Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter, the chemical messenger in the body responsible for facilitating connections between nerve cells in the nervous system. Dopamine can be found in two different areas of the brain, the first in the substantia nigra that plays a role in facilitating movement, When its cells die, this person develops Parkinson’s disease, a disease characterized by difficulty in movement.
The second is in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain where most of the dopamine is produced in your body. Dopamine is created in the VTA, and then released in other areas of the brain when someone does something that calls for a reward. “Reward means that when you perform some activity that Like it or eat certain foods we like, this area of the brain is stimulated resulting in a feeling of euphoria and joy.” Although most people associate “reward” in the brain with behaviors such as drug use or sex, dopamine also responds to behaviors we need to survive Alive, like eating food or drinking water, releasing dopamine and making us feel good from these things is our body’s mechanism for ensuring that we continue to do the things we need to do in order to keep our body running optimally and feeling healthy.
Dopamine is often grouped with another neurotransmitter, serotonin, and while the two neurotransmitters have some similarities in that they are both chemical messengers to the brain and have a positive relationship with regard to mood, their primary functions are very different, as dopamine brings about positive feelings. It depends on a specific action, and on the other hand, serotonin acts more as a mood stabilizer. However, a deficiency in serotonin or dopamine can negatively affect mood and happiness.
Symptoms of dopamine deficiency and signs of conditions related to its deficiency include:
- Muscle spasm .
- Muscle stiffness.
- Feeling stressed and tired.
- Feelings of loneliness and depression.
- loss of balance
- constipation;
- Difficulty eating and swallowing.
- Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
- Recurrent pneumonia.
- Trouble sleeping or disturbed sleep.
- Inability to concentrate .
- Moving slowly or speaking more slowly than usual.
- Mood swings, feeling hopeless.
- feeling guilty .
- feeling anxious
- Having some suicidal or self-harming thoughts.
- Low sex drive.
- hallucinations
- Lack of insight or self-awareness.
- Read about the hormones of happiness and how to increase them in the body
Diagnosing low dopamine levels:
There is no reliable way to measure dopamine levels directly in a person’s brain, but there are some indirect ways to determine dopamine imbalances in the brain. Doctors can measure the density of dopamine transporters that positively associate with neurons that use dopamine. This test involves injecting a radioactive substance. They are linked to dopamine transmission, which doctors can measure using a camera. The doctor then looks at the person’s symptoms, lifestyle factors, and medical history to determine whether they have a condition associated with low levels of dopamine.
What is dopamine and why is it important?
Dopamine is a chemical naturally found in the human body. It is a neurotransmitter meaning that it sends signals from the body to the brain. Dopamine plays a role in controlling the movements a person makes, as well as in their emotional reactions, and the correct balance of dopamine is vital to both physical well-being and mentality.
Vital brain functions that affect mood, sleep, memory, learning, focus, and motor control are affected by dopamine levels in a person’s body. The body or a problem with the receptors in the brain.
What is the relationship between dopamine and movement ?
As mentioned earlier, the dopamine produced in the substantia nigra (part of the basal ganglia region of the brain) helps control movement, and the basal ganglia control many aspects of bodily movement and depend on the release of dopamine from neurons that contain It requires dopamine to function properly, and therefore, dopamine is necessary for controlled movement to occur in a natural way.
But sometimes this is disrupted, and when these cells die or an injury occurs that leads to a defect in this area, movement difficulty occurs and movement functions are greatly reduced, and this is one of the main symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is characterized by uncontrollable movements , Which researchers found to be caused by a lack of dopamine in the substantia nigra.
In contrast, sometimes the basal ganglia are loaded with too much dopamine, and while a lack of dopamine restricts movement, too much dopamine can cause the body to make too many movements. These uncontrolled and unnecessary movements are A common feature of Tourette’s syndrome.
The relationship between dopamine and addiction :
The dopamine rush experienced when using cocaine and other drugs also contributes to drug addiction, because the brain releases extremely high amounts of dopamine when someone uses drugs, and drug use becomes associated with feelings of happiness and euphoria, meaning that the person will be motivated to repeat the experience to reach Once again, unfortunately this can put someone into an addiction cycle, and the person will not only become addicted, but will also want to use larger amounts of the drug, as the drug gets used to these doses and produces less dopamine when the person uses it, so the person will have to He has to use more and more of the drug to feel the same dopamine rush as he did on the initial use. Keep in mind that drugs can cause two or ten times more dopamine to be released than normal factors such as eating or sex.
dopamine hormone
What is the relationship between dopamine and memory?
One of the lesser-known functions of dopamine is its role in memory, and although dopamine is not produced in the cerebral cortex (the surface layer of the mammalian brain hemisphere), dopamine releases in that area help facilitate memory processing. The function is very sensitive to dopamine, so a slight difference in the number of dopamine releases in the area can severely affect a person’s memory.
Dopamine can also be blamed for our tendency to remember things that matter to us better than things we don’t. with happiness.
Another dopamine function that teachers may want to be aware of is its role in focus and attention. Dopamine responds to the optic nerves (those used in vision) to help someone focus their attention on a particular activity, and when visually focusing on something, dopamine can help us In keeping things in our short-term memory, it is thought that low levels of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex may contribute to attention deficit disorder and forgetfulness
Teachers can benefit greatly from this information, because it may explain why students do not absorb the information, as the teacher can teach in a way that stimulates students and invokes the reward center in the brain and releases a large amount of dopamine, by having students participate in another attractive teaching activity or method, which It helps students to remember information better.
What is the relationship between dopamine and sleep ?
Dopamine helps us feel more alert, and the body naturally produces a lot of it during the daytime hours when we are most stimulated. As night falls, dopamine levels drop as well, helping us feel tired and ready for sleep. Dopamine sufferers or those with conditions such as Parkinson’s, associated with low levels of dopamine, can experience chronic fatigue during all hours of the day. Do not forget to read about the important sleep hormone for your body.
What is the relationship between dopamine and happiness ?
As mentioned earlier, dopamine is sometimes mixed with another neurotransmitter, serotonin, and unlike serotonin or the happiness hormone dopamine does not directly help control mood, yet it can still affect moods and emotions to some extent, Because it can lead to a feeling of happiness, dopamine is associated with feeling good about a specific event or one’s life in general, which can certainly affect a person’s happiness.
What is the relationship between dopamine and pleasure and reward ?
Dopamine is the main neurotransmitter involved in the brain’s reward system and feelings of happiness. When someone engages in a behavior, the brain considers it pleasurable, such as eating food. Dopamine is released. The behavior is referred to as reward-worthy behavior, and this motivates the person to perform behavior again in the future.
Like sex, it is one of the other common causes of dopamine release, where intercourse provokes the release of dopamine, along with the hormone oxytocin , and these two things are what cause feelings of euphoria about sex, and contribute to the human desire to have sexual intercourse.
While the reward system is designed to motivate us to perform behaviors that benefit our health, it can induce some harmful behaviors when dopamine is artificially stimulated. For example, cocaine blocks dopamine reuptake, which means that the brain is flooded with an unusually high amount of dopamine. This excess of dopamine leads to the euphoria that one might experience after consuming cocaine, but it also interferes with the normal dopamine system in the brain and can disrupt its natural cycles. For a long time, it makes someone feel worse because the dopamine system is not working as it should.
