How To Reset Your Brain's Reward System & Never Feel Empty Again | Andrew Huberman

0:00We just confirmed that Andrew Huberman is coming to the Summit of Greatness, along with some other amazing speakers. We've got Dr. Tara Sward, Brendon Burchard, Gabby Bernstein, Amy Purdy, and some huge entertainers and performers. Make sure to get your tickets right now. Summit of Greatness is happening September 12th and 13th here in Hollywood. I can't wait to see you there. Hi, my name is Lewis Howes, and welcome to The Daily Motivation Show.

0:35How much dopamine should we have a day? How many times should we be triggered in dopamine? And do we have dopamine just by sitting and doing kind of mindless stuff? Do we still have a low level of dopamine? Okay. Or does it only come in moments when our senses are heightened? So dopamine can come from surprise. so if you're bored and all of a sudden I don't know someone you really want to hear from calls you suddenly you have energy you were lethargic and depressed and suddenly there's your lift that's the dopamine response how much it depends so there's some hardwired things that are important to the propagation of our species that have direct access to the dopamine system finding mates for instance the birth of a new child right creating more progeny uh food great tasting food social connection um water when we're thirsty the amount of dopamine that's released will be proportional to how badly we crave that now in the sort of world of addiction this is a well understood phenomenon because what happens is i define addiction as a progressive narrowing of the things that bring you pleasure, meaning a progressive narrowing of what allows for dopamine release, right?

1:52And relief from addiction, in addition to people moving away from the addicting substance, often involves a progressive expansion of the things that give them belief, more appreciation. A lot of 12-step programs, NAAA, have these elements of finding appreciation. Gratitude is something else. That's right. Than the addiction. Right, because people have been living in this tunnel of addiction. Now, barring addiction and taking mania out of the equation, pushing aside depression, we say, well, how much dopamine? Well, throughout your day, what will happen is if you're used to succeeding at certain things, one, you have to be, I'm not talking to you particularly, but one has to be a little bit cautious to continue to pick up those dopamine rewards.

2:36So$100 to you at one point in your life probably meant a lot, a nice crisp$100 bill. Later in life, it might not get you as much in life, but having an appreciation for the fact that you have money at all if you understand that that dopamine release actually gives you energy to continue to pursue more of what you want then you start to think of dopamine as not just an end point but a way to propel you forward so that's so that's why gratitude and sorry i didn't mean to cut you off but that's why gratitude and appreciation is important because ultimately you don't want to be delighted by everything but you also don't want to be constantly feeling as if you have nothing.

3:15The sort of ideas... Lacking. That's right. I mean, the idea of abundance, I do like this concept of abundance. The idea of abundance is not that you have so much that you don't need more. It's that there's enough out there that there's plenty for everybody. And so it's very important when we're thinking about reward mechanisms in the brain that we understand that dopamine is thoughts about, movement towards, and the experience of pursuing things that are outside the reach of your skin. Mates, mate, you know, a partner, food, money, a career, a degree, things that are outside your reach. There's another reward system, which is the serotonin system, which is a system that doesn't put us into forward motion, but tends to make us feel good in our current position.

4:04It makes us feel calm. It's not about pursuing things. It's about feeling good with what we already have. And the serotonin system is more activated by sense of gratitude, reflection on, I love my dog. I love my friends. I love my partner. I'm so grateful to have what I have. I have everything I need within the confines of my skin. And that's an important reward mechanism that nature has built in to balance the dopamine system. So that creates us more relaxed. Serotonin, right? That's right. And it makes us invest in the resources that we already have. What do you mean invest in those resources?

4:40To look around your office at the end of the day and go, so great I have. Appreciate what we already have. It's appreciation, it's gratitude. It builds social bonds. Remember, these chemicals exist in us and they exist in other animals as far down as mice and dogs and monkeys. And obviously there are huge differences between humans and all the other species on the planet. You know, I mean, huge differences. So I'm not trying to say that we're all the same, but there are some basic mechanisms of reward for moving toward things and basic mechanisms of reward for helping us build social bonds with the people we already have that are fundamental to the survival of our species and fundamental to the evolution of our species.

5:21So I think that when we think about rewards, we want to be able to access both. We want to be in pursuit, but we also appreciate what we have. Absolutely. And the two balance each other and they actually reset each other. And this is often why people who are in rabid pursuit of a medal or money or a big IPO or to set up their company, they get there and then they go, now what? I'm depressed. They didn't. Exactly. Because they didn't appreciate what they had along the way. It was always, I need this to fulfill some need within myself. They actually end up with a lot of resources that don't trigger the dopamine response.

6:00Because for them, it was about the pursuit.

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6:58Again, have an amazing day and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the Daily Motivation Show.