【ドーパミン中毒】スタンフォード大学医学部「冷たいシャワーの効果とは」/朝一番のエクササイズが効果的な理由/苦痛と快楽の感情はシーソーのように行き来する【PIVOT GLOBAL】
Summary
TLDR今日の社会では、デジタルなものがドーパミンを過剰に刺激し、人々が中毒状態に陥りやすくなっています。この動画では、ドーパミンについての基本的な知識とその影響、そして適切に利用するためのヒントが紹介されています。ドーパミンの過剰な上昇と下降を避け、健康的な生活習慣を作るためには、デジタルデトックスなどの小さな痛みを意図的に与えることが重要だと説明されています。私たちが直面する誘惑に対し、計画的にデジタルデバイスから離れ、適度な痛みを感じる経験を積むことで、健康的にドーパミンを享受できるのです。
Takeaways
- 😊 ドーパミンは快楽、報酬、動機付けに関連する神経伝達物質です。
- 😥 突然のドーパミン放出の増加は、ドーパミン不足状態の反動を引き起こす可能性があり、離脱症状やクレーブを引き起こします。
- 🤔 楽しみと痛みは脳内で同時に作用し、天秤のように均衡を保とうとします。
- ✨ 意識的に痛みや難しいことに挑戦することで、徐々にドーパミンを放出でき、離脱症状を避けられます。
- 🚫 デジタル機器や食べ物の過剰な使用は、ドーパミンの過剰放出を引き起こす可能性があります。
- ⏰ 24時間デジタル機器から離れることで、ドーパミン経路のリセットと注意力の再配分が可能になります。
- 🚶♀️ 朝早く起きて運動することで、間接的にドーパミンを得られます。
- 🧘♀️ デジタル機器とは適度な距離を置き、オフにすることで、より落ち着いた心を得られます。
- 🛑 薬物やアルコールに頼るのではなく、心理的なレジリエンスを養うことが大切です。
- ⚖️ 仕事への執着もまた、ドーパミン経路への適応を引き起こす可能性があります。仕事とプライベートの適切なバランスを見つけることが重要です。
Q & A
ドーパミンとはどのような物質ですか?
-ドーパミンは脳内で作られる神経伝達物質です。神経細胞と神経細胞の間の隙間(シナプス)を越えて信号を伝達する役割を果たしています。主に快楽、報酬、動機付けに関与しており、ストレス解消の最終的な経路とされています。
ドーパミンの過剰放出による有害な影響は何ですか?
-突然大量のドーパミンが放出されると、脳はそれを処理するのに追われ、ドーパミン受容体を抑制して麻痺状態に陥ります。つまりドーパミン濃度は基準値を下回り、離脱症状やクレービングが生じるのです。これが「ハングオーバー」の原因となります。
ドーパミンが適切に作用するには、どのようにすべきですか?
-飲酒や甘いものなど、一時的な快楽に頼るのではなく、規則正しい運動や断食などの方法で、徐々にドーパミン放出を増やすことが大切です。そうすれば持続的なドーパミン上昇を得られ、離脱症状に陥ることがありません。
デジタル機器の過剰使用とドーパミンとの関係は?
-デジタル機器は常に新しい刺激を与えるため、大量のドーパミンを放出させます。しかし、過剰に使用し続けると、脳の報酬系が麻痺し、デジタル機器の虜になってしまうのです。デジタル機器からの一時的な離脱を心がけることが大切です。
ワーカホリックもドーパミン依存症の一つですか?
-はい、その通りです。仕事そのものが報酬刺激となり、ドーパミン放出を引き起こします。しかし過剰になれば脳が適応し、仕事への喜びを失ってしまいます。仕事とプライベートのバランスを保つことが重要です。
プレゼンや重要な会議に向けて、一時的に覚醒剤を使うのはどうでしょうか?
-長期的に見れば、覚醒剤の使用は逆効果になる可能性が高いです。本来のストレス解消力を高めるためにも、運動や瞑想などの自然な方法が望ましいでしょう。
ドーパミンの安定的な放出を促す具体的な方法には、どのようなものがありますか?
-毎朝5時前に起き、すぐに運動を始めるのがよいでしょう。カフェインや砂糖は控えめにし、デジタル機器の使用も最小限に抑えましょう。代わりに、冷水浴や断食など、体に負荷をかける習慣を心がけることが重要です。
ドーパミンの過剰刺激から脱却するのに、どのくらいの期間が必要でしょうか?
-24時間のデジタル機器離脱では、依存症から完全に抜け出すことはできません。しかし、離脱の重要性を認識し、継続的な努力を重ねることで、徐々にドーパミン受容体を正常化できるはずです。
ドーパミン放出を適切に制御するための基本的な心構えは何ですか?
-自分の快楽追求を批判的に見つめ直し、一時的な満足感に惑わされないことが重要です。「ちょうど良い痛み」を積極的に受け入れ、ドーパミンを間接的に獲得する努力を惜しまないことが大切です。
ドーパミン依存症から抜け出す最善の方法は何でしょうか?
-まず、自分の依存症を自覚することが第一歩です。次に、デジタル機器の使用時間を厳しく制限し、運動や冷水浴、断食といった苦行を積極的に取り入れましょう。そうすることで、健全なドーパミン放出を取り戻し、穏やかな心の安らぎを得られるはずです。
Outlines
🧠 ドーパミンの「高まり」と「落ち込み」
私たちの脳はドーパミンを一定のレベルで放出していますが、新しい刺激や快楽を得ると一時的にドーパミンのレベルが上がります。しかし、その上がり過ぎた分を補正するため、脳はドーパミンの放出を抑え過ぎて、本来のベースラインを下回る状態(「ドーパミン不足」)に陥ります。この高まりと落ち込みのサイクルが中毒を引き起こす主な原因となります。
🤪 「グレムリン」による快楽と痛みのバランス
快楽と痛みは、脳内でシーソーのようなバランスを保っています。多くの快楽を得ると、脳は「グレムリン」を痛みの側に送り込み、バランスを保とうとします。しかし、それ以上に多くのグレムリンが痛みの側に留まり、完全には均衡が取れなくなります。その結果、快楽を得るためにはさらに強い刺激が必要となり、中毒が進行してしまいます。
⛄️ 「痛み」を意図的に与えることで快楽を得る
運動やアイシングなど、意図的に「痛み」を体験することで、グレムリンを快楽の側に移動させ、ドーパミンを間接的に放出させることができます。この場合、ドーパミンは突発的に放出されるのではなく、徐々に上昇し、持続的に高いレベルを維持できるため、ドーパミン不足に陥ることなく、健康的に快楽を得られます。しかし、極端な苦行や自傷行為は避けるべきです。
📲 デジタル機器とドーパミン
現代社会では、デジタル機器やソーシャルメディアを通じて手軽に強力なドーパミンの放出を引き起こすことができます。しかし、その分だけドーパミン不足の状態も深刻になりがちです。デジタル機器からの一時的断ち切りや、物理的な距離を置くことで、ドーパミン経路をリセットできます。デジタル機器の力強さを認識し、意識的に時間と頻度を制限する必要があります。
💻 仕事中毒とドーパミン
仕事は外的な賞賛を通じてドーパミンの放出を引き起こし、中毒性を持つことがあります。しかし、時間が経つにつれて脳は適応し、同じ効果を得るためにはより強い刺激が必要となります。適度な努力は良いですが、過度の没頭は「仕事の喜び」を失わせかねません。健康的なバランスを保つためには、仕事以外の活動や休息も大切です。
Mindmap
Keywords
💡ドーパミン
💡中毒
💡ドーパミン不足状態
💡ホメオスタシス
💡嗜癖物質
💡新奇性
💡デジタルドラッグ
💡ドーパミンバランス
💡規則的な欲求充足
💡代替手段
Highlights
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in the experience of pleasure, reward, and motivation. It's the final common pathway for all reinforcing substances and behaviors.
If we have a huge and sudden upward spike in dopamine release, it's too much for our brain to handle. The brain then has to compensate by downregulating dopamine transmission not just to baseline but actually below baseline into a dopamine deficit state, which is the comedown, hangover, and craving for more.
Pleasure and pain are collocated in the brain and work like opposite sides of a balance. Any deviation from neutrality causes the brain to work hard to restore a level balance.
The brain adapts to increased dopamine by wanting to bring the balance level again, with 'neuro-adaptation gremlins' hopping on the pain side of the balance to tilt it back towards pain.
If we continue to consume a substance or behavior over time, the initial deflection to pleasure gets weaker and shorter, but the after-response to pain gets stronger and longer, leading to an addicted brain.
We can intentionally press on the pain side of the balance through exercise, cold water immersion, fasting, or other ascetic practices, which will cause the gremlins to hop over to the pleasure side, indirectly releasing dopamine without going into a deficit state.
In the modern world, almost every aspect of human life has become 'druggified' - made more potent, accessible, abundant, and novel, making it difficult to avoid the constant bombardment of pleasures.
We need to plan out what we're going to use, how much, and how often, and intentionally insulate ourselves from the constant bombardment of pleasures, as well as intentionally seek out difficult, painful, or inconvenient ways of doing things.
For digital drugs, we can try intermittent fasting from digital media, taking a 24-hour break from our devices, and creating physical distance by leaving the house without a phone.
Powering down the device when it cannot transmit or receive can create a quieting of the mind, knowing the device is not in transmit mode.
We want to find ways to build psychological resilience and not rely on substances or anything that works immediately, as they have the possibility of becoming addictive.
Work itself has become 'druggified' and more reinforcing, accessible, and abundant by our devices. It's okay to pursue excellence in work but important to find a balance.
It's difficult to tell when it's the right timing to find the balance, as the brain adapts no matter what the source of dopamine is. If you overdo it, it will eventually stop working, and you'll enter a compulsive loop of craving.
Dr. Lembke starts her day with pain, getting out of bed within five minutes of waking up, exercising, and avoiding caffeine and sugar to set herself up in a better way for the whole day.
Dr. Lembke commits to watching no more than about 15 minutes of digital media a day, no more than a couple of times a week, and preferably with other people.
Transcripts
made more Bountiful and abundant Tik
Tock literally is infinite it never runs
out made more novel dopamine is very
sensitive to novelty and not not only
are these drugs everywhere they also
chase us down like they'll show up in
our inbox or they'll show up on our news
feed right it's very hard to avoid them
the problem is uh that if we have a huge
and sudden upward spike in dopamine
release it's too much for our brain to
Handle by downregulating dopamine
transmission not just to Baseline but
actually below Baseline into this
dopamine deficit State and that's the
come down The Hangover the Tik Tock
video right digital drugs this would be
things like um you know intermittent
fasting from digital media taking a
break from your
[Music]
phone
for
so Dr L welcome to P Welcome to our show
thank you for inviting me I'm really
excited to be
here so uh I read your book dopamine
nation is really great I highly
recommend it to our audience uh because
we are on the startup community and I
think we're kind kind of addicted to
work um I'm also kind of addicted to
work so was very good so uh I want to
start off by asking you uh What uh
what's the definition of dopamine
dopamine is a chemical that we make in
our brain it is a neurotransmitter
neurotransmitters are the molecules that
bridge that gap between neurons neurons
send the electrical signals that make
our circuits that make us who we are but
neurons don't touch end to end there's a
little gap between them and that Gap is
called a synapse and neurotransmitters
allow for fine-tune modulation of those
electrical circuits so dopamine is a
neurotransmitter it has different
functions but one of the most important
functions is that it's involved in the
experience of pleasure reward and
motivation it's not the only
neurotransmitter involved in that
process but it is probably the final
common pathway for all reinforce foring
substances and
behaviors it's interesting that there's
kind of a Feelgood line and sometimes
you go above the line which you feel
good but sometimes you go below could
you elaborate on that yeah sure you said
it really well so we're always releasing
dopamine at a kind of Baseline tonic
rate it's kind of like the heartbeat of
the brain and when we ingest something
that uh tastes good um or we do
something that is new or novel or
important to our survival basically we
increase dopamine firing above Baseline
which again makes us feel good which is
the mechanism by which we are encouraged
to do it again and you know when you
think of natural natural rewards like
food clothing shelter finding a mate
dopamine is essentially our survival
neurotransmitter it gets us to work
really hard to get those things that we
need for basic survival
the problem is uh that if we have a huge
and sudden upward spike in dopamine
release it's too much for our brain to
handle so then the brain has to
compensate or adapt by downregulating
dopamine transmission not just to
Baseline but actually below Baseline
into this dopamine deficit State and
that's the come down The Hangover the
Blue Monday craving that moment of
wanting to watch one more Tik Tock video
right before it goes back up to Baseline
firing so you mean uh for instance if
you drink a can of soda or have ice
cream or Ramen or you on your phone you
kind of feel good your dopamine goes up
but the consequence is that it goes not
only to the Baseline but below the
Baseline exactly so we pay a price for
these instant quick pleasures especially
if they don't require much upfront work
so if you think about um the world that
humans have lived in for most of our
existence it's been a world of scarcity
and everpresent danger where in order to
find food clothing shelter and a mate we
had to walk tens of kilometers every day
we had to withstand terrible cold we had
to go hungry and so in that state of
hunger and uh need and exhaustion
dopamine levels go down we find our
reward and then it brings us back up to
our Baseline homeostatic position but
today we can sit on the couch swipe
right or swipe left and get this huge
Spike of dopamine and you know that's
way more than we really were evolved to
manage and so the result is that we're
getting this kind of compensatory
dopamine deficit state or this come down
so what's the difference between instant
uh Spike and uh like a constant Spike
because uh for instance I kind of I like
my job and I like to uh because it's a
startup and I like like changing the
media landscape in Japan but at the same
time I can understand that maybe uh when
I'm on social media or eating ice cream
that's so instant so what's the
difference between instant Spike and a
constant Spike which might be good for
our mental health right so um you know
if you have that sudden increase in
dopamine which we get with intoxic
which we get with sweet food which we
get with orgasm and sex which we get
with um you know all kinds of digital
media because digital media is very
potent goes right to our visual cortex
releases dopamine in the reward
circuitry you get that sudden upward
deflection right which does feel really
good but it's followed by a compensatory
downward deflection this dopamine
deficit state which feels really bad and
also importantly sets up the state of
craving which has us wanting to do it
again to get out of that dopamine pit
and not only get back to Baseline but
maybe even get above Baseline again so
it's the cycle of intoxication
withdrawal dopamine freefall craving
drug seeking intoxication withdrawal
this kind of sine wave that is really um
what happens in addiction and also what
creates the kind of compulsive cycle
where we ingest more of our drug or
behavior than we really want to or than
we really plan to and we it's difficult
to stop um even even when we you know we
when we want
to so uh you talked about in your book
uh some tips how to prevent that and I
like the analogy of Gins could you
explain to us what what you mean by that
yeah so to understand what happens as we
go from adaptive healthy use into
maladaptive compulsive addictive use
it's really to essential to understand
that Pleasure and Pain are collocated in
the brain and work like opposite sides
of a balance so imagine like a teeter
totter or a seesaw in a kid's playground
a beam on a central fulcrum and that
represents how we process Pleasure and
Pain we evolved over millions of years
of evolution to reflexively approach
pleasure and avoid pain as a way to
survive in a world of
scarcity now there are certain rules
governing this balance and the first and
most important rule is that the balance
wants to remain level such that with any
deviation from neutrality our brains are
going to work really hard to restore a
level balance so again if I W if I eat
some chocolate that releases a little
bit of dopamine in my reward pathway my
balance tilts to the side of pleasure
but no sooner has that happened then my
brain will adapt to that increased
dopamine by wanting to bring it level
again and I like to imagine that as
these neuro adaptation Gremlins hopping
on the pain side of the balance to bring
it level again but the Gremlins really
like it on the balance so they don't get
off as soon as it's level they stay on
until my balance has tilted in equal and
opposite amount to the side of pain and
that again is the come down the uh The
Hangover that craving for one more piece
of chocolate now if I don't have another
piece of chocolate the Gremlins get the
memo that their work is done they hop
off and balance or homeostasis is
restored but if I continue to consume
chocolate over days to weeks to months
to years then essentially what happens
is that initial deflection to pleasure
gets weaker and shorter but that after
response to pain gets stronger and
longer or another way to think about
that is the Gremlins start to multiply
and pretty soon I've got enough Gremlins
to fill this whole room and they're
camped out on the pain side of the
balance and now I've entered into
addicted brain right now I've changed my
honic or Joy setep Point such that I
need more of my drug and more potent
forms not to get high and feel good but
just to level the balance and feel
normal and when I'm not using I'm
walking around with a balance tilted to
the side of pain I'm in a dopamine
deficit State experiencing the Universal
symptoms of withdrawal from any
addictive substance which are anxiety
irritability depression insomnia and
craving so you're saying that it's like
a seesaw and if if you have too much
pleasure the Seesaw tilt so that the uh
glamin will hop on the other side to
keep the balance so in your book so is
this what you're saying that uh to so if
you think backwards uh in order to gain
pleasure you can like intentionally put
uh pain on your body or your mental
health so in turn the glamin will hop on
the other side to give pleasure to us
yeah right so you intuited exactly you
know sort of well what what can we do
about this and what we can do is we can
avoid intoxicants if we're going to use
them use them in moderation leaving
enough time in between for the Gremlins
to hop off and for homeostasis to be
restored but the other thing that we can
do is we can intentionally press on the
pain side of the balance for example
through exercise through ice cold water
immersion through intermittent fasting
or other aesthetic practices and when we
press on the pain side of the balance
those Gremlins will hop over on the
pleasure side of the balance and we will
get our dopamine indirectly by paying
for it up front and the big difference
here is that unlike with intoxicants
where we get that Spike of dopamine
followed by freefall to into that
dopamine deficit State when we get our
dopamine indirectly by doing things that
are painful or difficult or hard we see
a grual rise in dopamine over that
period of exercise for example and then
dopamine levels will remain elevated for
hours after stopping exercise before
going back down to the Baseline tonic
position and we never go into that
dopamine deficit state which remember is
the state that sets us up for the
craving that drives that compulsive use
so it's a really nice way to get your
dopamine because it's relatively immune
to this problem of compulsive overc
consumption because you're not going
into that dopamine deficit State you're
doing the work first having said that I
want to emphasize that some people
actually can get addicted to things like
exercise or things like fasting or some
people cut on themselves right as a way
to release endogenous opioids that
releases a dopamine that's not good
right that's too much or too extreme
aversion that's not what we're talking
about here we're talking about right
size pain not too much not too little
but just the right amount such that we
get that healthy dopamine we restore
balance in between and we don't set up
that that Loop of compulsive overc
consumption yeah I think that was the
most interesting part of your book um so
you touched upon like practical tips
such as fasting and I me having a cold
shower could you give us some advice or
good examples how we should keep the
good balance of pain let me just
emphasize that in in the modern world
it's really difficult because almost
every aspect of human life today has
become drug aied in some way made more
potent right M releases a lot of
dopamine U made more accessible with our
digital devices we have 247 access made
more Bountiful and abundant Tik Tok
literally is in infite it never runs out
made more novel dopamine is very
sensitive to novelty and not not only
are these drugs everywhere and I include
behaviors in in when I use the word
drugs but they also chase us down like
they'll show up in our inbox or they'll
show up on our news feed right it's very
hard to avoid
them so what we essentially need to do
is before we are actually tempted we
need to plan out what we're going to use
use how much and how often and we need
to really intentionally insulate
ourselves from the constant bombardment
of Pleasures as well as intentionally
seek out difficult painful or
inconvenient ways of doing doing these
things and there are so many ways to do
this right um I mean if if we're talking
about digital drugs if this would be
things like um you know intermittent
fasting from digital media taking a
break from your phone for a full 24-hour
period you know 24 hours is not enough
to probably reset reward Pathways no but
it is enough it is enough to sort of get
the sense of just how addicted we've all
become right and to begin to think about
withdrawal that we experience and the
ways in which our attention is almost
always on some level occupied by our by
our device taking up brain space that we
then therefore don't have for other
things it's enough time to recognize the
ways in which we're constantly in
reactive mode reacting to stimuli
instead of creative mode where we're
sitting quietly and letting our thoughts
just naturally unspool in their in their
own organic way um so I think that
24-hour digital fast and and importantly
you know I I used to be hopeful that
like different apps could help us sort
of limit our use but now I really think
to be healthy in this digital age we
really have to literally take a break
from the device itself and create
physical distance leave the house
without our phone on us which is very
anxiety-provoking for people right but
like literally go out without the device
and get that physical distance from it
so that we can begin to let our dopamine
reward Pathways start to reset
themselves experience our attention in a
new and different way open up our
sensory experience take in more natural
cues these are all the types of things
that we can
try what do you do personally uh other
than uh going off your home what
experience have you had okay well so I
start my day with pain um I I I wake up
around 5:00 A.M when it's still dark and
as much as I want to stay in my bed I
force myself to get out of bed within
about five minutes of waking I find if I
stay longer uh it's it gets even more
difficult um so those sort of heroic
first five minutes I get out of bed and
I try to exercise it's not super intense
exercise I do a stretching routine or I
go walking or I go swimming um but it it
sets me up in a better way for the whole
day because it essenti
is a way to um you know again get that
dopamine indirectly by paying for it up
front I try to avoid things like
caffeine I don't eat sugar that's
actually new for me I've given up sugar
recently it was extremely difficult
initially because I was eating sugar
every day multiple times a day and I
went into you know sugar withdrawal but
now I'm trying not to eat sugar and I
think that's been very helpful um I
actually I own a smartphone but I don't
use it it it's mostly turned off and I
use it as a tool when I need to
communicate or use ride share or Maps or
what have you I have really been
impressed by the benefit of actually um
powering down my device when the device
cannot transmit or receive I personally
experience a kind of quieting of my mind
knowing that the device is not in
transmit mode m kind of curious if other
people find this as useful um you know I
know that my patients report it's useful
so not just you know uh creating that
distance with the device but also just
turning the device off um and then only
powering it up when I need to use it for
a specific purpose um I for digital
media it's it's I'm very prone to
wanting to watch YouTube by myself as a
way to entertain and change my feelings
so I'm try to commit to to watching no
more than about 15 minutes a day no more
than a couple times a week and
preferably with other people so these
are the types of uh you know types of
strategies that that I that I try to um
use um I know what you mean because I
used to like wine but I I'm doing like a
little experiment the past four months I
stopped drinking alcohol and it's I'm so
healthy right now great yes but at the
same time um sometimes we kind of need
that boost you know when we have to give
a presentation uh we have to have
important meeting I something to drink
coffee Red Bull so what's the difference
between like energizing yourself and
staying calm uh theout the days
yeah well I mean you know different
different drugs will have a different
impact stimulants will like Red Bull
caffeine nicotine will will you know
initially um sort of perk us up
sedatives like opioids alcohol will calm
us down but I I don't think that that's
the best way in the long run to either
perk ourselves up or cal cal calm
ourselves down because with repeated um
exposure over time again our brains
adapt we need more and more to get the
same effect then that drug turns on us
and does the opposite of what we'd hope
for for example I hear from lots of
cannabis users that uh you know would
initially help their anxiety and sleep
now makes them anxious and gives them
insomnia so uh what what we want to look
for is um other ways to kind of um find
the psychological resilience that we
need to do these tasks it can be very
hard but I really urge people to try to
not rely on substances or any anything
that works immediately um has you know
the the the possibility of becoming of
being
addictive so uh throughout this talk we
talked about a lot of digital dopamine
and um so do you think that uh given the
fact that there's so much technology so
much information our human brains or
mental um body are not used to the
modern world or do do you think that
way I guess we could talk a little bit
about workaholism here in Silicon Valley
we're seeing more and more people who
are you know addicted to work right and
they get all these external accolades
but at some point they they lose their
joy in that right CU are the brain adapt
no matter what your source of dopamine
if you overdo it then it'll eventually
stop working and then you'll be in that
compulsive Loop of craving I think it's
also really important to acknowledge
that work itself has become drug aied
and made more reinforcing more
accessible more abundant by our devices
it feels good in the short term but in
the long term it's not really I think
what most of us want so it's okay to
pursue excellence in work and take
didn't work but it's so important to
find that balance how can you tell when
when it's the right timing to get that
balance
people
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