Your brain has around 86 billion neurons. To function as a unit, all of these neurons have to learn to communicate with each other. This happens through the work of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are brain chemicals that carry messages. There are many types of neurotransmitters and each one has its own functions. One of these neurotransmitters is dopamine. Dopamine is regarded as the celebrity among neurotransmitters because of the following:
- An appropriate level of dopamine helps you to focus better. You see, dopamine has to be in the proper amounts inside your brain to help to stay alert, focused and able to remember things easily. Whenever you daydream, forget where you put your keys or simply wonder whether you locked the front door when you left home this morning, your dopamine levels in your brain are likely to be depressed (too low).
Adequate dopamine levels provide you with the desire, drive or motivation to get things done. Dopamine also helps to regulate pleasure so when you’re experiencing pleasure dopamine is released and it also causes you to seek out pleasure promoting activities.
- Dopamine plays a vital role in how the brain controls movement. So its important that your dopamine levels are at the right level to maintain healthy body movements. When there is a shortage of dopamine in the brain conditions of impaired movement like Parkinson’s disease can develop.
Note: Dopamine may also be found in your body and not just within your brain. But the “focus” of this article is the dopamine levels within your brain.
HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT YOUR BRAIN’S DOPAMINE LEVELS ARE LOW?
INCREASE YOUR DOPAMINE LEVELS NATURALLY WITH THE FOLLOWING:
There are many not-so-legal ways to increase your dopamine such as thrill and pleasure seeking activities like speeding (pedal to the metal!) down your quiet neighbourhood street. Not such a good idea eh? We have some better suggestions for increasing your dopamine safely and naturally.
- Exercise! Again and again, exercise keeps on coming up. Studies have documented that cardiovascular exercise increases dopamine levels in your brain. It’s no wonder you feel a particular high coupled with focus and intense drive after you exercise.
- Eat tyrosine and phenylalanine rich foods. Dopamine comes from the amino acid tyrosine. So it’s a no brainer that when you eat tyrosine rich foods, you increase your brain dopamine levels. Additionally, another amino acid called phenylalanine can be converted by the body to tyrosine so it also promotes higher dopamine levels. Here are examples of foods rich in both tyrosine and phenylalanine:
- Meat (turkey, chicken, pork, beef, lamb)
- Fish (tuna, salmon, cod)
- Dairy products (cottage cheese, cream cheese, yoghurt)
- Eggs
- Tofu and soy protein
- Spirulina
- Other foods rich in tyrosine are bananas, legumes, seeds, mustard greens & spinach, avocado.
Beetroot. This root vegetable is rich in betaine which stimulates a compound called SAMe which in turn aids in dopamine production in the body.- Turmeric – contains the active ingredient curcumin which has been shown to help prevent the breakdown of dopamine in nerve cells.
- Drink plenty of Green tea as it contains L-theanine, a component that increases dopamine, serotonin and GABA brain levels. L-theanine can also be taken in a supplement form.
Gingko biloba has long been used for different brain-related problems including forgetfulness and lack of concentration. Research suggests that ginkgo produces some of these benefits by increasing dopamine levels in the brain.
If you have low levels of dopamine in your brain, you can suffer from a variety of mental disorders like depression, ADHD, schizophrenia and an army of addictions. Don’t let these happen to you dear reader. Increase your dopamine levels the natural way instead.
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