan out your day. Dont make it a chaos
4. Eat brain supporting nutrients, eat nutrients like Omega 3, magnesium, zinc, B vitamins and protein rich food, omega 3s increases D2 receptors density. Magnesium, zinc and B vitamins support dopamine signaling and protein rich foods for the potein which gets converted to tyrosine, L DOPA and then dopamine.
5. Improve sleep, you can do this by fixing your circadium rhythm by sleeping at the same time each day, also sleep in a cold room (65-68F and 18-19C)
This improves D2 receptor availability.
6. Meditation and cold showers, they both increase D2 receptor availability, do this by meditating 20-30 minutes each day this works due to it increasing D2 receptors availability, balancing out the impulse controles, and lowers cortisol which 'kills' the D2 receptors density.
7. Limit addictions, being addicted to tiktok, porn, junk food etc, lowers the D2 response to natural rewards like going to the gym, following a diet, reading etc. Youll get more pleasure out of life doing this.
Must avoid: opposites of the optimization so stress, sleep deprivation, processed/low nutrient food, short term dopamine overloads and putting no effort in to your life.
D3 Optimization:
1. Tyrosine rich diet, eat enough protein foods like eggs, fish, chicken etc.
2. Walking, go for atleast 30 minute walks a day, the best is 45-60 minutes a day. This improves your D3 by sorting out your limbic dopamine regulation which is good for things like your mood and cravings.
3. Routines, go make a solid routine this works due to the D3 receptors liking predictability, so plan out your day. Dont make it a chaos
4. Short term dopamine restriction, take one day of the week with no screens, no music and just go for walks and other enjoyable activities to reset the limbic system which refreshes the dopamine receptors sensivity
Must avoid:
1. Overload of dopamine spikes, so spending your whole day on the forum, tiktok or jerking off.
2. Avoid stress. this makes your D3 sensitivity worse.
3. Sleep depriviation, this worsens your D3 dopamines receptors and leads to mood swings, cravings and worse self control
D4 Optimization:
1. Sleep good, meaning that you fix your sleep rhythm and sleep in a 65-68F/18c room temperature.
2. Walking, go for atleast 30 minute walks a day, the best is 45-60 minutes a day. This improves D4 neurotransmission overtime and regulates stress.
3. Enough protein, Do this by eating 1.2-1.6g/kg of protein so if your 70 kilo eat 84g of protein, this improves dopamine production which improves D4 production
4. Thinking, do this by stimulating your prefrontal cortex by doing stuff like memory, chess, coding, learning a new language, writing etc, this works due to D4 primarily being found in the prefrontal cortex which needs complex thinking.
5. Improve focus, do this by monotasking instead of multitasking. This optimizes D4 due to doing 1 task at a time which strenghtens the neural pathways to the D4 receptors.
Must avoid:
1. Poor sleep, this reduces D4 density.
2. Stress. interferes with the D4 signaling.
3. Poor diet, not enough nutrition = not enough nutrients to make dopamine off
4. To high novelty, this means you are too 'curious and keep switching things that your doing. This causes less responsive D4 receptors.
D5 Optimization:
1.Thinking, do this by stimulating your prefrontal cortex by doing stuff like memory, chess, coding, learning a new language, writing etc, this works due to D5 receptors being heavily involved in long term potentiation which strenghtens neural connections while learning.
2. Sleep, fix your circadian rhythm and make sure to get good quality sleep. Poor sleep causes reduced D5 expressions in the hippocampus.
3. Moderate cardio, do this by being in the moderate hard beating zone which is 200-your age, and then calculate 50-70% of that number. you can be in this zone by doing light jogging for 20-40 minutes 3 to 5 times a week. Doing this results in increase of dopamine release, D5 receptor sensivity, improves blood flow in important D5 receptor zones like the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex, reducesses stress and inflammation which damages dopamine signaling.
4. Eat brain supporting nutrients, eat nutrients like Omega 3, magnesium, zinc, B vitamins and protein rich food, omega 3s increases D2 receptors density. Magnesium, zinc and B vitamins support dopamine signaling and protein rich foods for the potein which gets converted to tyrosine, L DOPA and then dopamine.
5. Active learning, do this by learning new things like languages, instruments, flags etc. This works due to D5 receptors being heavily involved in long term potentiation which strenghtens neural connections while learning.
Must avoid:
1. Stress, this interferes with your receptors due to it suppressing the sensivity of them
2. Poor sleep, this disrupts the D5 receptors that are in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.
3. Bad diet, eating to much sugar causes dopamine spikes which results in D5 receptor downregulation. Not eating enough protein will lead to not enough dopamine production since you need protein for that, eat 1.2-1.6g/kg of protein per bodyweight so if your 100kg eat atleast 120g of protein.
This was it for today lads,
My next guide will be on how to optimise dopamine with products instead of natural ways.
i will be giving credits to @aids for giving me this idea
Tagging the interested @kazama @FBl
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