Latest news with #dopamine
Medscape
5 days ago
- General
- Medscape
Autism Linked to Fourfold Increase in Parkinson's Disease
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is linked to a fourfold increased risk for early-onset Parkinson's disease (PD), results from the largest, population-based cohort study of its kind to date showed. The findings indicated 'that there can be shared biological drivers behind ASD and Parkinson's disease,' study investigator, Weiyao Yin, MD, PhD, of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, said in a release. 'One hypothesis is that the brain's dopamine system is affected in both cases, since the neurotransmitter dopamine plays an important part in social behavior and motion control,' Yin added. The study was published online on May 27 in JAMA Neurology . A Plausible Link Recent research pointed to a plausible biological link between ASD and PD. However, large, longitudinal studies investigating the risk for PD following an ASD diagnosis are scarce, the researchers noted. 'Our study is the first population-based study, to our knowledge, using prospectively collected data, longitudinal design, and life-course approach to strengthen the inference,' they wrote. To investigate they used national registry data from more than 2 million individuals born in Sweden between 1974 and 1999 and followed them from age 20 years up to the end of 2022. The median age at study exit was 34 years. Within this cohort, they identified 51,954 individuals with ASD and 2,226,611 individuals without the disorder. PD, defined as a first-ever diagnosis of PD or other idiopathic or degenerative parkinsonian disorders, was identified in 438 individuals without ASD (0.02%; 1.3 cases per 100,000 person-years) and in 24 individuals with ASD (0.05%; 3.9 cases per 100,000 person-years), corresponding to a relative risk (RR) of 4.43. Depression and antidepressant use were present in 46.7% of individuals with ASD, and antipsychotic use, which can cause Parkinson-like symptoms, was present in 31.5%. Adjusting for depression and antipsychotic use reduced but did not eliminate the association between ASD and PD risk (RR, 3.10 and RR, 2.00, respectively). Independent of ASD diagnosis, a history of depression and exposure to antipsychotics were linked to a significantly higher risk for PD (RR, 2.01 and RR, 6.34, respectively). Preterm or early-term birth is a known risk factor for ASD, prompting an examination of its potential association with PD. However, no increased risk for PD was found compared with individuals born at full term. After adjusting for sex, socioeconomic status, and parental mental illness or PD, the investigators found ASD remained consistently associated with an increased risk for PD. There are potential biological explanations for the link, Yin told Medscape Medical News . 'One hypothesis suggests that the brain's dopamine system is impacted in both conditions, as the neurotransmitter dopamine plays a crucial role in social behavior and motor control,' Yin said. There may be a genetic correlation between the two conditions, she added noting that the PARK2 gene may be associated between ASD and early-onset PD. 'ASD is a lifelong condition, and more children with autism now progress into middle and older adulthood. Healthcare services need to provide long-term monitoring for individuals with ASD — a vulnerable group with high comorbidity and a high use of psychotropic medications,' Yin said. Experts Weigh In The study is clinically relevant 'mainly because it shows that neurodevelopmental conditions, like ASD, may be associated with clinical signs and diagnoses that may manifest at different ages, and we as clinicians should be aware of that,' Christos Ganos, MD, a neurologist at the Movement Disorders Clinic, Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who was not involved with the study, told Medscape Medical News . 'Although neurodevelopmental disorders are diagnosed early in life, there is a need to assess for neurological symptoms and signs also later in life, including to monitor the effects of prescribed medications on neuromotor control,' added Ganos, who is the wolf chair in neurodevelopmental psychiatry, and associate professor of neurology at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. However, he urged caution in linking the specific diagnoses of ASD and PD, as there is a more general link between neurodevelopmental disorders and motor dysfunction. 'Neurodevelopmental disorders are very heterogeneous, and the 'ASD' diagnosis encompasses a lot of different disorders and etiologies. Some of these diagnoses/conditions are linked to motor syndromes that are specifically associated with motor slowing but are not PD, although they could resemble some of its features,' he explained. Strengths of the study include its large sample size and statistical power to provide estimates 'with more meaningful precision than prior studies,' said Connie Marras, MD, PhD, a movement disorders specialist, and professor of neurology at the University of Toronto. However, she noted that investigators did not include smoking in the models, which 'may result in an overestimation of the association between ASD and PD,' she added. 'Smoking is less common among individuals with ASD and may constitute a confounder. Smoking is also less common in individuals with Parkinson's disease and is considered a protective factor against PD.' She also questioned whether the results really have clinical implications for monitoring the emergence of parkinsonism in this population. 'Early detection does not have treatment implications currently, particularly since at present we don't have therapies for PD prevention or slowing of progression. Once we do have such treatments, then monitoring would be justified,' she said. However, the finding 'could have significant clinical and policy-related implications as these individuals age,' Gregory Wallace, PhD, an autism expert and associate professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences at The George Washington University, Washington, DC, who was not part of the study, told Medscape Medical News. 'Given increased rates of autism diagnoses in younger cohorts, if autistic people are at increased risk for developing parkinsonism as they age, the healthcare system and clinicians who provide care for autistic adults need to be prepared,' said Wallace. Wallace recently published research showing that co-occurring parkinsonism in adults with autism is linked with lower subjective quality of life, more memory problems, lower sleep quality, and greater depression symptoms.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Expert Shares the Amount of Screen Time Within 'Healthy' Limits
Screen time is a big concern for parents. How much is too much? Is it harming our kids? Is it harming us? Because as we all know, parents are just as guilty of spending too much time online. Is it destroying the family dynamic and our relationships? Neuroscientist and author of The DOSE Effect (which is all about balancing your brain chemistry), TJ Power spoke to HuffPost about the concern over screen time. He shared that "screens overload the brain with dopamine and over time, that dulls our motivation, attention, and even our sense of joy.' Related: We know this. How often do we as adults spend what we think is 10 minutes scrolling cat videos on social media only to realize that it's been over an hour and past the time we were supposed to start cooking dinner. It's a time suck. A mindless, sometimes needed, yet oftentimes not, activity so many of us are guilty in partaking in. And we worry about our kids, too. We wonder what they are being exposed to and how long they've been aimlessly scrolling TikTok. With this in mind, it's fascinating to learn the max screen time neuroscientist Power felt was okay for the human brain. How much time does he spend online? Power said, "I personally aim for a maximum of three hours a day, and I stick to it pretty religiously." Three hours. I think a lot of us feel shame right now. But he shares more. 'The key isn't just how much screen time you have,' he adds. 'It's when and why you are using it. If the screen is draining your energy, stealing your attention, or replacing real connection, something needs to shift.' Okay. So some of the screen time isn't all terrible. There are learning apps, news articles, and yes, the cat videos aren't all garbage — some are fun and give you a chuckle and you send them to friends who send a laugh emoji back and maybe that counts for connectivity. Related: We still should monitor ourselves and we need to be aware about how much screen time our kids get. Overuse can affect their focus and social skills, and do a number on their self esteem. For all of us, no matter our age, too much time online can make you lose interest in things in the real world and make you lonely. "We are more connected than ever, but less socially fulfilled,' Power shared. 'Screens can create the illusion of connection without the chemistry of it.' The key is not only to pay attention to how many hours you or your kids are online, but to look at overall activity (or inactivity) in the real world. Healthy sleep patterns, being well rested, socializing, and being able to feel relaxed and present are important things to look at for yourself and your kids. If there are issues in those areas, too much screen time may be the culprit. Up Next:Expert Shares the Amount of Screen Time Within 'Healthy' Limits first appeared on WeHaveKids on May 26, 2025
Entrepreneur
23-05-2025
- Entrepreneur
Why Gamification Is the Secret Weapon for Modern Brand Engagement
Gamification turns everyday brand interactions into addictive experiences by tapping into human psychology, but it must be used responsibly. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. In an era of dwindling attention spans and relentless digital noise, brands face an uphill battle to capture — and keep — consumer interest. Traditional advertising no longer cuts it; passive engagement is out, and interactive, reward-driven experiences are in. Enter gamification, the strategic use of game-like elements in non-game contexts to drive participation, loyalty and habit formation. At its core, gamification taps into fundamental human psychology — our innate desire for achievement, competition and instant gratification. By leveraging challenges, points, leaderboards and rewards, brands are turning mundane interactions into compelling experiences that keep users coming back. But how exactly does gamification work on the brain, and why is it so effective at deepening brand engagement? The neuroscience of gamification The secret lies in dopamine, the neurotransmitter responsible for motivation, pleasure and reinforcement learning. Every time we achieve a goal — whether completing a level in a game or unlocking a discount — our brain releases dopamine, creating a sense of accomplishment and urging us to repeat the behavior. Gamification exploits this loop by: Providing Clear Goals – Whether it's earning points, unlocking badges, or climbing a leaderboard, structured objectives give users a sense of direction. – Whether it's earning points, unlocking badges, or climbing a leaderboard, structured objectives give users a sense of direction. Offering Instant Feedback – Progress bars, notifications and celebratory animations reinforce effort, keeping users engaged. – Progress bars, notifications and celebratory animations reinforce effort, keeping users engaged. Creating Variable Rewards – Like a slot machine, unpredictable rewards (discounts, exclusive content) trigger compulsive engagement. – Like a slot machine, unpredictable rewards (discounts, exclusive content) trigger compulsive engagement. Fostering Social Competition – Leaderboards and social sharing tap into our drive for status and recognition. When executed well, these mechanics don't just encourage one-time interactions — they cultivate habit loops, where users return without conscious thought, much like checking social media or playing mobile games. Related: Gamification Is Eating The World The role of operant conditioning Gamification is deeply rooted in B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning, which explains how rewards and punishments shape behavior. Brands use: Positive Reinforcement (e.g., Starbucks rewarding stars for purchases) Negative Reinforcement (e.g., Duolingo's streak penalties) Intermittent Rewards (e.g., McDonald's Monopoly's randomized prizes) This conditioning keeps users engaged longer than predictable rewards, as the brain remains in a state of anticipation. From retail giants to fitness apps, companies are integrating gamified elements to boost retention, increase conversions and turn casual users into loyal advocates. Here's how: 1. Starbucks: Loyalty as a game Starbucks' rewards program is a masterclass in gamified retention. Users earn "stars" for purchases, unlock tiers (Green, Gold) and receive personalized challenges ("Buy three lattes this week for bonus stars"). The tiered system leverages loss aversion — once users reach Gold status, they're incentivized to keep spending to maintain perks. The result? Starbucks boasts over 32 million active rewards members in the U.S. alone. Key Takeaway: Tiered rewards create aspirational goals. Personalized challenges increase purchase frequency. 2. Duolingo: Making learning addictive Language-learning app Duolingo thrives on gamification. Streaks punish missed days, XP points quantify progress and animated celebrations reward consistency. The app even uses light punishment mechanics (a broken streak) to guilt users into returning. This approach has helped Duolingo amass over 74 million monthly active users, proving that even education can be habit-forming. Key Takeaway: Loss aversion (streaks) drives daily engagement. Micro-rewards (XP, badges) make progress tangible. 3. Nike: Turning fitness into a competition Nike's Run Club and Training Club apps use challenges, leaderboards and milestone badges to transform exercise into a social game. By allowing users to compete with friends and share achievements, Nike taps into social validation, a powerful motivator. The result? Increased app engagement translates directly to brand loyalty and product sales. Key Takeaway: Social competition enhances motivation. Milestone rewards (badges, trophies) reinforce commitment. 4. McDonald's Monopoly: Scarcity and instant wins McDonald's long-running Monopoly campaign blends instant rewards (free fries) with long-term goals (winning big prizes). The limited-time nature of the game creates urgency, while the tactile act of peeling stickers delivers instant gratification. The campaign has become a cultural phenomenon, driving repeat visits and boosting sales. Key Takeaway: Instant + delayed rewards maximize engagement. Scarcity tactics (limited-time offers) drive urgency. 5. LinkedIn: The subtle gamification of professional networking Even professional platforms use gamification. LinkedIn's profile completion meter nudges users to add more details, while endorsements and "Top Voice" badges incentivize activity. The platform's "Who's Viewed Your Profile" feature plays on curiosity and status-seeking behavior. Key Takeaway: Progress tracking encourages profile optimization. Social proof (endorsements) increases engagement. The dark side of gamification While gamification can deepen engagement, it's not without ethical concerns. When overused, these techniques can foster compulsive behaviors, particularly in vulnerable users. One major issue is the loot box controversy. Video games like FIFA Ultimate Team and Overwatch have faced backlash for loot boxes, which function like gambling by offering randomized rewards. Some countries have banned them, arguing they exploit psychological vulnerabilities. Another concern is how social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok use infinite scroll and variable rewards (likes, comments) to keep users hooked. Studies link excessive use to anxiety and decreased attention spans. This raises questions about responsibility in gamified marketing. Brands must balance motivation with ethics. Best practices include transparency (clear reward odds, no deceptive mechanics), user control (opt-out options, time limits) and avoiding exploitative designs such as dark patterns. Related: 7 Ways to Boost Customer Retention Through Email Gamification The future of gamified branding As AI and AR evolve, gamification will become even more immersive. Emerging trends include AI-powered personalization, where platforms like Netflix — already using algorithms to recommend content — could introduce dynamic challenges (e.g., "Watch three sci-fi movies this week for a badge") and adaptive rewards such as personalized discounts based on user behavior. Augmented reality scavenger hunts are also on the rise. Brands like Pokémon GO's sponsors (Starbucks, Sprint) have successfully driven foot traffic using AR. Future applications might feature virtual pop-up shops where users scan QR codes to unlock deals or interactive billboards that offer coupons through mini-games. Blockchain and tokenized rewards are reshaping loyalty programs. These could include NFT-based rewards like exclusive digital collectibles and tokenized points that are tradeable on crypto exchanges. Finally, the metaverse is paving the way for persistent brand worlds. As virtual environments expand, brands may create permanent branded spaces — such as Nike's Nikeland in Roblox — or host virtual events with XP systems where users can earn VIP status by attending multiple events. Play to win Gamification isn't just about points and badges; it's about hacking human motivation. By understanding dopamine-driven feedback loops, brands can craft experiences that don't just capture attention — they own it. The lesson is clear: in the battle for consumer mindshare, the most successful brands won't just sell products — they'll design play. Yet, with great power comes responsibility. As gamification grows more sophisticated, brands must prioritize ethical design, ensuring experiences enrich rather than exploit. The future belongs to those who can balance engagement with empathy, turning users into loyal advocates, not addicts. The question is, are you playing the game — or is the game playing you?
Entrepreneur
23-05-2025
- Health
- Entrepreneur
Focus on Your Health — or Your Startup Won't Survive
There is no KPI in your startup worth sacrificing your health over. An important lesson for founders of how, when health fails, everything can come crashing like a house of cards. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. In 2006, just two years into my banking career, my mentor David Croft told me, "Pace yourself. You don't want a nervous breakdown or burnout later down the road." I was just 24 then. I smiled and thought, "I don't do burnouts." Ten years later, as a 34-year-old entrepreneur, I regretted not listening. You might think that regular runs or occasional gym visits are enough to safeguard your health. But if you're an entrepreneur, think again. Building a startup places extraordinary emotional and psychological demands on your body — demands that a jog won't erase. The fractures accumulate and emotional stresses somatize into your body. My reckoning came in August 2016. I had just returned from a holiday in the Maldives — supposedly a break to recharge. Our startup had entered a "stable" phase: revenues exceeded costs, and we had launched a new social trading tool. Each time the platform fired off a winning recommendation, users made money and celebrated — rewarding our brains with dopamine. When trades failed, cortisol, adrenaline and norepinephrine kicked in, creating that familiar gut-wrenching stress response. This chemical rollercoaster was constant. Add to that the pressure of scaling and debugging, and I had unknowingly built a storm inside my nervous system. This was the trigger event, but such events had pockmarked my journey since I started working in 2005. One morning, I woke up with a strange sensation. Every breath felt inadequate. That feeling followed me all day. Days turned into weeks, fear creeping in. Related: Want to Transform Your Life and Business? This Expert Says You Need to Start Prioritizing Your Health. Was it anxiety? No. This was something more insidious. Three weeks into the ordeal, I cancelled dinner plans and tried to sleep it off. But even lying down, I felt short of breath. Then my heart began racing, palpably irregular. I panicked. This has to be a heart attack. I rushed to a private hospital, but ultimately, they sent me home, calling it a panic attack. It wasn't. That night, my heart jolted awake every time I tried to fall asleep. Adrenaline surged involuntarily. My body was exhausted, but I couldn't rest. By morning, I felt zombified. Eating triggered inflammation. Breathing, sleeping, walking — even speaking — had become luxuries. Five minutes of walking brought chest tightness. I was a prisoner in my own body. This situation lasted for a month before I threw in the towel. I handed over operations to my COO and flew back to Germany in November 2016, seeking help. My childhood physician ran a battery of tests; I saw specialists in neurology, pulmonology, cardiology, endocrinology — everything came back normal. The truth, I later realized, was simpler: I had neglected my health for a decade. My nervous system was overwhelmed. This was the cost of relentless ambition. I had crossed a line. So, I did what I'd always done — I internalized it. I accepted it stoically, adapted and returned to partial functionality. Breathing remained difficult. I had food intolerances, sleep disturbances — yet I pushed on as the business grew more complex. The root cause, though, remained elusive until 2022. That year, as we emerged from the pandemic, a new symptom flared up. I met a rheumatologist and they told me my body was permanently stuck in fight-or-flight mode. It hit me. Years of stress had rewired my system. My body couldn't distinguish minor stressors from existential threats. Even food or mild exercise would trigger inflammation. My nervous system had become hypersensitive. Understanding the root cause changed everything. That week, my breathing improved measurably — for the first time in six years. It was far from perfect, but I felt human again. I simplified my diet, increased workouts from twice a week to four, then six. Over the next three years, I prioritized physical rigor to balance my nervous system. Stress from work still came, but the cortisol was burned off consistently. Slowly, the symptoms faded. For any entrepreneur on this path, here's what I've learned. Related: Why Personal Health and Wellness Are Key to Business Longevity 1. Your body holds onto stress — find a way to release it Rejection, investor setbacks, staff departures — each one takes a toll. You absorb them, even alchemize them for success. Over time, however, emotional debt gets embroidered into your body's cellular fabric. Chronic stress accumulates, eventually manifesting physically. Ignore it long enough, and it can break you. Even if you may be functioning on the face of it, your body keeps count, and if you do not find active ways to de-stress, eventually you may not be able to show up for your mission any longer. Invest time in an outside hobby unrelated to your startup. This may be consistent exercise (two or three times a week will not cut it), or other activities such as meditation, yoga, writing, exploration and travelling, or anything that allows you to unplug. A hobby, ideally, should not include screen time, as you are then a few clicks away from checking a stressful email, related to work. 2. View diet as medicine Entrepreneurship often comes with terrible nutrition habits. Alcohol, cigarettes, energy drinks, junk food — it's common, but lethal over time. These habits don't just affect your waistline; they damage your DNA and brain chemistry. I never drank or smoked — it clashes with my fitness and martial arts routine — but I still paid the price through improper diet and stress. Strive to eat clean 70–80% of the time. Cheat meals are fine, but don't let comfort foods become a lifestyle. It's a slippery slope as your body can handle the barrage of delicious insults while you're young, but is less efficient at metabolizing it later. 4. Health improvements can translate to better business performance I began training just to breathe again. Now, I set fitness KPIs every year — track strength, endurance, flexibility. That mindset carries over. Whether you're crushing a 150kg deadlift or running a 10K non-stop, your confidence to tackle business crises increases, on the margin. Look at Zuckerberg: from hoodie-wearing coder to legit MMA beast. Physical power feeds mental resilience. Mental resilience feeds physical power. The symbiosis is real. 5. Don't expect closure solely from doctors You might get normal test results, but still feel awful. The more you test, the more coincidental findings you may unearth that, in turn, may trigger anxiety spirals. Don't obsess over rare illnesses or spiral into self-diagnosis. The likelihood that your body succumbed to an illness yet to be discovered by the medical community is low. It's more likely that your nervous system is the culprit. Focus on healing: simplify your life, reduce triggers, eat better and move more. Your body knows how to recover — just give it space. Related: How to Optimize Your Personal Health and Well-Being in 2025 — A Guide for Entrepreneurs Conclusion: Become you 2.0 You can iterate your startup. You can pivot your business. So why not do the same for yourself? Entrepreneurship doesn't just test your ideas — it tests your biology. Without self-awareness and health consciousness, your success may come at a devastating cost. Listen to your body. Pace yourself. And build the most important startup of all: you.
Fast Company
21-05-2025
- Health
- Fast Company
Always wanting more? Dopamine is the culprit—and the fix
Michael Long is not the typical neuroscience guy. He was trained as a physicist, but is primarily a writer. He coauthored the international bestseller The Molecule of More. As a speechwriter, he has written for members of Congress, cabinet secretaries, presidential candidates, and Fortune 10 CEOs. His screenplays have been performed on most New York stages. He teaches writing at Georgetown University. What's the big idea? Dopamine is to blame for a lot of your misery. It compels us to endlessly chase more, better, and greater—even when our dreams have come true. Thanks to dopamine, we often feel restless and hopeless. So no, maybe it's not quite accurate to call it the 'happiness' molecule, but it has gifted humans some amazing powers. Dopamine is the source of imagination, creativity, and ingenuity. There are practical ways to harness the strengths of our dopamine drives while protecting and nurturing a life of consistent joy. Below, Michael shares five key insights from his new book, Taming the Molecule of More: A Step-by-Step Guide to Make Dopamine Work for You. Listen to the audio version—read by Michael himself—in the Next Big Idea App. 1. Dopamine is not the brain chemical that makes you happy. Dopamine makes you curious and imaginative. It can even make you successful, but a lot of times it just makes you miserable. That's because dopamine motivates you to chase every new possibility, even if you already have everything you want. It turns out that brain evolution hasn't caught up with the evolution of the world. For early humans, dopamine ensured our survival by alerting us to anything new or unusual. In a world with danger around every corner and resources hard to acquire, we needed an early warning system to motivate us even more. Dopamine made us believe that once we got the thing we were chasing, we'd be safer, happier, or more satisfied. That served humans well, until it didn't. Now that we've tamed the world, we don't need to explore every new thing, but dopamine is still on duty, and it works way out of proportion to the needs of the modern world. Since self-discipline has a short shelf life, I share proven techniques that don't rely on willpower alone. 2. Dopamine often promises more than reality can deliver. When we have problems obsessing with social media or the news, or when we're doing excessive shopping, we feel edgy and restless. This is because dopamine floods us with anticipation and urgency. We desperately scroll for the next hit, searching for the latest story or watching the porch for that next Amazon package. As this anticipation becomes a normal way of living, the rest of life starts to feel dull and flat. That restarts the cycle of chasing what we think will make us happy. Then we get it, and when it doesn't make us happy, we experience a letdown, and that makes us restless all over again. Here's how that works for love and romance. When we go on date after date and can't find the right person, or a long-term relationship gets stale, we start to feel hopeless. The dopamine chase has so raised our expectations about reality that we no longer enjoy the ordinary. Now we're expecting some perfect partner, and we won't find them because they don't exist. Fight back with three strategies: Rewire your habits to ditch the chase. Redirect your focus to the here and now. Rebuild meaning so life feels more like it matters. I describe specific ways to do this through simple planning, relying more on friendships, and doing a particular kind of personal assessment. And there's even a little technology involved that you wouldn't expect. 3. Dopamine is the source of imagination. The dopamine system has three circuits. The first has only a little to do with behavior and feeling, so we'll set that one aside. The second circuit (that early warning system) is called the desire dopamine system because it plays on our desires. The third system is very different. It's called the control system, and it gives us an ability straight out of science fiction: mental time travel. You can create in your mind any possible future in as much detail as you like and investigate the results without lifting a finger. We do this all the time without realizing that's what it is. Little things like figuring out where to go for lunch: We factor in traffic, how long we'll have to wait for a table and think over the menu, and game it all out to decide where to go. But this system also lets us imagine far more consequential mental time travel, figuring out the best way to build a building, design an engine, or travel to the moon. 'Dopamine really is the source of creativity and analytical power that allows us to create the future.' The dopamine control circuit lets us think in abstractions and play out various plans using only our minds. That means not only can we imagine a particular future, but we can also imagine entire abstract disciplines, come to understand them, and make use of them in the real world based on what we thought about. Fields like chemistry, quantum mechanics, and number theory exist because of controlled dopamine. Dopamine really is the source of creativity and analytical power that allows us to create the future. Dopamine brings a lot of dissatisfaction to the modern world, but we wouldn't have the modern world without dopamine. 4. You're missing out on the little things. When my best friend died at age 39, the speaker at his funeral said, 'You may not remember much of what you did with Kent, but it's okay, because it happened.' I did not know what that could mean, but years later, while writing this book, I got it. We don't live life just to look back on it. The here and now ought to be fun. You may not remember it all, but while it's happening, enjoy it. That requires fighting back against dopamine because it's always saying: Never mind what's in front of you; think about what might be. When Warren Zevon was at the end of his life, David Letterman asked him what he'd learned. Warren said, 'Enjoy every sandwich.' 5. A satisfying life requires meaning, and there's a practical way to find it. Even if you fix every dopamine-driven problem in your life, you may still feel like something is missing. To find a satisfying balance between working for the future and enjoying the here and now, we must choose a meaning for life and work toward it as we go. 'If you're making life better for others with something you do well and enjoy, the days feel brighter and life acquires purpose.' Is it possible to live in the moment, anticipate the future, and have it add up to something? The psychiatrist Viktor Frankl said we need to look beyond ourselves, because that's where a sense of purpose begins. Aristotle gave us a simple formula for taking pleasure in the present, finding a healthy anticipation for the future, and creating meaning. He said it's found where three things intersect: what we like to do, what we're good at, and what builds up the world beyond ourselves. Things like working for justice, making good use of knowledge, or simply living a life of kindness and grace. What you do with your life doesn't have to set off fireworks, and you don't have to make history. You can be a plumber, a mail carrier, or an accountant. I'm a writer. I like what I do. I seem to be pretty good at it, and it helps people. The same can be true if you repair the highway, fix cars, or serve lunch in a school cafeteria. If you're making life better for others with something you do well and enjoy, the days feel brighter and life acquires purpose. Life needs meaning, and that's the last piece of the puzzle in dealing with dopamine and taming the molecule of more.
