Dopamine, Foods and Drugs

Thomas Jefferson wrote that “The Pursuit of Happiness” was significant. Unfortunately, in today’s world, that idea is being misinterpreted. Instead, people are pursuing destructiveness, self-hate, sickness and premature death behaviors. For example, we give Congress very low approval ratings; we listen to hate radio; we participate in sadistic antisocial media and we view negative hurtful TV news. We have an opioid epidemic; we have 40% of the population obese; we have 70% of the population overweight; we have drug and alcohol addictions; we have a suicide epidemic and we have out of sight statistics on homicide. In the 1990s, there was no state that had an adult obesity rate over 15%. In 2015, there were 44 states that had obesity rates of 20% or higher. It is clear that a great number of participants in our culture, society and institutions are expressing hostility directed toward self and toward others in unhealthy amounts. On a moral level, there appears to be an absence of alarm, which is very troubling. A July 2, 2017 article in the New York Times had the following: “We created the perfect environment for drug and food addiction.” In that article, the writer wrote about the influence of dopamine, one of the chemical neurotransmitters, found in the brain. This neurotransmitter is associated with concentration, socializing, food seeking, sexual desire, pleasure, reward, motivation, reality testing and attention. Incidentally, motor neuron control, another important element of dopamine, declines in the aging brain. Remember, an aging brain doesn’t make one smarter, or learning any faster. By now, we all know that stress [economic, political, interpersonal, irrational thinking] is not good for anyone. Hans Selye, defined distress “the nonspecific response of the body to any demand placed upon it.” For a quick glance into stress level, consult the External and Internal Stress Index Scale. In fact, stress makes people more likely to exhibit behavior directed toward the search for comfort food, drugs and other poor behavior choices. Further, addiction is neither a moral failure nor related to hardwiring of the brain. In fact, stress and addiction go hand-in-hand like chocolate pudding and pie. This neurotransmitter chemical called dopamine is produced in the midbrain and in the hypothalamus within our 3 pound structure. Moreover, dopamine is the chemical that mediates pleasure in the brain. In that, it is released during pleasurable situations and motivates an individual to seek out ecstasy in an activity like food, sex, and a few drugs of abuse. Food, sex, and opiates stimulate dopamine release in the brain. Specifically, it affects the pre-frontal cortex. Once again, the cortex is where cognitive or executive functions like perception, thinking, judgment and decision-making take place. To Be Continued