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Dr. Alok Kanojia

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
1653 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

So like when you're kind of like when you're stressed out and you go and you like, you know, sit down for a couple of minutes and you pull out your phone and 30 minutes go by. It's not like you're having a blast and laughing and full of pleasure. It kind of numbs out all the stress and all the that you have to deal with.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

So like when you're kind of like when you're stressed out and you go and you like, you know, sit down for a couple of minutes and you pull out your phone and 30 minutes go by. It's not like you're having a blast and laughing and full of pleasure. It kind of numbs out all the stress and all the that you have to deal with.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

And you got to pick this up on the way home and you have to do this for your kids. And then you got to do this and you got to pay your mortgage. You got to answer these emails. So it helps us kind of like mentally numb out. So I think that's one example of like circuits besides dopamine.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

And you got to pick this up on the way home and you have to do this for your kids. And then you got to do this and you got to pay your mortgage. You got to answer these emails. So it helps us kind of like mentally numb out. So I think that's one example of like circuits besides dopamine.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

And you got to pick this up on the way home and you have to do this for your kids. And then you got to do this and you got to pay your mortgage. You got to answer these emails. So it helps us kind of like mentally numb out. So I think that's one example of like circuits besides dopamine.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

But then there's also a lot that we don't understand about like motivation and behavior and how that can come from other parts of our brain in a more sustained way, which is why I like if we get stuck with dopamine, it doesn't really work very well. Just

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

But then there's also a lot that we don't understand about like motivation and behavior and how that can come from other parts of our brain in a more sustained way, which is why I like if we get stuck with dopamine, it doesn't really work very well. Just

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

But then there's also a lot that we don't understand about like motivation and behavior and how that can come from other parts of our brain in a more sustained way, which is why I like if we get stuck with dopamine, it doesn't really work very well. Just

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

Serotonin and dopamine, I almost think about them as like inversely correlated. So the more dopaminergic your brain is, generally speaking, the less serotonergic it is and the vice versa. So let's just run through a couple of examples and what that means. So dopamine, first of all, is the neurotransmitter that governs pleasure, right? So it governs like having fun or pleasure.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

Serotonin and dopamine, I almost think about them as like inversely correlated. So the more dopaminergic your brain is, generally speaking, the less serotonergic it is and the vice versa. So let's just run through a couple of examples and what that means. So dopamine, first of all, is the neurotransmitter that governs pleasure, right? So it governs like having fun or pleasure.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

Serotonin and dopamine, I almost think about them as like inversely correlated. So the more dopaminergic your brain is, generally speaking, the less serotonergic it is and the vice versa. So let's just run through a couple of examples and what that means. So dopamine, first of all, is the neurotransmitter that governs pleasure, right? So it governs like having fun or pleasure.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

Serotonin is a lot more associated with contentment or peace, right? So if we think about like, you know, someone who is suffering from like a mood disorder, like major depressive disorder, and we prescribe them a serotonergic agent, an agent that boosts their serotonin transmission. These are not happy pills. They don't make us happy. They make us less discontent. Right.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

Serotonin is a lot more associated with contentment or peace, right? So if we think about like, you know, someone who is suffering from like a mood disorder, like major depressive disorder, and we prescribe them a serotonergic agent, an agent that boosts their serotonin transmission. These are not happy pills. They don't make us happy. They make us less discontent. Right.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

Serotonin is a lot more associated with contentment or peace, right? So if we think about like, you know, someone who is suffering from like a mood disorder, like major depressive disorder, and we prescribe them a serotonergic agent, an agent that boosts their serotonin transmission. These are not happy pills. They don't make us happy. They make us less discontent. Right.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

So what they kind of do is they take some of these like depressive feelings and they quiet those feelings. So it's not actually making you happy. It's it's moving from like negative 100 to zero. That's really what serotonergic medication does. And so when we boost serotonin transmission, we are sort of moving more towards contentment as opposed to pleasure.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

So what they kind of do is they take some of these like depressive feelings and they quiet those feelings. So it's not actually making you happy. It's it's moving from like negative 100 to zero. That's really what serotonergic medication does. And so when we boost serotonin transmission, we are sort of moving more towards contentment as opposed to pleasure.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

So what they kind of do is they take some of these like depressive feelings and they quiet those feelings. So it's not actually making you happy. It's it's moving from like negative 100 to zero. That's really what serotonergic medication does. And so when we boost serotonin transmission, we are sort of moving more towards contentment as opposed to pleasure.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

So when you engage in a ton of pleasurable activities, do you feel content at the end of that? Right. So a lot of times when people think about like when I play a bunch of video games or I drink a lot, I'm having fun, but I don't feel like content and peaceful at the end.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

So when you engage in a ton of pleasurable activities, do you feel content at the end of that? Right. So a lot of times when people think about like when I play a bunch of video games or I drink a lot, I'm having fun, but I don't feel like content and peaceful at the end.

Dhru Purohit Show
Why You Need a Dopamine Detox: The Science Based Way to Master Self Control & Break Addiction Patterns with Dr. Alok Kanojia

So when you engage in a ton of pleasurable activities, do you feel content at the end of that? Right. So a lot of times when people think about like when I play a bunch of video games or I drink a lot, I'm having fun, but I don't feel like content and peaceful at the end.