25 Nov 2022

Disclaimer: This post is mainly my reflections from the book (ideas that I found interesting, stuff that I know but need constant reminding etc.).

Check out my Goodreads profile for all my book recommendations (maintained since 2021 Jan).

Book: Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence

Author: Anna Lembke

Rating: 2 star

• Biggest learning: A lot of our problems can be solved by choosing pain over pleasure in the short term. Be it any activity or subset of life. Fitness, eating, etc. Any activity that produces pleasure leads to dopamine induced pain/regret later on, and vice verse. Therefore, solve to get pain in the short term and your dopamine will reward you with pleasure later on. E.g. Ice bath. Therefore, life mantra: PAIN over PLEASURE
  • Don’t constantly look for ways to please yourself. You don’t need that amazon order!
  • Every pleasure exacts a price, and the pain that follows is longer laster and more intense than the pleasure that gave rise to it
• We all have our own masturbation machines - twitter, sugar, shopping, masturbation etc.
• Addiction happens when there is a continued and compulsive consumption of a substance or behaviour despite it’s harm to self and/or others
  • Key to honestly identify my addictions
• We have lost the ability to tolerate even moderate amounts of pain (e.g. focused work for 1 hour). Constantly seeking to distract ourselves from the present moment and entertain ourselves
  • We have an almost infinite appetite for distractions
  • Life has become easy - challenge it, make it tough for yourself!
• Live in the moment - you don’t always need to have your Airpods plugged in listening to the next podcast or audiobook. Experience living with your thoughts in your head.
  • Boredom is boring and terrifying. But also an opportunity for discovery and invention. It creates the space for a new thought to form.
  • Without this we are endlessly reacting to stimuli around us, rather than allowing ourselves to be within our lived experience
• Dopamine gives us more pleasure in the wanting of the reward, than pleasure from the actual reward itself
  • There is a strong craving for more pleasure in the aftermath of pleasure. Clicking the next YouTube video, eating the second brownie when you promised yourself only one etc.
  • But the more you do this, the more of the drug you want to get the same pleasure, and the aftermath pain is much higher
• Dopamine - how it works:
  • You get a hit in the wanting of the reward
  • Then, your levels plunge below baseline, which makes you seek out the reward
  • If the reward comes, higher than before dopamine. If not, an even bigger plunge (therefore, an expected reward that doesn’t happen is even worse than a reward that was never anticipated)
    • Gambling happens because we are unable to predict when the reward will occur, and hence, keep seeking it
  • If reward did come, the high leads to a plunge which wants us to go seek the pleasure again and the cycle continues
• The world today is a place of overwhelming abundance. Our brains did not evolve for this world of plenty. We are cacti in the rain forest, and we are drowning in Dopamine!!
  • We therefore, need more reward to feel pleasure, and less injury to feel pain.
• The need therefore is of self-binding
  • But before that, realise that will power is limited. It’s not an infinite human resource, but more like a muscle - which will get tired.
  • If you wait until you feel the compulsion to use your drug, it is nearly impossible to resist. In the throes of desire, there’s no deciding!
  • Therefore, don’t blame yourself when you at times give into your drug, realise what’s happening and try to prevent it
  • Create tangible barriers between self and the drug.
• Don’t give in to immediate gratification. There is a lot of pleasure in finding something out on your own, of pursuing a craft, of chasing excellence. These are not just good-to-hear statements but actual pleasure deriving experiences that start off with a pain mindset.
• Pain leads to pleasure
  • A all nighter leading to a great meeting
  • Ice bath
  • Runner’s high etc etc.
• A stronger pain, weakens a weaker pain in a different part of the body.

Date completed: 25th November 2021