Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsWhat Is Dopamine?FunctionLow DopamineHigh DopamineRelated ConditionsNatural BoostersDopamine-Affecting Medications
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
What Is Dopamine?
Function
Low Dopamine
High Dopamine
Related Conditions
Natural Boosters
Dopamine-Affecting Medications
Dopamine is one of the better-known brain chemicals. A so-called “happy” neurotransmitter, dopamine is involved in memory, mood, motivation, and movement.
Dopamine plays a key role in several medical conditions likeParkinson’s disease, fibromyalgia, and restless leg syndrome. Mental health conditions like ADHD, addiction, depression, schizophrenia, and OCD are also linked to dopamine disorders.
High dopamine symptoms include anxiety, excessive energy, insomnia, and hallucinations. Low dopamine levels are associated with brain fog, mood swings, and muscle spasms.
This article discusses dopamine and dopamine-related disorders. It also explains how medications affect dopamine levels and natural ways to increase dopamine.
Dopamine is aneurotransmitter, a brain chemical that transmits messages between neurons (brain and nerve cells). It plays an important role in mood regulation, movement, and how humans experience pleasure and pain.
Dopamine binds to receptors on neurons in various brain regions where it performs different functions. In the motor centers of the brain, dopamine deals with movement. In the learning areas of the brain, dopamine impacts focus and attention.
One of dopamine’s better-known roles is as the star of the brain’s reward system.The brain releases feel-good dopamine as a natural reward for certain behaviors. This includes biological drives like food, sex, and social interactions.
The dopamine hit you get after a pleasurable activity helps to reinforce that behavior. The brain’s memory center records the reward, which it then uses it an incentive to drive motivation.
Anatomy of the Brain
Relationship to NorepinephrineDopamine has a close relationship with the neurotransmitter norepinephrine. Your body makes norepinephrine and dopamine from some of the same chemicals. They appear to bind to some of the same receptors, and they work together to perform many functions.
Relationship to Norepinephrine
Dopamine has a close relationship with the neurotransmitter norepinephrine. Your body makes norepinephrine and dopamine from some of the same chemicals. They appear to bind to some of the same receptors, and they work together to perform many functions.
What Dopamine Does
Dopamine is believed to play a role in many important functions in your body, mainly those that deal with mental function, emotional response, and physical reactions.
These include:
While it’s colloquially known as the chemical that makes you happy, it primarily does this in ways that involve reward and motivation.
For example, when you taste your favorite ice cream, you get a dopamine boost, and it makes you happy, which gives you the motivation to have another taste. Even anticipating a reward can increase the amount of dopamine activity in your brain.
Low Dopamine Symptoms
Low dopamine activity can have different physical, cognitive (thinking), and emotional effects. The symptoms of the different conditions vary, depending on the region of the brain where dopamine activity is lacking.
Symptoms of inadequate dopamine activity include:
If you’ve experienced several of these symptoms together, you may not have even realized they could all be related. Be sure to bring up all of your symptoms to your healthcare provider so you can be properly diagnosed and treated.
High Dopamine Symptoms
High levels of dopamine and excessive dopamine activity in the brain can be debilitating.
High dopamine activity is linked to:
Be sure to talk to your healthcare provider if you experience any of these symptoms, especially if you have some of the more serious symptoms, such as hallucinations and aggression.
Academic Doping
A wide array of medical conditions stem from problems with dopamine. They fall under three categories: mental health conditions, movement disorders, and central sensitivity syndromes.
Many psychiatric conditions are associated with dopamine dysregulation. Dopamine-related mental-health conditions include:
Dopamine activity in the motor cortex is crucial for your muscles to make smooth, controlled movements. Inadequate dopamine activity in the motor cortex is related to the following movement disorders:
Central sensitivity syndromescause abnormal reactions to stimuli. Dysregulation of dopamine and other neurotransmitters is associated with hypersensitivity of the central nervous system. Conditions classified as central sensitivity syndromes include:
Here is a closer look at the role dopamine plays in several of these conditions.
Addiction
Dopamine’s role in reward and motivation is a key aspect of addiction. Whether it’sdrugs, food, gambling, shopping, or sex, getting your “fix” gives your brain the good feeling dopamine creates. Your brain can crave that to an unhealthy degree, giving you the motivation to repeat the behavior that leads to the dopamine release.
Overcoming Addiction
Technology and Social Media Addiction
A lot of media focus has been given to the idea that technology—especially smartphones and social media—is turning a lot of people into addicts. This is a controversial topic, but some experts say it’s a real threat.
It may be that the constant rewards of social media (e.g., getting “likes” or “shares”) sets up the same cycle of dopamine release and motivation to repeat the behavior that leads to addiction.
In 2019, theJournal of Behavioral Addictionspublished a study that demonstrated parallels between people with excessive social media use and those with substance abuse and behavioral addictions.
Help for AddictionIf you or a loved one are struggling with substance use or addiction, contact theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helplineat1-800-662-4357for information on support and treatment facilities in your area.For more mental health resources, see theNational Helpline Database.
Help for Addiction
If you or a loved one are struggling with substance use or addiction, contact theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helplineat1-800-662-4357for information on support and treatment facilities in your area.For more mental health resources, see theNational Helpline Database.
If you or a loved one are struggling with substance use or addiction, contact theSubstance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helplineat1-800-662-4357for information on support and treatment facilities in your area.
For more mental health resources, see theNational Helpline Database.
Substance Use Disorders: Types, Symptoms, and Treatments
Schizophrenia
Dopamine plays a role in the psychiatric disorderschizophrenia. Other neurotransmitters, including GABA and glutamate, may be important, as well.
Primary symptoms of schizophrenia include:
Paranoid Personality Disorder Treatment
Major Depressive Disorder (Clinical Depression)
Low dopamine activity has been implicated in some symptoms ofmajor depression, including lack of interest and motivation.
The neurotransmitters serotonin andnorepinephrinealso are believed to be involved in clinical depression, and anti-depressant drugs usually target these two neurotransmitters rather than dopamine.
How Depression Is Treated
Bipolar Disorder
Both high and low dopamine activity are theorized to be involved inbipolar disorder, providing a possible explanation of the two phases of the illness: manic (extreme highs) and depressive (extreme lows).
Excess dopamine receptors and a hyperactive reward process network may underly the manic phase of the condition. Meanwhile, decreases in levels of a substance called dopamine transporter may contribute to lower dopamine function and depression. The overall problem may be with neurotransmitter regulation, not simply highs or lows.
Sometimes certain symptoms of bipolar disorder are treated with antipsychotics, which reduce dopamine activity.
Bipolar Disorder Treatments to Manage Symptoms
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
ADHDinvolves difficulties with attention, working memory, impulsivity, and hyperactive behavior. It’s believed to involve low dopamine activity, possibly due to certain genetic mutations that impact dopamine.
How ADHD Is Treated
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
Dopamine, along with serotonin and glutamate, is believed to be dysregulated in the anxiety disorderOCD. In OCD, people develop obsessions (intrusive thoughtsor images that trigger significant emotional distress) and compulsions (behaviors someone engages in to decrease the upsetting obsessions).
OCD may involve damped dopamine-receptor activity and also increased dopamine activity in some areas of the brain.Most drug treatments for OCD involve antidepressants, which alter serotonin function but not dopamine.
Treatments for OCD
Binge-Eating Disorder (BED)
Dopamine dysregulation has been suggested as one possible biological explanation for this condition because it involves impulse control and the reward centers of the brain.
Certain medications that may impact dopamine function are sometimes used to treat BED.
Getting Help for Binge-Eating Disorder
Parkinson’s Disease
InParkinson’s disease, the neurons that create dopamine degenerate, leading to a chronic lack of dopamine.
The resulting symptoms include:
Parkinson’s Disease Treatment Options
Huntington’s Disease
Symptoms of Huntington’s include:
Late in the disease, people can completely lose their ability to walk and talk. Huntington’s can involve symptoms seen in psychiatric disorders tied to excess dopamine activity, includingpsychosis, aggression, and impulsivity. These symptoms are sometimes treated with atypical antipsychotics.
How to Treat Huntington’s Disease
Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS)
RLSis a movement disorder that involves strange sensations and involuntary leg movements as you sleep or when you’re in a relaxed state. The movements can keep you from getting enough deep sleep and leave you sleep-deprived, even after what would normally be adequate time in bed.
In people with RLS, a few areas of the brain are deficient in iron. In addition, abnormal levels of dopamine in the brain have also been noted. The relationship betweenlow ironand dysregulated dopamine levels isn’t yet understood.
Some research indicates that genetics and hormone abnormalities may also play a role.Many of the medications used to treat RLS are also used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
RLS Treatment and Sleeping Better
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgiacan involve hypersensitivity topain signals,light, noise, fragrances, temperature, and sometimes certain foods. Research suggests an association with low dopamine activity.
Symptoms of fibromyalgia that may be related to dopamine deficiency include:
Fibromyalgia isn’t typically treated with medications that directly impact dopamine, as treatment tends to focus more onserotoninandnorepinephrine.
How Fibromyalgia Is Treated
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS)
ME used to be called chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and the abbreviations are often combined as ME/CFS or CFS/ME.
It’s a neuroinflammatory disease involving low activity of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. It features intense fatigue plus extremesensitivity to exertionand environmental factors (e.g., noise,heat, chemicals).
Symptoms of ME/CFS that may be related to low dopamine activity include:
Thetreatment of ME/CFSis often aimed at neurotransmitters other than dopamine. However, the ADHD drug methylphenidate is sometimes prescribed off-label for this disease, and it does increase dopamine levels.
Natural Ways to Boost Dopamine
Dopamine levels can be increased or balanced without medication. Eating certain foods, engaging in relaxing hobbies, and getting enough sleep are just a few ways to improve your dopamine.
Nutrition
Nutritional deficiencies are linked to altered dopamine production. The body requires adequate intake of iron, niacin, folate, and vitamin B6 to make dopamine.
Amino acids—the building blocks of protein—are also linked to better dopamine levels.Tyrosine, for example, is linked to improved dopamine availability and cognitive performance.Amino acids are found in protein-rich foods, such as:
Research also shows several fruits and vegetables improve dopamine activity. These include:
In fact, research shows velvet beans may help raise dopamine levels in people with Parkinson’s disease. This is due to their high levels of L-dopa, the precursor molecule to dopamine.
Relaxation
Finding ways to relax and beat stress also helps to improve dopamine levels. Things you can do to boost dopamine include:
Sleep
Getting adequate sleep is also important for making sure you have enough dopamine. Studies link sleep deprivation to lower levels of dopamine activity.
Researchers used PET scans to monitor dopamine activity in different areas of the brain. Sleep deprivation was shown to decrease dopamine signaling in brain regions associated with alertness.
In animal studies, dopamine deficits from sleep deprivation prompted other brain chemical changes that are linked to addiction.
Several classes of drugs are used to treat conditions involving dopamine dysregulation.
Dopamine Agonists
Dopamine agonistsboost dopamine levels or function and are used to treat Parkinson’s disease and RLS.
Examples include:
Typical Antipsychotics
Atypical Antipsychotics
Atypical antipsychotics are newer drugs that lower dopamine activity similarly to typical antipsychotics and also affect serotonin. They treat the same conditions as the older typicals, but with fewer side effects.
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