“Technology has changed the world such that we are chronically ingesting and engaging in these highly reinforcing drugs and behaviors which have engendered a dopamine deficit state, making us all more anxious and depressed.” – Dr. Anna Lembke
The video above showed up in my YouTube feed and I found it very insightful. I’m familiar with Dr. Anna Lembke (the narrator of the video) because she was on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. She is a very intelligent woman with a great sense of humor. Joe possesses these qualities as well. So there was great chemistry between the two of them when they sat down together on Joe’s podcast. If you’re interested in listening, you’ll want to lookup #1708 of the Joe Rogan Experience.
The main theme of the video is how to find balance in this world of instant gratification. I ask that you give yourself 20 minutes to watch the video in its entirety. You will get much more from it than you will from mindlessly scrolling InstaGram or Facebook for 20 minutes. Pardon my ADHD, but is Facebook “Meta” yet? They’ve been talking about rebranding for what seems like forever. ANYWAY… back to Dr. Lembke’s message about balance and how the framework of modern society is causing tremendous anxiety and depression.
Some of the bullet points from her book Dopamine Nation and her conversation with Joe Rogan include:
Pleasure and pain are co-located in the brain and work as a balance, working in equal and opposite ways
After you achieve a high, your brain resets to a dopamine deficit where your dopamine level is actually below baseline
You can leverage pain to keep the dopamine system in check: participate in effortful activity daily – this can be a creatively stimulating task, physically challenging exercise, etc.
Definition of addiction: continued compulsive use of substance or behavior despite harm to self or others
Elements of addiction: nature, nurture, environment
Diagnosis of addiction is based on behaviors and control, compulsion, craving, and consequence to self and others
Modern life has evolved around a reward system – and it has a negative impact on the way we perceive time and takes away from our ability to be present in the moment1
This article was intended as a quick one as I have real estate related business to attend to. Boring, I know. But it’s all part of my plan to make money to expand and grow Bay Flavor Projects! I will be writing a piece to compliment this one that I will post on Sunday, June 12th. I’m going to dive into the importance of balance and some revelations I’ve made currently regarding the concept. For the astrology lovers out there, Sunday’s article will be a treat! I hope that you can take 20 minutes out of your day to listen to Dr. Lembke’s video and think about how to maintain balance in your life. If nothing else, maybe you’ll learn something!
P.S. - If you do enjoy learning, I suggest subscribing to the channel the video above is posted on. It’s called “After Skool” and it’s a fun, creative, and educational channel. What else could one ask for?!?! Have a healthy & productive day and keep it Bay Flavor baby!!!
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