Breaking Down Key Habit Components 

 

The Reward System: Dopamine is a key component of the brain’s reward system. From an evolutionary perspective, the primary function of dopamine is to reinforce behaviors that are necessary for survival and well-being: such as eating, drinking, and engaging in social interactions. As we have evolved and progressed as a race, our lives have increasingly become more complex. Our survival needs are easily met with an abundance of food, water and social interaction. Due to these basic needs being met, dopamine is commonly associated with other habits that we don’t need to do, rather things that make us feel good.

Pleasure & Motivation: When we experience something pleasurable, like eating delicious food or winning a game, our brains release dopamine, creating a “dopamine rush” that reinforces the behavior and motivates us to repeat it. 

Reinforcement & Habit Formation: Dopamine helps us learn which behaviors are rewarding and which are not, by reinforcing those that lead to pleasure and discouraging those that don’t. However, just because a habit has been reinforced because it makes us ‘feel good’ doesn’t mean its healthy and productive.

 

The Brain’s Control Center: Where Tyrosine, Taurine & Dopamine Takes Over

 

A look at the key brain regions responsible for dopamine production and regulation.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is produced in the substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, and hypothalamus of the brain.

Neurons in the region at the base of the brain produce dopamine in a two-step process. First, the amino acid tyrosine is converted into another amino acid, called L-dopa. Then L-dopa undergoes another change, as enzymes turn it into dopamine.

Too little dopamine causes the stiff movements that are the hallmark of Parkinson’s disease. Although depression is more often linked to a lack of serotonin, studies find that a dopamine deficiency also contributes to a down mood. In particular, people with depression often suffer from a lack of motivation and concentration.

Because dopamine is made from tyrosine, getting more of this amino acid from food could potentially boost dopamine levels in your brain. Some research suggests that a diet rich in tyrosine also may improve memory and mental performance.

 

The Dopamine Dilemma: How It Shapes Every Decision You Make

 

Why dopamine influences your choices—often against your better judgment.

As previously stated, dopamine reinforces the decisions that make us feel good. However, it can also reduce the desire or motivation to make other decisions. Lets say, you have to study, but you just glanced at Youtube and there’s an awesome video you want to watch. Thinking about the Youtube video will trigger a “dopamine rush” as the outcome of watching the video will make you feel good. Compare that to thinking about studying, you may not get the same effects. Luckily it’s not the end of the world, if you get fulfilment from studying – a sense of worth- thinking about that sensation may trigger enough dopamine to induce the motivation required to sit down and study instead. We will go over escaping dopamine habits in section #5.

 

Hooked on Habits: Why Dopamine Fuels the Bad Ones

 

How your brain reinforces bad habits and why breaking them feels so difficult.

Just thinking about a habit induces dopamine, giving you the motivation to complete it. This could be one of the reasons bad habits feel so hard to break. As soon as we think about it, we get the sensation that we have to do it. For example; if I always watch Youtube on my TV, in my bed. I’m going to associate my TV, bed and maybe even room with watching Youtube. Triggering me to consciously and sometimes sub-consciously think about the bad habit, triggering the release of dopamine – and with it the desire to watch Youtube. So how can we break these habits if we always think about them?

 

Breaking the Cycle: Escaping Dopamine-Driven Bad Habits

 

Practical strategies to disrupt unhealthy behavior loops and take back control.

These subtle cues triggering a range of habits are everywhere in our environment. To try and break bad habits, we must first look at our habits and the environments these habits take place in. (Youtube in bedroom). An easy way to highlight where these habits take place and what induces them is to write a list with three columns (The habit / The environment / Objects that Cue the habit). The point of identifying the route cause of your habits, is to make it obvious to us what drives our behavior.

Once you identify these subtle cues in your environment, your ready to start attempting to break these bad habits. To break the habits that are unhealthy or unproductive, you need to remove all the subtle cues from your environment that you associate with the habit. Here are a few examples:

• • I could move my TV out of my room

• • I could put my phone in a draw when I study

• • I could put my gaming console out of sight so I’m not triggered by it.

Rewiring Your Brain: Using Dopamine to Build Better Habits

 

Leveraging dopamine’s power to create lasting, positive behavioral change.

 

Current good habits you want to maintain:

Creating new habits, or reinforcing the positive ones you already have, works the same way. You need subtle cues in your environment to trigger the dopamine release which will motivate you to complete the habit. So, like with bad habits write a list with the same section but only include good habits. Once you know which cues in your environment induce dopamine, you can make them more obvious (leave a book on your pillow in the morning if you want to read more). That way, when you get home, you see the cue on your bed which can trigger dopamine. Worst comes to worst and it doesn’t, at least it reminds you that you wanted to read.

 

Creating new habits:

To create new habits, you need to associate your desired behavior with immediate, small rewards or visual prompts that trigger dopamine release. For instance, if you want to exercise more, lay out your workout clothes the night before or set up your gym playlist in advance—both serve as cues that subtly prime your brain for action. Pairing habits with enjoyable stimuli, like listening to your favorite podcast while stretching, can further strengthen the association. Over time, as your brain begins to expect the dopamine hit from the habit itself, you’ll find it easier to stay consistent with new habits your trying to create.

 

Dopamine & Drive: The Science of Motivation

 

Why dopamine dictates your levels of motivation—and how to hack it to your advantage.

Some dopamine neurons encode motivational value, supporting brain networks for seeking, evaluation, and value learning. Others encode motivational salience, supporting brain networks for orienting, cognition, and general motivation. Both types of dopamine neurons are augmented by an alerting signal involved in rapid detection of potentially important sensory cues.

Once your dopamine levels increase, even by a small margin — whether it’s driven intrinsically or extrinsically — use it to your advantage. Whatever new habit you want to form: study, work, the gym, or something else in your life you want to achieve, apply that tiny bit of drive you can squeeze out of yourself. Once you’ve done that, again and again, the hard part is over — it becomes habitual