24 June 2024

🌅 A Misconception about Energy

We often believe that the more effort we put into a task, the more drained and lazy we become. However, this is a significant misconception. In reality, the more effort we invest in completing a task, the closer we get to achieving a state of "Flow"—a state of being completely immersed and engaged in our work. Paradoxically, the most exhausting activity is doing nothing, endlessly watching the clock, and waiting for time to pass. Moreover, having control over our lives leads to inner harmony, resulting in increased energy and happiness.

✍️ Quote of the Week

“Start doing something, you’ll continue.. why? Because motivation doesn’t cause action. Action causes motivation.” — Neil Pasricha

📲 Should we blame Dopamine for our Instagram Addiction?

Before we answer this question lets understand fundamentally how dopamine is transmitted and how it causes “excitement”. For those who don’t know, Dopamine is a chemical in our brain that helps us feel pleasure and happiness. It plays a key role in motivating us to do things and helps us enjoy activities like eating, playing, or spending time with friends. Think of it as a reward signal that makes us feel good when we do something enjoyable or achieve a goal.

There are two kinds of Dopamine transmissions:

1. Tonic Transmissions is the baseline dopamine that is steadily and regularly released in the brain. It helps maintain regular brain functions and keeps neural activity balanced. Think of it as the background noise that keeps the system ready for action.
2. Phasic Transmission involves quick, burst-like(spikes) releases of dopamine in response to specific stimuli or events. It plays a crucial role in reward processing, motivation, and learning. This type of transmission is what makes us feel a sudden surge of pleasure or excitement when something positive happens, like getting a compliment or achieving a goal.

Knowing this, now lets understand how addiction is caused. Any normal human being when for the first time tries a cigarette or a drug, experiences phasic transmission of dopamine that results in pleasure, or excitement. Now, continuous usage of the drug, or intake of nicotine will result in frequent “spikes” due to phasic transmission which will eventually increase the base level of dopamine, i.e tonic transmission levels will increase. Now since the base level has risen up, to get the same level of “kick”, the person has to increase the dosage of the drug, or intake of nicotine. This cycle of increasing the dosage to attain the desired effect results in addiction.