"Dopamine and Pleasureful Activities: If you're not a gambler and that doesn't appeal to you, I have to imagine there's something that appeals to you, something that you do repeatedly because you enjoy it. And almost inevitably, it's because there's an intermittent schedule by which dopamine sometimes arrives, sometimes a little bit, sometimes a lot, sometimes a medium amount. That intermittent reinforcement schedule is actually the best schedule to export to other activities."

"Dangers of Dopamine Spikes: So again, a cautionary note against spiking one's dopamine too much on a regular basis unless there's a valid clinical need for doing that. So we've been focusing a lot for the last few minutes on the kind of darker side of dopamine and how getting big peaks in dopamine can be detrimental."

"Cultivating Growth Mindset: You can evoke dopamine release from the friction and the challenge that you happen to be in, you completely eliminate the ability to generate those circuits and the rewarding process of being able to reward friction while in effort if you are focused only on the goal that comes at the end because of the way that dopamine marks time."

"The Rewards of Fasting: Many people say that their state of mind when they fast is clear, that they actually start to enjoy the period of fasting. In fact, some people start pushing out their eating window or skipping entire days of eating more and more in order to get deeper into that state of mind where surely it's not just Dopamine, but Dopamine is released, they will track their clock."

"Power of Reinforcement via Dopamine Release: Hearing something that reinforces one's prior beliefs actually can evoke dopamine release."

"Understanding L Tyrosine's Effect on Dopamine: 'The classic study that really nailed down the fact that Tyrosine has this effect was published way back in 1983, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, that directly compared L Tyrosine supplementation with tryptophan ingestion on plasma dopamine and serotonin... And indeed what they found is that ingestion of L Tyrosine can increase the amount of Dopamine circulating in the blood and in the brain too, of course.'"

"Huperzine A and Dopamine Stimulation: Huperzine A is a compound sold over the counter, at least in the United States, that can increase acetylcholine transmission, a different neuromodulator entirely. But what's interesting is that huperzine A somehow, by way of interactions between the cholinergic system and the dopaminergic system leads to increases in dopamine in the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, hippocampus, of course, being an area of the brain associated with learning and memory, and prefrontal cortex being associated with the mesolimbic pathway, decision making focus, etcetera."

"Understanding Supplement Alternatives: Again, I'm not recommending anyone take these things. In fact, I recommend against anyone just diving in and starting to consume things without gaining knowledge about how they function." "Dopamine Pathway and Social Connections: And that's the very interesting, and I would say important finding that was made a few years ago by my colleague, Rob Malenka, who's in our department of psychiatry at Stanford, showing that oxytocin and social connection is actually directly stimulating the dopamine pathway."

"The Importance of Social Connection for Well-being": "What this paper essentially showed is that oxytocin, social connection, and pair bonding itself triggers dopamine release. So the take home message there is quite simple, engage in, pursue quality, healthy social interactions."

"Dopamine Control and Management: The most important things to understand are that these dopamine pathways really are under your control, and the locus of control resides in the fact that your previous levels of dopamine are influencing your levels of dopamine right now, and your current levels of dopamine And where you take them next will influence your dopamine levels in the next days weeks to come."