Dopamine for Dummies

If you’ve had a gander at our website or consumed any Peak content, you’ve probably heard us chat about dopamine. But what even is dopamine? 

Let's keep it simple.

Dopamine is the chemical that enables communication between nerve cells. Although dopamine plays a key role in motor control, learning and even memory - it’s best known for making for you feel motivated, focused and more positive. It’s basically the MVP of brain function. 

But dopamine has a bit of a naughty rep. 

Dopamine is a key part of your brain’s reward system. This basically means that when you do something that makes you feel good (like eating chocolate, exercising or even having sex) dopamine is the dude in your head that strokes your pleasure receptor. 

Essentially, Dopamine rewards you for doing good sh*t so you keep wanting to do good sh*t. 

Dopamine plays a vital role in addiction, as drugs like cocaine cause a surge of dopamine to flood your brain, causing a huge reaction in your brain's reward system. Repeated drug use can cause your brain to develop a tolerance, meaning you’ll crave dopamine-inducing drugs more frequently, and in larger doses. Lower dopamine levels in the brain have been attributed as a contributing factor to ADHD, Schizophrenia and even Parkinson's. 

So basically, dopamine is a pretty cool player in your brain’s core function. Drink Peak, and give your brain some dopamine!