Anna Lembke

So if I'm in pain because I'm hungry and then I find something to eat and it moves me in the direction of pleasure, that's as pleasurable as if I start out with a level balance and I use an intoxicant and I get high.

Yeah.

So now in the modern world, let's say, yeah, take Silicon Valley because it's a prime example, but it's also true all over the world now.

You go and you're hungry, right?

And you're looking for a date tree.

And all of a sudden, you know, you've got like a whole crate of dates shipped to you from Amazon right on your kitchen table.

And by the way, they're giant, like they're like abnormally giant dates, right?

So you eat a giant date from Amazon and it releases dopamine in your reward pathway because they've also added sugar and salt and fat and flavorings.

It's like coffee dates or something, who knows?

Yeah.

And you get the release of dopamine.

And wow, that feels great.

Because like, wow, who's ever had a date like that in the history of humans?

And then, you know, as soon as it's over, your pleasure pain balance tips to the side of pain because those gremlins are trying to compensate for all that dopamine.

And as soon as you're in that dopamine deficit state with the gremlins on the pain side of the balance,

you want to restore a level balance.

And what is the easiest way to do that?

Well, you could wait until the gremlins hop off, because if you wait long enough, they will hop off and homeostasis will be restored.

Or you could eat another date.

And if you eat another date, because there's a whole crate of dates right in front of you, that would work faster, right?