One of the most significant chemical compounds in our body is dopamine. It is a messenger in the brain which relates to attention, memory, motivation, and partially to body movement control. When the dopamine level increases, the person becomes flooded with pleasure and the feeling of fullness of life, and this condition impels one to try and repeat the situation that led up to it. If dopamine decreases, it causes lower motivation, tiredness, mood swings, poor memory and other unwelcome conditions. It is up to you to make sure you have enough dopamine.

Benefits of increasing dopamine levels

When you get to upping the dopamine level in a natural way, you can rely on getting the following benefits:

• Heightened enthusiasm, strong motivation, high performance and productivity
• Better cognitive and learning processes, stronger and longer memory
• The ability to concentrate gets improved
• Lower dependence on drugs and other addictive substances
• All kinds of creativity become developed at a quick pace
• Brighter moods
• Self-confidence increases, less anxiety and fear
• Expanded socializing, more rewarding relationships
• Higher resistance to pain

Whereas when dopamine is low, it often results in the following:

• Poor libido
• Lack of sleep
• Tiredness
• Less supple muscles
• Low motivation
• Shorter attention span
• Apathetic bouts, lethargy

Put in more physical exercises

Regular workouts are known as a strong beneficial factor for the brain. Among other things, they make the brain generate more dopamine, so you increase your dopamine level with every workout.

Professional runners know this phenomenon, referred to as a runner’s high. They describe this as an upsurge of high spirits combined with relaxation, which is clearly produced by the dopamine level increase.

Get in the habit of meditation

As you meditate deeper and deeper, you improve your mental health. Experts state that meditation is also advantageous for the amount of dopamine in the body.

Include more protein in your diet

We need to have something like 20 different amino acids in the body. They all are necessary for having enough protein. The body produces several of the necessary amino acids, but it is advisable to get more different ones from food, and proteins are full of them.

The most needful amino acids for generating dopamine are tyrosine and phenylalanine; a good supply of them can be found in beef, turkey, egg dishes, dairy, soy, and other protein-packed foods. As you pile these dishes on your plate, you boost your dopamine amount.

Ensure sufficient sleep

Our overall health is greatly dependent on a sufficiently long sleep. By the information from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the average adult ought to enjoy not less than seven hours of night sleep. If you fail to get sufficient sleep, the body’s dopamine receptors begin to suffer from such deprivation.

Choose positive music

Pick out songs and pieces of music that can bring your spirits up, put them in a special playlist and play it when you are feeling low. Music might chase away your listless mood caused by lack of dopamine.

It is not only a sort of compensation – scientists say that pleasant sensation caused by listening to nice music can increase the release of this neurotransmitter.

Avoid lots of saturated fats

Besides being advantageous in all respects, healthy eating habits work towards helping keep dopamine up. Research on animals revealed that a saturated fat-rich diet affects dopamine functioning in the brain, causing belated and milder responses. But the conclusions are not final, and it’s doubtful that humans will evince the same response.

Coffee is a well-known dopamine stimulator, yet since some time after consuming it, the neurotransmitter crawls down, so people may grow the habit of drinking coffee very frequently.

Processed sugars should be ousted

True, when you eat candies and drink sodas, these processed sugar foods boost your dopamine, but only for a short period. Besides, this rise is not natural because sugar (similar to alcohol and certain drugs) does not really improve natural production of dopamine. So such a temporary effect is unstable and unwelcome.

If you happened to take much-sugared food at a sitting, you might start to feel very elated immediately; but you will also notice that this condition is short-lived and passes soon, leaving you in dejection. This is known as a sugar high.

Get rid of stressful situations

Stress is accountable for a great number of physical and mental issues; besides, it brings down the amount of dopamine. Look through the main stressors in your life and see which of them can be controlled or even shaken off.

Many of the stressors, sadly, are beyond our control. These can be managed through acquiring the habit of meditation, or with the help of workouts and massage appointments. Such taking care of oneself takes the edge off stress.

Vitamin D With Sunshine

On sunny days the easiest natural activity aimed at higher dopamine is basking in the sun! Your brain will react to it with more dopamine. Add to it a Vitamin D supplement, and you’re in the pink. The reason for the latest piece of advice is that experts aver that half of the population seems to be close to Vitamin D deficiency. Ensure that you are guarded against that and increase formation of dopamine.

Ginseng as a stimulator

Some kinds of ginseng stimulate dopamine release, namely American Ginseng and Siberian Ginseng.

American Ginseng produces the desired effect on the brain and has been proven to enhance attention and sharpen cognitive abilities.

As for Siberian Ginseng, studies reveal that it possesses antidepressant qualities due to its possibility to elevate dopamine release.

A colder environment

Cold is another marvelous dopamine stimulator. You can begin getting your dopamine up naturally by introducing a minute of colder water to your daily shower. Increase this time at the pace you are comfortable with.

Alternately you can splash your hands and face in cold water, keep your feet in cold water. If you take it well, proceed to plunging yourself in cold water, or maybe even take up cryotherapy. Once you’ve picked what you like best, do it as often as you can.