Dopamine is a neurotransmitter—or brain chemical—that people sometimes call the “feel good” hormone. That’s because when we do things that trigger the release of dopamine, we feel good. In fact, we sometimes feel so good that we seek out those experiences over and over again.
Pleasure is something we all need in life. At times, though, we can get too focused on it or on specific activities that feel pleasurable to us. They can get out of control and may even lead to addiction. This is because we can get hooked on the good feelings we’re flooded with when we conduct pleasurable activities.
Those feelings are often referred to as a “high,” which people are known to “chase.” The role that dopamine plays in the brain’s reward system is what links it to addiction. While dopamine addiction isn’t really possible, you can get hooked on doing things that make you feel that rush of pleasure.
At a Glance
Dopamine makes us feel good, so we often seek activities that trigger this important hormone’s release. You can’t actually get addicted to dopamine like you can a drug, but the quest for a dopamine high can lead to risky behaviors, and we might even get addicted to the behaviors or substances that trigger increases in our dopamine levels.
What Exactly Is Dopamine?
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter.1 That means it’s a chemical that sends signals inside our brains. Neurotransmitters have a wide assortment of functions, and dopamine’s function centers around the pleasure and reward areas of our brains.
It’s known as one of the “pleasure chemicals” because of that fact. Other feel-good chemicals include serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphins.
When you do something that you like the feeling of, your brain sends a signal of pleasure to your brain.2 Then, you associate that activity with the feeling of pleasure. When that happens, it can become difficult to separate the physical occurrence from the feeling of pleasure it gave you.
It’s normal to remember that experience as something that gave you good feelings.
Dopamine doesn’t just cause pleasure, though. It’s a vital part of our ability to function in our daily lives. It plays a role in everything from motivation to mood to memory.
Having a healthy level of dopamine is necessary, and if your body isn’t producing enough, it can lead to problems such as depression and insomnia.
Is Dopamine Addiction Possible?
It is not technically possible to get addicted to dopamine. It occurs naturally in our bodies, and we can’t directly take it as a food or drug. However, it may be possible to get addicted to any activity that increases our dopamine levels.
Even though we aren’t directly addicted to dopamine itself, we may be addicted to an activity in part because of the dopamine it releases in our brains.
Dopamine Alone Doesn’t Cause Addiction
While dopamine plays an important role in the body’s reward system, it isn’t solely responsible for addiction. A single transmitter alone isn’t what leads people to spend thousands of dollars in online gambling or stay up all night playing video games.
Dopamine has garnered recent attention on social media. One online trend suggests that fast-paced, high-reward modern entertainment is rewiring the brain, making it harder for people to enjoy simpler, slower-paced activities.
Some have even gone so far as to recommend “dopamine fasting” or a “dopamine detox,” a trend that involves avoiding any activity that might trigger the release of the hormone.
Experts, however, dispute this idea.3 While some have hypothesized that dopamine exposure can lead to tolerance—meaning you need more and more of it to feel the same effects—there isn’t actually any research to substantiate this.
No matter how enjoyable, engaging in regular, dopamine-boosing activities is unlikely to rewire your brain so you no longer enjoy the simpler things in life.
Behavioral addictions are real, and some, like gambling, are more likely to cause addiction than others. The key is to be mindful of your behavior and how it affects your life and seek help if you think your behaviors might be problematic.
Addiction Is Complex
While dopamine can contribute to addiction, it doesn’t act alone. According to the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), addiction is complex and influenced by many factors.4
It is often the interaction of biological, environmental, and personal factors that put a person at risk of developing an addiction. Some of these factors can include:
- Genes and family history
- Social influences
- Parental and family influences
- Stressful experiences
- Characteristics such as impulsivity and novelty-seeking5
Not everyone with these risk factors develops addiction, and not everyone with an addiction exhibits these risk factors. Understanding your risks can be important, but you should also be aware that anyone can develop an addiction.
Activities That Release Dopamine
While dopamine isn’t addictive, it can be helpful to understand the types of activities that can trigger its release. Basically, anything you do that feels good can release dopamine in your brain. Some of these are good ways to naturally ensure you have sufficient dopamine levels, but some aren’t.
Common examples of things that trigger a release of dopamine include:
- Having sex
- Eating a tasty meal or dessert6
- Exercise
- Listening to music
- Caffeine
- Recreational drugs and alcohol
- Meditation
Essentially, anything that makes you feel good can raise your dopamine levels. Talking to a friend, unexpected surprises, playing video games, watching a movie, and accomplishing your goals can also increase dopamine.
Risky Behaviors Associated With Dopamine
You may have heard the saying that it’s possible to get too much of a good thing. That idea is why dopamine can potentially become a problem for someone.7
Behavioral addictions are an example of how chasing the rush and pleasure of dopamine may contribute to problems. Common behavioral addictions include becoming hooked on work, video games, exercise, gambling, or internet use.8
Doing these things triggers the release of dopamine, which means they feel good when people do them.
When people develop a behavioral addiction, they spend too much time pursuing these behaviors. They neglect other important tasks and feel like they must engage in the behavior just to feel normal. It is this inability to stop despite the negative consequences that make these behaviors an addiction.
Becoming dependent on that rush of dopamine can be risky when it involves behaviors or substances that pose dangers to our physical and mental health.
Sex Addiction
For one example, getting dependent on having sex can lead to sex addiction. Because it makes us feel good, we may seek it out in ways that are unsafe for us. This can involve having unprotected sex, having sex with someone who is a stranger and might be dangerous, or not taking care of the responsibilities you have in life because you are busy pursuing sex.
Food-Related Disorders
Another example of risky behavior that can be based in the urge for dopamine is eating. On the one hand, we have to eat! We can’t survive without it. And it’s completely normal to want to eat foods that taste good to us.
However, eating can get out of control and become a food addiction, in which a person’s relationship with food becomes more about eating to feel good than eating to stay alive.
Alcohol and Substance Use Disorders
A third example of how the quest for dopamine can lead to problems is with alcohol and recreational drugs.1 These substances release dopamine in the most straightforward way of all, with drugs like cocaine directly flooding our brains with it.
Drug addiction and alcoholism can be life-threatening and can have terrible impacts on the lives of both the person with the addiction and everyone else they are close to.
In addition to the above, there are countless other dopamine-oriented activities that can lead to major problems and risky behaviors. They can be as big and life-altering as losing your financial savings due to gambling, or as temporary as exercising too much and obtaining a minor injury from overusing parts of your body.
Ways to Avoid Dopamine Dependence
Although it’s important to perform activities that release dopamine, for the sake of feeling good regularly, it is also vital that you don’t become dependent on that release.
It might be a shorter journey than you’d think to go from simply enjoying a pleasurable act on occasion and being hooked on it in a way that is harmful to your life (or the lives of others).
Below are some ideas to help you have a healthy relationship with dopamine and help avoid dependence.
Activity Boundaries
In order to avoid getting too much of a good thing, it can be helpful to have boundaries. For example, if you love to exercise but you find yourself getting hurt because you’re overdoing it, set up your workout plan a week ahead of time.
Review your plan and consider confirming with a professional trainer that it is a moderate exercise plan and not one that risks you getting injured because it’s too strenuous.
As far as how to set your boundaries, if you have a good memory you can simply think ahead and schedule out how long you’ll spend with different activities or how much of them you’ll do.
If you want to feel more accountable to yourself than that, or your memory isn’t great, use a journal to write down your boundaries or send an email to yourself.
Nerve-Calming Practices
Making sure you are getting enough relaxation in your day can help to combat the feeling that you need to perform dopamine-boosting activities more often than what is considered healthy.
Any self-care practice can calm your nerves, as can very simple activities like deep breathing. Other effective tactics that can help include guided imagery, progressive muscle relaxation, aromatherapy, and yoga.
Conduct Activities Mindfully
Another great way to keep tabs on yourself and avoid getting too dependent on the release of dopamine is to make yourself more aware of what you do.
Mindfulness is the act of making a big point of paying attention in the moment, day to day, rather than functioning on autopilot all the time.
Before you set out to do something you enjoy that you feel you might be getting dependent on, check in with yourself.
Assess how you’re feeling, what you’re thinking, and any concerns you may have about your behavior. Then as you go along with that activity, continue checking in with yourself to make sure everything is feeling calm and not like you’re getting too into the “high” of the act.
What to Do If Things Get Out of Control
Addiction is complex, and science is still uncovering why it affects some people more than others. Even though you can’t be directly addicted to dopamine, you can get addicted to any activity that releases it.
If you’ve tried to mitigate your behavior and you haven’t been successful, there are many people who can help you. You might start by talking to your primary care doctor. They can recommend treatments or refer you to others who can help. Other options include online therapist directories or online therapy platforms.
What This Means for You
Despite the popular belief, you can’t actually develop a dopamine addiction. Dopamine does play a role in addiction, but this relationship is complex. Researchers are still trying to understand the many complex factors that influence addictions to substances and behaviors. This feel-good hormone can motivate you to seek out pleasurable experiences, so being aware of your behaviors can help you recognize signs that you might be developing an problem.