Can You Have Too Much of a Good Thing? Dopamine Decoded with Friederike Fabritius and Peter Sterling

The Friederike Fabritius Show

Chasing Rewards: The Role of Dopamine in Happiness and Health with Prof. Peter Sterling

Professor Peter Sterling, author of 'What Is Health?', joins Friederike for the second time to explore the effects of dopamine on the brain. They discuss how we are hardwired to seek out rewards, and those little bursts of dopamine are so crucial for our happiness and health. The conversation explores how drugs, alcohol, video games, and even pornography can mess with our brain's dopamine system, making everyday joys seem less exciting. Peter shares why it's better to focus on simple, natural pleasures and real social connections instead of chasing big dopamine hits via artificial means. He also shares his experience with ADHD and how the current way of treating it may be ineffective.The episode concludes with Peter sharing his tips on how to get your dopamine levels back in balance by being honest with yourself and reaching out to others.

00:00 Introduction 00:37 The Basics of Dopamine 01:46 Dopamine and Daily Life 04:28 Artificial Dopamine Boosters and Their Effects 05:30 The Impact of Modern Stimuli on Dopamine 09:07 ADHD and Dopamine: A Deeper Look 12:27 Dopamine Detox and Rebalancing 13:30 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Peter Sterling is an American anatomist, physiologist and neuroscientist, and Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is the author of What Is Health? Allostasis and the Evolution of Human Design (2020), and with Simon Laughlin, is an author of Principles of Neural Design.

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