DOPAMINE

Can You Use this Addiction Hormone

to Your Advantage ??

 

Hey There Freedom Fighter,

Last Week I when I wrote about How to Tackle Personal & Family Problem , and among 1000’s of reply I got there was an interesting reply from Dr Annu.

While the email itself had so many practical Tips on tackling personal & family problem , there was a really interesting mention of

“Give Yourself the Pleasure of “Target Done” Shots.

.

 

This Single Idea If you can understand will Help you to really get more things done and having great fun doing it.

So Here I am writing about it in this Tuesday’s Personal Letter to you.

 

Five Hormones that Control Us (Literally)

1. Endorphins [Endurance Hormone]
2. Dopamine [Reward or Pleasure Hormone]
3. Serotonin [Leadership Hormone]
4. Oxytocin [Trust / Safety Hormone]
5. Corticosols [Stress Hormone]

 

I know you may be knowing the physiological role of these hormones but TRUST me there is little that you know about the psychological effects of these hormone.

Not Only you will enjoy learning the psychological aspects of these hormones but also  change the WAY you LOOK at these hormone.

I will discuss about these hormones one by one in my upcoming Tuesday’s Letters to Freedom Fighters.

 

Understanding Dopamine

from Evolutionary Point of View

 

First a FUN Fact – Dopamine Hormone is Exclusive to Human Beings and many consider that it may be JUST the Factor that separates Humans from other species on this planet.

So Whats So Different about this HORMONE ??

Essentially DOPAMINE forms the Main Neurotransmitter for the REWARD System of the Brain.

The main psychological function of this Hormone is to give high psychological incentive to do activities which are routine but extremely essential for survival.

Activities like Eating , Having Sex , completing some work.

Now In Hormonal Hierarchy When Dopamine Exists in the Body, the psychological effects of no other hormone matters.

When Everything is in Balance , this is a Beautiful Hormone.  Dopamine gives you the extra incentive to go and complete routine works with more enthusiasm.

But When there is an Dopamine Dependence [As in cases of Alcoholism , Drug Addiction , Smokers, Gambling ] , the dopamine will completely hijack your system and make you do things that are even harmful.

 

Such is the Power of Dopamine.

Power of DOPAMINE 

Have You Ever wondered why are you so addicted to your SMART Phones ??

Well Guess What, All the smart phone makers and top app makers [Facebook , Whats app, Twitter, Instagram, etc ] have designed their products and services to HACK Your Brain Dopamine System and get you addicted.

You get a Email Notification – Ding . You Open the Email . Ding Dopamine Release . You Feel Good

Somebody Liked your Photo . You get a Notification . DING  . Dopamine Release . You Feel Good

Somebody Sends you a Whats App Forwarded Message . Notification . Ding . Dopamine Release . You Feel Good

So much is the behavior ingrained in you that if you do not get any notification , you open your facebook app and check for any new updates . You Open Your Facebook App . DING . Dopamine Release . You Feel Good.

 

Imagine you are driving your car. You get a Whats App Notification . You will reach your destination in another 10 Minutes. And You know that the Whats App Message cannot be anything important (and most probably some stupid forwarded joke or fake news) .

But Just at the next red light or for many while still driving you open your app to see whats the new message.

Ding. Dopamine Release . You Feel Good.

 

You are all motivated to Study Hard for NEET PG Preparation . You now start looking for all books , apps, programs. And You Find Medicoapps 1800 Pages Notes. Wow , this 1800 Pages can Help You complete you syllabubs in next 6 Months.

You Hit on the Buy Now Button . Complete the Purchase . DING . Dopamine Release . You Feel Good 

(And Even You know that you have all the necessary review books, dams notes and other stuff packed under you study table and so these notes will be a utter waste for you)

 

Controlling the Power of DOPAMINE 

By Now You Must have realized the Power of Dopamine.

This is a WILD Beast which if you learn to Tame will be the single biggest reason for your success in almost anything.

Before trying to control and modulate the Dopamine Release Lets see the Hidden Factors behind it. Just as a caution the below mentioned details are about self meditated release of dopamine and may or may not be applicable to release /level of dopamine due to drugs / nicotine / alcohol, etc.

1. Dopamine Release is Stronger to Visual Clues- Creation of Visual Clues
2. Dopamine Release is Pleasure Hormone – Making Boring things pleasurable

Lets Understand Both these one by one

 

Dopamine & Visual Clues 

Self Meditated release of Dopamine is secreted more when you are clearly able to see the results. Remember the Notification pop up on your mobile when someone likes your photo on Facebook or when someone sends  you a Whats App message.

Visual clues can be really make or break when it comes to DOPAMINE.

That is the reason people put pictures of Ferrari , Ali Bhat , Ranbir Kappor on Wall (Whenever you see it, Ding – Dopamine Release . You Feel Happy).

So Advice for You .

Put A Visual Clue for Your Goals

Want to Get Radiology Seat in PG ??? Get a Photograph of a Radiologist Working and Paste it where you study.

Want to Be One of the Top Ranker in PG . Take Photograph of toppers of Previous Year and Make it your Screensaver on Mobile

Yes the Most Important Thing. Daily Routines.

Plan your day and Write it in a piece of paper. Research has clearly proven that if you want to achieve any goal , write it down.

You may already have in your mind what all you plan for tomorrow. But Dont deny your HARD WORKING and SUPPORTING Brain of much needed Dopamine.

Write down your Daily Plans [And You can keep doing to even after you clear you PG Exams]

 

Now Lets Discuss the Second Aspect

 

Dopamine is a Pleasure Hormone

Now another most important thing to remember is that Dopamine is a Pleasure Hormone.

So No matter what you do , If you cannot make it pleasurable , Good Bye Dopamine.

So I must be Joking. How can anyone make STUDYING Pleasurable.

Well Here are a Few Tips

1. Break it into smaller pieces. Remember Every Small Piece Complete is DING. Dopamine Release . You Feel Happy. So if your target is Read 20 Pages of Biochemistry Tomorrow. All You will get is ONE Shot of Dopamine Release. But Instead of Making your target your as 20 pages of Biochemistry to Read 1> Amino Acid Classification – 2> Amino Acid Properties  3> Amino Acid Absorption 4> So on and So forth , so that the you have just listed all the topics in the same 20 pages , Look What You have Done. With Each Small Topic you complete and Tick off the List , You get a DING. Dopamine Release . You Feel Happy.
2. Make it Easy to Do. Always Do easy things first . Because Once the Dopamine is released it will keep you doing more and more to get more Ding . Dopamine Release . You Feel Happy Cycle. So Start your day with something really simple and then move to harder tasks.
3. Give Yourself Some Real Rewards Once you complete it. Almost No body like the taste of Alcohol, but everyone drinks it for the BUZZ which comes after drinking it. So Even though you may not thoroughly enjoy studying but associating it with something you enjoy at end of every task completed will make the entire study enjoyable. One such way is by Ticking the DONE Items. Everyone Enjoys Ticking (Right !!!) Also Like I love Coffee . So After Every Morning Exercise I make myself a HOT Home Brewed Coffee. And if I do not exercise any day , I do not drink coffee that day. There are days I exercise for 5 Minutes only to get myself my Coffee. You can tie your Study Schedule to Facebook. So Every Item you complete on Your Todo list , You get 10 Minutes on Facebook / Instagram. 
4. Any More More Innovative Ways you can think of

 

There are so so many students / people I know that are already using the above hack to trick their brains into doing more.

 
 
Hope You liked and will benefit from this article.

 

I would Love to Know Your Thoughts and also if I should write such analysis on Other 4 Psychological Hormones .

Email me at abhishek@medicoapps.org

 

 

 

Previous Week Email –

How to Tackle Family & Personal Problems during NEET PG Preparation – Click Here to Read