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Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten

picower.mit.edu

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Re: Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten

#91

Post by bob1029 »

abhisek wrote: post #5

I have a simple question. How do I control dopamine in "my" brain so that I can focus on "here and now" instead of HN and GitHub.

Exercise for time with steady-state exertion has proven to be the ultimate focus supplement for me. Right afterward it is like a very powerful drug. If the exercise isn't at least 30 minutes, I don't feel anything. Somewhere around 38-45 minutes, the music begins to fade in.

My preferred steady state suffering machine is the Concept2 rower. I can keep an eye on stroke/min and cal/hr to stay within a very narrow band of exertion. HIIT and weightlifting are great too, but these are not as strenuous on the brain's "focus for time" circuitry. Lots of downtime and opportunities to get on the cellular device. A straight hour on the rower with the cruise control locked @ 850cal/hr is a totally different kind of animal.

Re: Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten

#92

Post by hnick »

RansomStark wrote: post #61
gigaflop wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generic Adderall Gang here, and in hindsight, I'm surprised at how little of it I need to realize a much better headspace. Makes me wonder if all of that caffeine in my undiagnosed youth was saying something...

I'm worried about my caffeine intake. ADHD diagnosed but never medicated. I've been a heavy coffee drinker since i was a teenager. I'm sitting at 13 double espressos today which is about average. Lately the instant sleepiness post coffee isn't worth the focus, and I'm starting the think medication would be a healthier choice

Ritalin was a game changer. After the initial adjustment it just feels like it brings me up to normal, I'm not particularly stimulated (in fact my lack of wandering mind makes it easier to doze during the day), I just prefer coding to games etc. It feels like it unlocks access to natural reward mechanisms instead of chasing artificial feel-good rewards. I can't even listen to a YouTube video while coding when using it, which was a normal activity for me since my brain felt bored and went off on its own without it.

Just mentioning because curiously it almost entirely put me off caffeine. I still enjoy my morning coffee as a ritual, but sometimes don't finish it. If I have another then the side effects are severe, Ritalin massively boosts those - nerves, jitters, hitting the toilet. Not terrible or dangerous, but just interesting, and honestly caffeine never did a whole lot for me mentally so it's no big loss.

Re: Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten

#93

Post by hnick »

static_void wrote: post #40
gigaflop wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generic Adderall Gang here, and in hindsight, I'm surprised at how little of it I need to realize a much better headspace. Makes me wonder if all of that caffeine in my undiagnosed youth was saying something...

I'd be interested in your thoughts more here. The problem with amphetamine is you pay for every benefit: focus now, lethargy later; energy now, anhedonia later. But taking a small, consistent dose. Does that work? Do you feel you net benefits in life from taking the drug, discounting for withdrawal and/or tolerance?

I can't find it right now but I recall seeing somewhere that around 40% of ADHD patients reported better effects on Ritalin (methylphenidate) or dexamphetamine roughly equally, another 40% says both are about as good as each other, and the final 20% don't find either very effective.

In my personal testing the Ritalin was much better, dexamphetamine was more up/down and shorter lived. However I didn't really get a crash or lethargy with either, it's just the focus wearing thin (and yes, the benefits were real and massive starting for the first time in my forties).

According to my psych, both have been around 70+ years and are fairly well understood. Longer term therapeutic doses shouldn't be habit forming and tolerance is minor after the initial phase, there's no withdrawal effects and it's easy to forget to take a dose if your routine changes. My morning coffee is far more demanding in that regard.

Re: Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten

#94

Post by gsf_emergency »

bravetraveler wrote: post #87
keybored wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turned out that people learning about just lead to them making a fetish out of it, like it’s discrete switch in their brain that gets bumped when they eat a donut. I wonder what even the point is.

I wonder what even the point is. To either sell junk or believe '$problems' are one purchase/dance/act away from resolution, matter of perspective. Folks want things, others want to take advantage. Not to be completely dismissive, placebo/mysticism/whatever can work

However.

>Not to be completely dismissive

A whole series of essays based on the above, dismissing , , , , ,

Remains to be written!

   dopaminergic take: who doesn't want to take on journeys of discovery fuelled by other people's (even entire GDPs-worth of?) time and money :)?
just have to hope that the details turn out to be much more interesting (wit-sharpening) than the premise, heh

Re: Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten

#95

Post by [deleted] »

munificent wrote: post #70
abhisek wrote: post #5

I have a simple question. How do I control dopamine in "my" brain so that I can focus on "here and now" instead of HN and GitHub.

Get away from screens. It's hard to focus on the here and now when the here and now is the soul-deadening sensory-less experience of sitting motionless staring at a flat rectangle of pixels. Go out in the woods. Get your hands dirty. Meet friends at a bar and laugh until your stomach hurts. It's so much easier to be present in the moment when the moment is actually high fidelity and nourishing.

[deleted]

Re: Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten

#96

Post by fellowniusmonk »

voytec wrote: post #29

It's weird that there's no mention of adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine). Dopamine is only a precursor for a broader chemical reaction. All three - with dopamine - play crucial roles in our bodies' stress response system, and definitely with fear reactions. Dopamine is just a neurotransmitter. tyrosine -> dopamine -> (beta-hydroxylase) -> noradrenaline -> Phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferas…

I gotta say that since doing beta blocker enhanced therapy I've basically wrapped up any emotional response to past trauma and can examine all that stuff fully without having to protect myself. Pretty great stuff.

Re: Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten

#97

Post by hollerith »

fellowniusmonk wrote: post #96
voytec wrote: post #29

It's weird that there's no mention of adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine). Dopamine is only a precursor for a broader chemical reaction. All three - with dopamine - play crucial roles in our bodies' stress response system, and definitely with fear reactions. Dopamine is just a neurotransmitter. tyrosine -> dopamine -> (beta-hydroxylase) -> noradrenaline -> Phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferas…

I gotta say that since doing beta blocker enhanced therapy I've basically wrapped up any emotional response to past trauma and can examine all that stuff fully without having to protect myself. Pretty great stuff.

Which beta blocker did they give you (or prescribe for you)?

Re: Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten

#99

Post by fellowniusmonk »

hollerith wrote: post #97
fellowniusmonk wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I gotta say that since doing beta blocker enhanced therapy I've basically wrapped up any emotional response to past trauma and can examine all that stuff fully without having to protect myself. Pretty great stuff.

Which beta blocker did they give you (or prescribe for you)?

Nebivolol.

Re: Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten

#100

Post by phkahler »

abhisek wrote: post #5

I have a simple question. How do I control dopamine in "my" brain so that I can focus on "here and now" instead of HN and GitHub.

Give yourself an orgasm right after doing the activity you want to reinforce?

Make an electroshock gizmo that hits you when your browser visits certain domains?

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