How Dopamine and Pleasure Drive Alcohol Habits (And What to Do About It)
AKA “The Dopamine Teeter Totter”
Watch this short video to hear my thoughts: https://www.instagram.com/p/C04aH4axs_O/
In our mind, pain and pleasure are co-located.
Put more simply: it’s like a teeter totter.
The brain has its own pharmacy of chemicals, and its goal—always—in every moment, is to keep us in balance.
Paraphrasing the amazing Dr Anna Lembke and her research:
When we do something, anything in life, that brings us pleasure… the teeter totter tips.
Our brain, seeking to keep us in balance, releases chemicals to counterbalance. Picture these as little bummer gremlins sitting on the opposite end of the teeter totter.
Now, these gremlins are not always bad. They are a natural and helpful part of our system of balance.
However, like anything, too much can cause trouble.
The pleasure factor from alcohol—the large, artificial dopamine spike—causes our bodies to release a whole gang of gremlins. And these guys hang around for a good long while.
Unlike alcohol that’s kicked out of the body as soon as possible (because poison) - the gremlins set up camp, sometimes for days.
This is a literal. bummer.
For me, because I was a daily drinker and I never gave my system a chance to allow the gremlins to fully leave,
I was starting to experience what felt like legitimate depression in my day-to-day life.
I was feeling really down…
Heavy. Hopeless.
And what do we do when we’re feeling down? …yeah, we reach for a drink.
Lather,
Rinse,
Repeat.
Understanding the science of what alcohol does in our bodies and minds helped me understand there wasn’t something wrong with me.
It helped me access HOPE that things could actually be different…
And it provided a blueprint to make that happen.
🗺️ This is the blueprint I’m offering to share with you. A compassion-led, science-backed MAP to regain your control over alcohol. Without willpower or deprivation.
