Dopamine – neurotransmitters
From the book – Chapter 4: Hormones and Brain Chemicals
Dopamine
Functions: reward, motivation, pleasure, movement, focus, learning.
Imbalances linked to: addiction, Parkinson disease, schizophrenia, ADHD.
High levels: can cause mania, hallucinations, impulsivity.
Low levels: can cause depression, lack of motivation, movement problems.
Natural boosters: achieving goals, exercise, music, adequate sleep.
Clinic note. Pleasure from finishing a small task is not addiction. Addiction is when the seeking takes the life. Parkinson and schizophrenia are medical. Do not diagnose them from this paragraph.
Read the full chapter – Chapter 4: Hormones and Brain Chemicals
Stories from real life
- Night Shifts and Biscuits – Neha, thirty-one, was a staff nurse in Mumbai who worked three weeks of night shifts each month. Between 2 and 4 a.m. she kept going on…
- Tired All the Time, and Not Just Sad – Kavita, thirty-eight, taught primary school in Lucknow. For almost six months she had felt tired in a way that sleep did not fix. She had put…
- Heat, Hormones and Hurtful Words – Lakshmi, forty-seven, ran a small tailoring shop in Madurai. Over the past year her periods had become irregular, and she woke drenched at night with hot…
- It Is Not Only a Chemical – Tom, twenty-nine, was an engineer in Glasgow who had been feeling flat for months. He ate takeaway at his desk, slept until noon at weekends and…
Shloks
- Bhagavad Gita 6.16 – Yoga is not for one who overeats or starves, nor for one who sleeps too much or never sleeps.
More on this topic: The brain, hormones and body chemistry behind your moods
More questions
- Noradrenaline (norepinephrine) – neurotransmitters
- GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) – neurotransmitters
- Glutamate – neurotransmitters
- Acetylcholine – neurotransmitters
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- Cortisol (stress hormone) – hormones affecting mental health
- Thyroid hormones (T3, T4) – hormones affecting mental health
- Estrogen – hormones affecting mental health
- Progesterone – hormones affecting mental health
- Testosterone – hormones affecting mental health