Selects: How Dopamine Works
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What is dopamine and why is it often misunderstood?
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Hey, everybody. Happy Saturday. Chuck here with a curated Selects episode in which we bring out a classic from Dusted Off from the Old Dustbin. So you can give it a listen. This one is called How Dopamine Works. And it's one of, obviously, one of our more sciencey episodes. And I managed to struggle to get through it because, you know, I'm not good at these. But it was a great episode. So I hope you like it.
Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.
Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck, and Jerry's here, too. The three amigos back together again after some massively triumphant live shows.
Yeah. We did our little northeast spring swing.
Yeah.
And it was great. It was a good show.
Which one?
The podcast topic that we did live. Oh, I got you. That we're doing all year. I got you. It was pretty good. I love that topic. That's what you call an on-sequitur.
But it does feel good to be back, doesn't it? Back in the studio, back doing what we're born to do.
I kind of prefer on stage, but sure, this is great too.
Do you? You like the thrill of the audience, the roar of the crowd, that bull running at you?
Yeah, maybe.
Nice. I like it, too, sometimes when I'm not totally terrified because I drank too much energy drinks.
Well, I wonder if your dopamine receptors are functioning as they should.
Yeah, that's a great question, Chuck. And it's a wonderful segue, too, because it just so happens that today the topic of this episode is dopamine. And there's probably no more misunderstood neurochemical, certainly neurochemical, maybe substance in your body at all than dopamine. We used to think we had a really great handle on dopamine and what it does and how it works and It turns out that we are, at every turn, a new study comes along that says, nope, we're wrong.
How does dopamine function as a neurotransmitter in the brain?
Yep, we're wrong about that. Well, what about, yep, wrong about that. Basically, everything we know in popular culture. And, I mean, if you've even gone to, like, Cleveland Clinic website or WebMD website or Harvard Health has some articles, you'll see this old, antiquated, outdated data. view of what dopamine is being kind of paraded around, the idea that it's a pleasure-inducing chemical, that if something gives you pleasure, you're responding to a hit of dopamine, and that is just absolutely not true.
Yeah, and this may be the most oft-covered stuff-you-should-know thing that hasn't gotten its own title yet.
Yeah. Man, dopamine is the reigning champ right now.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is dopamine and why is it often misunderstood?
0:00–3:45
2
How does dopamine function as a neurotransmitter in the brain?
3:45–8:17
3
What are the different pathways and receptors related to dopamine?
8:17–11:17
4
How does dopamine influence motivation and behavior?
11:17–14:51
5
What role does dopamine play in addiction?
14:51–19:14
6
How do dopamine levels affect pleasure and reward?
19:14–24:03
7
What is the relationship between dopamine and social media?
24:03–28:55
8
What are the implications of dopamine for mental health and behavior?
28:55–54:58