Controlling Dopamine for Motivation, Energy, and Learning

Get your emotional intelligence score: score.sankalpgarud.orgIf we haven't met, hello I'm Sankalp, and I'm a neuroscientist. I completed my PhD in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Oxford. In this video I talk about what dopamine is, what it actually does in the brain, and how to use it for motivation, energy and well-being.0:00 – Introduction1:56 – What is dopamine?3:49 – Where does dopamine come from? (tyrosine)5:32 – Where is dopamine made in the brain?7:53 – The three dopamine pathways10:23 – What each pathway does13:02 – What does dopamine do? (overview)13:56 – Dopamine is NOT about pleasure16:35 – Study 1: Mice without dopamine still seek pleasure20:23 – Study 2: Blocking dopamine in humans22:02 – Study 3: Dopamine is linked to pain too23:24 – Dopamine and learning24:10 – The Instagram notification analogy31:32 – Dopamine encodes surprise33:32 – The math behind dopamine39:03 – The connection to AI and ChatGPT40:38 – Dopamine and motivation42:46 – The dopamine ramp45:42 – Dopamine tracks your environment49:09 – Phasic vs tonic dopamine53:44 – Opportunity cost and dopamine55:52 – My own study on social rewards57:56 – How to use dopamine practically1:02:03 – Parkinson's disease1:04:48 – Addiction1:07:12 – Schizophrenia1:09:15 – ADHD1:10:37 – How to increase dopamine1:15:39 – Tip: Food and tyrosine1:20:01 – Tip: Caffeine1:23:23 – Tip: Social connection1:25:57 – Tip: Exercise1:27:40 – Dopamine detox: does it work?1:31:58 – Tip: Meditation and yoga nidra1:33:45 – Tip: Cold showers1:35:31 – Caution: UV radiation (why more dopamine isn't always better)1:37:28 – Summary

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Controlling Dopamine for Motivation, Energy, and Learning is an episode from Understanding Emotions by Sankalp Garud.

This episode is 01:43:45 long.

This episode was published on Mar 31, 2026.

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