From Happiness to Achievement: Dopamine vs Endorphins

Efforts may not be successful, but no efforts will be anxious.

For people like me who are eager for progress, this sentence is simply incisive. Let's start with this sentence, but don't stay at the level of feeling. Let's explore the physiological and psychological reasons behind this sentence.

First, dopamine and pleasure

1. What is dopamine? Not what?

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter. It conveys information of excitement and happiness, and is also related to addiction. Arvid Carlson and others won the Nobel Prize for their research on dopamine.

Does dopamine represent happiness? That's not true.

Studies have shown that the essence of dopamine reward pathway is reward, not happiness. Master Deng, the animal breeder's answer:

What is the reward? The reward is that after you do it once, you will want to do it again. Generally speaking, what we get in return is substantial feedback. For example, an apple, then the physical properties of the apple, such as taste and touch, are linked to the reward system after being converted into neural information, leading to changes in synaptic plasticity. You will know that the apple is delicious. Eat it.

Does pleasure really come from happy moments? More studies have found that the effectiveness of dopamine comes from expecting returns, not getting returns. Dopamine ≈ wants to bring desire and fantasy.

Sue snake arrogant answer:

In the experiment of feeding monkeys with sugar water, when monkeys were rewarded with sugar water, the peak activity of dopamine cells increased significantly (R).

Next, Schultz used the classic Pavlov conditioned reflex experiment to play a sound 1 second before giving the monkey sugar water to remind him. When monkeys get used to this connection, they expect sugar water as soon as they hear the prompt. However, after hearing the cue sound (CS), the activity of dopamine cells becomes stronger, because this cue predicts future returns. Note that dopamine activity is no longer enhanced when sugar water is actually obtained, because the sugar water reward has been predicted.

2. Side effects of dopamine: the pain of addiction.

You can compare the current mobile phone addiction. Many times, we just keep clicking on the "next item", even if we are tired, we are reluctant to let go. This is the reward mechanism that dopamine tells you that "the next one will be great". When you force yourself to put down your mobile phone, you will feel very anxious. Dopamine just makes us look forward to the next one.

Regarding the physiological and psychological causes of addiction pain, arrogance mentioned:

Addiction refers to a kind of repetitive compulsive behavior, which is repeated even though it is known that these behaviors will cause adverse consequences. This behavior may be caused by the dysfunction of the central nervous system, and repeating these behaviors will lead to nerve damage-Wikipedia.

In the reward mechanism, endorphins, enkephalins and endogenous cannabinoids belong to "carrot" type, while dopamine belongs to "stick" type. The first three bring people satisfaction after acquisition, while dopamine brings people hunger and thirst before acquisition. Animals are actually lazy, and the "big stick" keeps animals in a state of high excitement if they want to eat carrots (don't think that excitement is happiness! You will be very excited when you are hunted by carnivores.

And "addiction" is another matter completely. Even when using the source of addiction, it only gives you a sense of hunger and thirst, but does not give you satisfaction. In other words, it makes you hungry, not satisfied. That is, misleading your brain to make wrong judgments. Take gambling as an example. The addiction mechanism of gambling is that people mistakenly think that "I will definitely win money next". However, in the long run, the purpose of gambling is to make gamblers lose their money.

More importantly, in the addictive behavior, although we are very excited and want more stimulation, we are not happy at that time. In an experiment of "treating" homosexuality by electrically stimulating pleasure areas, although human subjects reported "wanting more stimulation" and "arousing sexual desire" in similar experiments,

However, when Kent Berridge read the interview records during the "treatment", he found that none of the subjects directly expressed their pleasure by saying "electric shock feels good" or "pressing the button will feel comfortable".

On the other hand, for example, when patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder do repetitive actions, the dopamine system remains excited and generates rewards. The result is obviously painful.

Are we really happy in the process of brushing Weibo and Zhihu again and again? Obviously not. We are just looking for rewards, and we are just driven by the slavery of the exciting reward system. Just like looking for water in the sand, we try to absorb non-existent water in endless dry gravel. That kind of pursuit of pleasure is a kind of "thirst", constantly rummaging for water in the desert, becoming more and more thirsty.

Every time I go online to find exciting movies and play exciting action games, I have the same experience afterwards.

Second, endorphins and sense of accomplishment

Endorphin, also known as endorphin or endorphin, is an endogenous morphine-like biochemical compound hormone (secreted by pituitary gland). It can combine with morphine receptor to produce the same pain relief and euphoria as morphine and opioids. Equivalent to natural painkillers. The use of drugs can increase the secretion of endorphins. Endorphins are similar to a sense of accomplishment and inner peace.

Endorphins can help people stay young and happy, so they are also called "pleasure hormones" or "youth hormones".

Roger Gilman, a Nobel Prize winner, found that the areas where endorphins are produced the most and where endorphin receptors are concentrated are actually areas related to learning and memory, so endorphins can improve academic performance and deepen memory. Fibrinopeptide can regulate bad mood, mobilize neuroendocrine system, improve immunity and relieve pain. Under the stimulation of endorphins, people can fall asleep smoothly, eliminate insomnia, and make people's body and mind in a relaxed and happy state, thus strengthening the strength of the immune system.

Endorphins can fight pain, cheer up the spirit and relieve depression; It can also make us resist sadness, creativity, improve work efficiency and so on; Full of love and light, positive and willing to communicate with people around me.

From the above description, do you feel that the role of these endorphins is similar to what we feel when we finish what we should do in a day? At this time, our hearts are full and calm, we recognize ourselves and are full of confidence in the future.

Third, escape from the happiness trap and welcome the world of endorphins.

The most common side effect of addiction behavior is the increase of tolerance threshold. Therefore, drug addicts need to constantly increase the dose to get the same feeling as before.

On the contrary, abstinence can make people happy. Its basic principle is to lower the tolerance threshold. After a day of fasting, the taste becomes more sensitive, and the taste of food eaten in the mouth will be amplified.

Part of the significance of practicing precepts is to reduce excessive dopamine receptors in the brain, thus reducing involuntary addiction controlled by brain reward mechanism. Many people think that practitioners are asking for trouble and don't understand the significance of lowering the threshold of tolerance.

What is the difference between dopamine and endorphin in love? Dopamine is an instantaneous heartbeat, and endorphins are the longest. After the vigorous love, we need another love substance endorphin to fill our passion. The effect of endorphins is very close to that of another drug, morphine, which is a sedative. It can reduce anxiety and make people feel comfortable, warm, cordial and calm. Although this is not exciting and exciting, this warm feeling can be addictive. Generally speaking, the longer the marriage exists, the stronger this state will be. One of the reasons is that both husband and wife are used to the tranquility brought by endorphins.

It seems that the key to make love last forever is to secrete enough endorphins before the passionate substance fades.

How to get endorphins? There is such a study on exercise (douban: a method to promote the secretion of endorphins)

Endorphins, also known as "happy hormones" or "young hormones", can make people feel happy and satisfied, and even help people relieve stress and unhappiness. Expert tip: Not all sports can produce this effect. The secretion of endorphins requires a certain amount of exercise intensity and a certain amount of exercise time to make it secrete. At present, it is generally considered that moderate and high-intensity sports, such as aerobics, running, mountaineering, badminton and so on. Can stimulate the secretion of endorphins for more than 30 minutes. People who insist on physical exercise for a long time often feel comfortable after exercise because exercise promotes the secretion of endorphins. If you don't exercise for a day, the secretion of endorphins will decrease and people will become listless.

The reason is that there is a wonderful "pole" in the long-distance running. Before that, people will feel very tired; Once you cross that point, your body will be full of energy and you will feel excited again. This is because when the amount of exercise exceeds a certain stage, the body will secrete endorphins. It's easy to keep running at this time.

Not only running, climbing mountains, playing Tai Ji Chuan and other sports will increase the secretion of endorphins, but also meditation, meditation, yoga and other exercises will increase the secretion of endorphins. Some people simply call these "practitioners" endorphin experiencers.

In this sport, their inner joy is their "peak experience". In addition, deep breathing is also a condition for secretion of endorphins. When we are nervous, we can relax by taking a deep breath. In qigong, we can also take a long deep breath to calm us down.

Endorphins are produced sparingly. It needs hard work and sweat. 12 cold window students, admitted to the ideal university. Blood was drawn at the moment of receiving the notice, and the endorphin content must have exceeded the standard. A farmer who has worked hard for a year, seeing fruitful fruit trees in sight, couples reunited after a long separation, and seeing their beloved people, endorphins must be surging. The production of endorphins is the result of the joint efforts of body and spirit, and the happiness it brings us is precious and rare.

I believe that everyone has experienced great regret, emptiness and loss after the addictive pleasure (playing games, indulging in the internet, watching exciting movies all night, etc.). I feel that I have wasted my time and done nothing right.

For people like me who are "looking forward to the future", it is definitely anxious not to work hard. Dopamine does not bring pleasure, but the reward mechanism of "one more time" in the brain drives you to enslave you. It brings anxiety, not happiness.

We all want to be the darling of the world, so it's best not to work hard, just like the protagonist in the novel, to get everything by taking risks and then enjoy life. However, what happens after you get endless pleasure in one step? The hero of Brave New World said:

"As a human being, there must be something worth fighting for, resisting and striving for. But now that we have everything, the only thing we can do is wait for the passage of time. "

If something is painful at first, people will instinctively run away. What is really terrible is the danger under the appearance of ease and happiness.

Endorphins are magical, and true happiness requires hard work.

Moreover, more importantly, we humans are genetically determined to be only sensitive to emotional changes and easy to adapt to the absolute level. Therefore, to achieve long-term happiness, we are not pursuing a great success, but continuous progress.