20 Ways To Increase Dopamine (Naturally & Supplementary)

Hi, I’m Dr. Richard W. Aldrich, a neuroscientist & consultant. Today we’re going to talk about how to increase dopamine levels. Do you want to make more money? Do you want to have more focus? Increasing this chemical dopamine can be your answer if you answered yes to any of those.

You’ll be better off if you raise your dopamine, but we want to get you at the right level as a pharmacist. I deal with drugs that alter your dopamine all the time.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter or type of molecule used by the neurons in our brain to signal and communicate. It’s responsible for some of our favorite emotions, such as experiencing joy, pleasure, and reward when we accomplish a goal.

Often called the motivation molecule, dopamine’s quest inspires us to work hard for our future rewards. Anticipating this reward allows us to persevere through the difficult path of accomplishing our goals.

What is dopamine?

It’s a neurotransmitter similar to a hormone but travels to the nervous system instead of through the blood. It transmits communication dopamine is produced in various parts of the brain. One specific part is called a nucleus accumbens.

It’s deep inside the brain and involved with motivation drive. If they destroy this structure, you lose your motivation and your drive. The reward system is affected, and I’m talking about the reward system.

Here is some importance of dopamine:

• It plays a large role in our ability to stay motivated to complete tasks to get up.
• It’s also responsible for managing our pleasure reward system.
• Dopamine significantly impacts your ability to control and manage those cravings.
• Dopamine plays a significant role in proper motor function.
• It also regulates other hormones, specifically prolactin. When dopamine levels drop, prolactin is elevated significantly,, resulting in various pathological disorders.
• It involves everything from cognitive therapy to essential goal-setting.

What is low dopamine & deficiency?

Dopamine can convert into noradrenaline and adrenaline. Norepinephrine and epinephrine both remain in the brain and the adrenal glands. When the dopamine system works correctly, we feel motivated, focused, happy, and sharp.

• When our dopamine system is out of balance, we can feel lethargic, depressed, fuzzy-headed, and uninspired by life.

Let’s talk about the low ones. If it’s too low, you may have Parkinson’s disease symptoms; in these patients, sixty to eighty percent of their cells are not firing.

They need to get their dopamine to a level where they can focus on having motivation and concentration. But then some have it too high these are schizophrenic.

They can have hallucinations and lose touch with reality. This article will discuss the natural supplements to boost your dopamine and get you all your desired success.

• Dopamine is fundamental for several different processes in our brains. When we aren’t creating enough dopamine, we lose sensitivity to the dopamine we produce.

Remember, noradrenaline and adrenaline are involved in the fight and-flight response. If someone has long-term stress, they produce many of these stress hormones. This long-term stress and adrenal dysfunction can lead to a dopamine deficiency.

Causes of low dopamine production

Poor lifestyle choices can cause low dopamine levels to underlying health conditions. The better we understand how certain things affect our dopamine levels, the more equipped we can make good choices to be healthy, happy, and motivated.

1. Low protein diets: Low protein diet amino acids that failed to provide those amino acid precursors like tyrosine and phenylalanine.

2. Nutritional deficiencies: Nutritional deficiencies that fail to provide nutrient cull factors such as deficiencies in vitamin b6 or vitamin C, copper, iron, and magnesium.

3. Blood sugar problems: It’s caused by high-carb, high-sugar diets that lead to insulin resistance type 2 diabetes. When you have blood sugar problems, it suffers if you don’t have enough glucose in the brain. You start having all issues with dopamine and other neurotransmitters.

Studies suggest that diets high in sugar, especially in high fructose corn syrup and saturated fats, may reduce dopamine levels.

4. Stress: Stress is responsible for fluctuating cortisol levels and adrenal fatigue syndrome. Studies show chronic stress can alter gene expression and change how dopamine signaling works in the brain. When you’re stressed, it’s relatively easy to lose that dopamine and lose that driving self-motivation.

5. Genetic disorder: Many people suffer from dopamine deficiency for genetic reasons. Any genetic problem or dysfunction can cause this type of situation.

6. Bacterial overgrowth: Clostridium difficile (C.diff) causes a low dopamine problem. Any illness in our body affects our minds and creates depression or stress. So, at this time, the patient feels a low dopamine level.

7. Parkinson’s Disease: It is a degenerative disorder that can, over time, affect the neurons in your brain. The brain controls the neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, etc.

8. Excessive caffeine: Excessive caffeine affects dopamine production and breaks regular function.

9. Unhealthy lifestyle: Unhealthy lifestyle can cause problems with dopamine-producing nerve cells. Your food, sleep, work, and other daily habits are mainly responsible for low-level dopamine.

10. Illegal drugs: Many illegal drugs are dangerous to your health and dopamine level. Smoking and alcohol are the biggest threats to your brain and dopamine.

If you’re overweight, your body, brain, and everything operate differently from a healthy mind and body. So obesity, aside from the fact that it can harm your dopamine levels. It can cause a cascade and a domino effect of other negative health consequences.

You can see here there are a lot of different factors here that go on. We can assess things through testing to help us understand some of the potential root causes behind this imbalance or disturbance to your dopamine levels.

Signs of low dopamine

Low dopamine has many symptoms, like stress, anger, depression, fatigue, etc. Here are some common low dopamine symptoms includes:

1. Lack of interest in life and decreased motivation and drive.

2. You may feel bored quickly, depressed, inability to feel pleasure, and feelings of hopelessness.

3. Fatigue, an inability to focus, or impaired concentration are other low dopamine symptoms.

4. Poor memory, altered sleep patterns, Restless leg syndrome, resting tremors, and Parkinson’s disease are all symptoms of a dopamine deficiency.

5. Low dopamine is often found in people with impulsive behaviors and addictions.

6. Sleep patterns like sleeping disorders or oversleeping problems might be negatively affected.

7. Being deficient in dopamine can cause you to become more depressed.

20 ways to increase dopamine naturally

I want to share some healthy ways you can implement daily to improve your dopamine levels.

There are many different positive ways to improve dopamine, which we want to discuss in this article. Let’s start with 20 ways to improve dopamine naturally.

1. Decrease your sugar intake

Sugar alters brain chemistry by disrupting dopamine levels directly. If I already ate a candy bar, I would get high sugar. It goes the same for alcohol and recreational drugs.

• Sugar stimulates the same euphoric pathways that are targeted by alcohol and drugs.

So, a decreased level of dopamine and the brain would lead to sugar addiction. Drugs can also initiate it, like alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and sugar.

• Limiting sugar intake will help fight these addictive dopamine-depleting sugar cravings, which is a great way.

I was able to overcome my bad sugar. It helped decrease my sugar cravings.

2. Eat tyrosine food

The second way to gain dopamine levels is to take tyrosine. Our brain cells continuously need to manufacture new neurotransmitters for proper mood regulation. They use our amino acids as their raw materials. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and 20 different amino acids make up the protein that our bodies need.

The amino acid l-phenylalanine is a precursor for the production of dopamine. It is an essential amino acid that makes dopamine in our bodies. Our body cannot make it without having eaten or supplemented it. Once we consume tyrosine, our bodies will synthesize it into dopamine.

• It is a great way to increase the open levels in our body by providing it with the tools it needs to build in a great way. I like to get vanilla tyrosine by eating bananas, especially red bananas.

• Eating almonds, apples, watermelons, cherries, yogurt, beans, eggs, and meat isn’t always enough for someone with a major depressive disorder.

3. Avoid caffeine

Coffee and caffeine products are like sugar, even though coffee will give you a fantastic energy boost. It’s doing more harm than good. After I drink coffee and I feel that great initial kick of caffeine. The dopamine in my body decreases.

• Caffeine can cause a vicious cycle of problems in the long term.
• The best way to fix this is to cut out caffeine.

I’ve cut out caffeine in my diet and feel full of energy from my choice.

4. Set a routine

Ideally, I schedule a routine with adequate time for work and rest. It’s best to have seven to eight hours of sleep at night with periods of physical activity. It is high-intensity interval training and high-intensity strength training.

A great book about Spark is The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise of the Brain by Jim Wright. These cardio exercises have been proven to help depression, ATD addiction, and Alzheimer’s.

• Set a routine and set an adequate time for work.
• Take rest. Ideally, the 24-hours day should include at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night in a combination of periods with physical activity.

Undersleeping or oversleeping combined with a lack of regular exercise can bring the brain dopamine. Because when you sleep, it gives the brain time to recuperate from the long day and recharge its neurotransmitter stores.

• When we do regular physical activity, it increases blood circulation and moans the travel in our brains. It is affecting our dopamine levels.

So, one of the easiest ways to boost dopamine which I do, is sticking to a healthy routine. I like to get at least seven to eight hours of sleep at night, and my favorite is tons of physical exercise with his training every day.

5. Reduce your stress

High-stress levels can directly affect the dopamine in your body. There are many forms of stress. I want to discuss our low adrenal functions and chronic daily stressors. While we can’t always control our circumstances and what happens in our environment, we can’t handle what they mean to us and how they affect us.

It is because we get to choose what affects us or not. So, if you’re not choosing wisely, it can devastate your health.

• Stress levels are associated with lower levels of dopamine in your body.
• Establishing an ongoing plan that empowers you to deal with stress is necessary.

It is something taking our adaptogens like Rhodiola Rosea. This one, in particular, is interesting. It puts stress on you while strengthening them at the same time. That way, my cells have a higher stress tolerance. Something that would have stressed me out over a year ago is now like tying my shoe.

6. Foods containing magnesium

Half of the US population has a magnesium deficiency. It comes from junk foods and processed foods with low magnesium. Some of the symptoms are felt with magnesium.

Deficiencies are associated with food cravings for salt and carbs, constipation, high blood pressure, rapid heartbeats or palpitations, muscle pains, fatigue, headaches, and depression symptoms such as mood swings, irritability, and anxiety.

List of magnesium-rich foods:

• Avocados, Nuts.
• Dark Chocolate.
• Legumes, Carrot.
• Seeds, Bread.
• Some Fatty Fish.
• Leafy Greens.
• Soymilk, plain or vanilla.

Blood tests and urine aren’t always that great at testing if you have a magnesium deficiency. The right way of testing is to see how you feel about supplementing magnesium.

I like to take magnesium oil from ancient minerals. After working out, I spray it on my skin, which helps with delayed onset muscle soreness while raising my magnesium levels. It helps my dopamine.

7. Take proper sleep

Getting regular quality sleep is a cornerstone of physical and emotional health. It’s also super important for maintaining your dopamine levels. Even missing one night of sleep can result in a dramatic reduction of dopamine receptors in the brain.

• Regular quality sleep is essential for increasing dopamine levels and keeping you focused, attentive, alert, and happy.

8. Wake up without an alarm

You can do this in winter to keep your mental health. To keep your dopamine levels high, wake up without an alarm. It is an idea that I got from Tom Bilyeu of impact theory. He has often talked about how waking up without an alarm.

• Getting as much sleep as your body needs naturally is the most powerful thing you can do.
• Sleep is the highest return on investment.

Research shows that lack of sleep down-regulates dopamine receptors and reduces dopamine receptor availability and brain sensitivity. If you’ve been asleep between 10:00 p.m. and midnight, wake up whenever your body feels inclined.

You will stand a much better chance of being cognitively optimized. It is the most powerful thing you can do for your brain and perhaps the most difficult. I like getting up early and often give in to the hustle. Sleep not a luxury. It is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

9. Set a diet plan

Eat a neurogenesis-inducing diet mainly: focus on protein, especially the amino acid, tyrosine, and a couple of micronutrients. I read a book called the neurogenesis diet and Lifestyle.

The author of that book makes a case for four superfoods that give you the highest return on investment. It comes to neurogenesis, making new brain cells, and being cognitively optimized. Those are blueberry’s sources of omega-3s, such as avocados, curcumin, and green tea.

• Eating more lean protein at breakfast, such as smoked salmon, eggs, mackerel, or a high-protein yogurt with added seeds, nuts, and fruits.
• Try our high-protein recipe collection for breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes.

10. Do exercise daily

Get aerobic exercise if you can. Physical activity is one of the best things you can do for your brain. It was the central tenet of John Brady’s book called Spark.

• Exercise increases BDNF brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the brain by up to a thousand percent.

• It is undoubtedly linked with elevated mood, reduced depression, and greater dopamine levels.

There’s nothing new with this principle. But at times, I convince myself that I need to go straight to the office rather than get my morning workout in, and I invariably get the mental poison out when I work out. It makes a profound difference in my day when I sweat it out.

11. Do meditation

Over a thousand studies have been on the benefit of meditation, and several studies have linked it directly to higher dopamine levels. One such study was by the John F Kennedy Institute in Denmark, but I’ve advocated meditation.

• Meditation is getting increasingly popular for relieving stress and improving brain function.

• Meditation increased dopamine levels by 64% versus those sitting quietly.

It’s one of the better things you can do for yourself, and I’m certainly going to try to put even more of a focus on meditating this winter so as not to miss sessions. I must show up daily to complete it and treat it like a daily discipline.

12. Invest in deep learning

You can do this in neurogenesis and form new dendritic connections in the brain. It is exciting to learn and have things on the docket you’ve been continually working on several years ago.

I had read a book called the talent code, it talked about how learning affects the myelin sheath of the brain.

• The coating surrounds the axons of your brain’s neurons, making synapses fire faster.

• By learning, you cause your brain to get stronger, more resilient, less depressive and grow.

13. Take cold showers

The results behind this have been somewhat inconclusive. There was one study in particular that every online source mentioned. Also, It said that dopamine levels could be increased by 250 percent by cold showers. It might work because of the high density of the cold receptor in the skin.

• A cold shower could send overwhelming electrical impulses from peripheral nerve endings to the brain, resulting in an anti-depressive effect.
• Taking a cold shower can boost dopamine levels by up to 250 percent.

At least from anecdotal evidence, I can tell you that cold showers have been one of the fastest ways I’ve elevated my mood. It works almost every time that I feel better after a cold shower.

14. Fall in love

When you fall in love, your dopamine shoots balloons and you feel productive, like you could achieve anything. I remember that feeling every time I’ve done love in my life. I felt amazing, like I could do anything, and I list a feeling when you are in a long-term relationship for a very long time.

• Love and attraction boost dopamine because dopamine and serotonin are responsible for love.
• A healthy relationship can improve your mind and keep you alive or fresh.

You miss those high feelings or new relationships. If you are in the dating world now, cherish it while you can.

15. Listening to music

The next way to boost dopamine levels is by listening to music that makes you happy. It turns you on in the right way. For example, I have a playlist on YouTube that motivates me. It is used for cleaning or for doing any creative work. It is for anything that needs to be done in the house. Also, It puts me into that romantic and creative mode.

• Listening to music lights up the brain’s reward centers, where dopamine is active.
• Even anticipating listening to your favorite song releases dopamine.
• Music can also be a great tool to help motivate your exercise.

Everybody is driven by music. But if you are, you’ll relate to me. When you play songs that speak to you, you feel this significant vibration in your body. Also, It feels like you reach a higher frequency, and that’s the dopamine release. It feels amazing.

16. Do something new

Many of us have challenges for the next five years for the following year. But it’s important to break them down into simple tasks we can complete daily. We achieve these tasks, and we tick them off our to-do list. It gives us dopamine.

• Set some goals and take the challenge to finish in time. Taking a challenge will increase your motivation, and motivation is the source of dopamine.

It’s one of the reasons why we as a society are so attracted to the to-do list. There is nothing more to ticking off tasks on your to-do list, and that’s because dopamine gets released when you do that.

So, don’t get too obsessive. But create a few essential tasks to complete every day for the week tops. Do a lot of planning, which will be like self-perpetuating self-motivation.

17. Reduce the number of saturated fats

Reduce the number of saturated fats in your diet. Researchers show that people with a diet high in saturated fat (animal fat) have lower dopamine levels than those with less saturated fats. This is because it reduces dopamine signaling in the areas of the brain. So, try to reduce your saturated fat as much as you can.

• Eating fats higher in omega-3 essential fatty acids will displace some of those omega-6 fats like corn, canola, cottonseed, safflower, and sunflower.

18. Get in touch with Friendzone

You love your isolation, but I want you to call that friend. I want you to go to that party to go to that event. One of the most rewarding stimuli for humans is positive social interactions.

• Get out there and socialize. It makes you happy and laughs. Have a good time. It raises your dopamine.
• Hugging a friend can increase dopamine and also releases the neurochemicals oxytocin and serotonin.
• Petting a dog or cat also releases dopamine and endorphins, reducing the stress hormone cortisol.

One helpful hack is to set small goals. Start by taking yourself out for a walk. As you get healthier and healthier and your dopamine levels rise, you’ll find more motivation to exercise as time goes on.

Setting yourself up with small achievable goals is an incredible hack to slowly build your dopamine levels until you get to the point where it’s easy to make healthy decisions, such as exercising or eating a healthy meal.

19. Don’t be overwhelmed

You’ll notice the whole process of producing dopamine and norepinephrine. It all starts with two essential needle acids. For example, to convert tyrosine into l-dopa, you need adequate vitamin b6.

• If you had time to struggle with overwhelm, you might have problems with this process because these are your fight-or-flight neurotransmitters.

People with depression lose focus and other low dopamine symptoms. Norepinephrine and epinephrine both come from dopamine. When we have problems with one neurotransmitter, we also have problems in other areas.

20. Focus on your food habit

I try to eat food, specifically to increase my dopamine. Eating a sufficient diet in vitamins and minerals eliminates the risk that your diet affects physiology and how your mind works.

You want to make sure that your consists of mainly whole plant foods, whether vegan or not. When your body is nourished, your mind works better, and your mood lifts.

Here are some excellent foods that improve your dopamine level:

• Bananas
• Avocados
• Oats
• Almonds
• Spinach
• Chocolate

These are all great foods to naturally boost dopamine levels and make you feel better.

7 ways to increase dopamine with supplements

Now supplements can be beneficial for increasing dopamine. In our neurons, dopamine is synthesized from an amino acid called l-phenylalanine, which converts into l-tyrosine, l-dopa, and dopamine.

This series of steps in the dopamine synthesis process gives us many opportunities to supplement with any of these precursors to push dopamine production and increase our levels.

Many other nutrients and supplements have been found to raise dopamine production. Certain supplements help you gain dopamine. Things like mucuna, which is a herb that contains ‘l dopa.’ It is the precursor to dopamine in your body.

B complex vitamins, especially b6, called l-tyrosine, amino acid, and Rho Leola herb. Here are the seven best supplements that boost your dopamine level fastly.

1. Vitamin B6

The first supplement I recommend for increasing dopamine is vitamin b6. Vitamin b6 naturally occurs in food sources like bananas. You can also supplement with methylated form. In that way, your liver does not have to methylate. It synthesizes and utilizes.

• B6 takes a burden off the liver. They’re more effective in a methylated form.
• It is an excellent herb for increasing dopamine and decreasing prolactin, which will help achieve good health.

According to the clinical study, vitamin b6 increases dopamine dramatically, decreasing prolactin. So, vitamin b6 supplementation can reduce prolactin by up to 42%. It has a negative relationship as it falls naturally. Your dopamine levels are going to rise.

2. L-Tyrosine

L-Tyrosine is an amino acid naturally occurring in green tea and more concentrated in matcha tea. According to the clinical study, 400 to thousand milligrams of L-Tyrosine can progress dopamine levels by 45% while decreasing the inflammatory mediator serotonin.

• It will be a beneficial supplement for increasing dopamine and decreasing potential inflammation.

You can use the supplement. I trust the brand’s thorn metagenic impure for high-quality sources of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. However, I also regularly use matcha tea. It makes an excellent base for other tonic herbs to add.

3. Ginkgo Biloba

Ginkgo biloba is going to raise serotonin and dopamine. Sometimes Mao inhibitors tend to increase not also dopamine but serotonin. It is not a good thing because serotonin can lead to inflammation on a cellular level. However, Ginkgo Biloba has a unique ability.

• It is to inhibit the production of serotonin while increasing the production of dopamine.
• It is done by decreasing the production of nitric oxide.

Sometimes, there’s a correlation between increased nitric oxide production and decreased dopamine production. Anything that causes inflammation in the body tends to decrease neurotransmitters like dopamine. It can directly act as a Mao inhibitor and inhibit nitric oxide production.

Ginkgo Biloba is a herb for increasing dopamine levels. Even clinical studies have found long-term supplementation with Ginkgo Biloba. It can boost the production the uptake of dopamine.

4. Ashwagandha

Another fantastic herb for increasing dopamine is Ashwagandha. It works similarly to vitamin b6. It can decrease prolactin levels up to 40%, naturally developing dopamine levels and other androgens hormones. Also, It will energize you and make you feel good such as testosterone.

• It can help reduce stress and anxiety.
• It may reduce symptoms of depression.
• It can improve brain function, including memory.
• Ashwagandha helps regenerate dendrites and axons of brain nerve cells.

5. Cacao or raw chocolate powder

Cacao contains a unique dopamine antagonist meaning that it increases dopamine production. Also, It is a compound known as bromocriptine. It also includes a little bit of caffeine, a dopamine antagonist.

• It increases the serum concentration in the urinary concentration of dopamine.
• Cacao contains an essential compound called tyramine, derived from the amino acid tyrosine, and tyrosine is proportional to dopamine.
• It is a good source of “bliss chemicals” known to influence the body and brain in beneficial ways.

6. Probiotic

Your gut and brain are like best friends. It’s crucial to keep that relationship healthy. Certain healthy bacteria in the gut can produce dopamine. A good quality probiotic has millions of beneficial bacteria that help your stomach stay happy. It can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.

• Probiotics also help protect us from pathogenic bacteria that contain the endotoxin LPS or lipopolysaccharide. Lipopolysaccharide has been found to increase inflammation and reduce dopamine levels.

• Probiotic strains such as lactobacillus, Plantarum have also been found to boost dopamine levels. Regular exercise has been found to boost dopamine levels and combat dopamine-related diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.

7. N-Acetyl

N-Acetyl is one Rhodiola, an herb that can help contribute to and help enhance dopamine levels. Also, mucuna pruriens is an Ayurvedic herb that you can use.

• It has some small levels of l-dopa in it.
• Now, l-dopa is a precursor to dopamine to be able to help improve levels of dopamine.

It is a precursor to glutathione, which positively affects the dopaminergic system in Parkinson’s disease patients, resulting in positive clinical effects.

The oxygen antioxidants in vitamins C and E protect us from oxidative stress and damage. I recommend taking a multivitamin or at least taking vitamin C.

I take 1500 milligrams of vitamin C daily, separated over the day by 500 milligrams. At dinner, another excellent antioxidant I like to take is mushroom. The brand I take is mushroom wisdom.

Conclusion

There are many benefits to increasing the amount of dopamine. I hope you enjoy it. There are about 80 billion neurons in the human brain. These neurons communicate with each other through your transmitters.

Serotonin and dopamine are one of the major neurotransmitters that we have. There are a lot of causes of a lack of dopamine. It can be a big problem, and many people suffer from this, especially in the modern world. So it’s essential to understand how to increase dopamine levels naturally.

Be the best version of yourself. I encourage you to try these ways regularly. You’re convincing your body to become hardwired to be motivated. This is going to change how you look at the business. It will change how you look at your fitness and perceive your family.

Please share this article with your family and friends. They also need to know about it to make a healthy relationship. If you have any questions, then please feel free to ask me. I’m waiting for your response.

Frequently asked questions

References:

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Cruickshank, Laura; Kennedy, Alan R.; Shankland, Norman. “Tautomeric and ionisation forms of dopamine and tyramine in the solid state.” J. Mol. Struct.
Berridge, Kent. “The debate over dopamine’s role in reward: the case for incentive salience.” Psychopharmacology.
Malenka RC, Nestler EJ, Hyman SE. Sydor A, Brown RY (eds.). Molecular Neuropharmacology: A Foundation for Clinical Neuroscience (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Medical.
Baliki MN, Mansour A, Baria AT, Apkarian AV. “Parceling human accumbens into putative core and shell dissociates encoding of values for reward and pain.” The Journal of Neuroscience.