In this article, you will learn what dopamine is and how to increase it naturally. We will also add some high-quality Dopamine supplements that can help you safely boost your dopamine levels.
Do you often feel depressed, anxious, unresponsive, bored, flat, and have difficulty focusing? Are you someone who always feels tired and low on mental and physical energy?
If that’s the case, you may have low dopamine levels.
What is Dopamine?
Dopamine Definition
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter in your brain, meaning it is responsible for sending signals from the body to the brain. It plays a role in regulating cognition, motivation, memory, mood, attention, and learning. Dopamine also helps in decision-making and sleeps regulation.
How is it produced in the body?
Your brain naturally produces dopamine as a hormone, but it can also be used as a medicine. It is made by different areas of the brain like the substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, and hypothalamus of the brain.
It is an amine produced by removing a carboxyl group from a molecule of its precursor chemical, L-DOPA—synthesized in the brain and kidneys.
There are several pathways of dopamine in the brain, one of which plays a crucial role in the stimulus component of reward-affected behavior. Expecting most types of rewards increases dopamine levels in the brain, and many addictive drug substances increase dopamine release or prevent its reuse in neurons after its release.
This neurotransmitter deficiency may lead to certain medical conditions, such as depression and Parkinson’s disease.
Usually, the production of dopamine through your body’s nervous system works effectively. However, many medical and lifestyle factors can lower dopamine levels. The deficiency may also occur because of the problem with the receptors in the brain.
Dopamine Function
Dopamine— a neurotransmitter is a chemical messenger that sends a message from a nerve cell across the synapse to a target cell.
It’s also called a feel-good neurotransmitter.
The primary dopamine function is its chemical nature that is involved in transmitting messages across the nervous systems. Other Dopamine functions are below.
- It is responsible for memory and focus.
- It improves blood flow to other organs.
- It also promotes digestion.
- It fosters a night of healthy sleep and reduces stress.
- It also works in the heart and kidney.
- Improve mood and emotions
- It controls motor functions and decision makings.
- It also works as a pancreatic function and insulin regulation.
- Dopamine’s role is to help pleasure and reward-seeking behavior.
Tips on how to increase dopamine naturally?
The dopamine levels are generally well regulated by the body, but some diet and lifestyle changes may increase your levels naturally. Let’s take a look at some of the tips on how to increase dopamine naturally.
- Increase protein levels and specifically Tyrosine-rich foods
Dopamine is made from amino acids, like Phenylalanine and Tyrosine. We get these amino acids from our diet in the form of protein. So to increase dopamine, you need to make sure you’re eating enough protein.
Protein-rich foods include meat, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts, seeds, beans, and legumes. Other tyrosine-rich foods include seaweed, pumpkin, spinach, avocado, and banana.
Most people who aren’t in competitive sports or trying to lose weight should eat around 0.8 grams of protein for every 1 kilogram of body weight every day. So an average 60 kilogram or 132-pound adult will need to consume 60 grams of protein every day.
Improving your dopamine levels through diet will not be adequate for some people with deficient dopamine, so make sure you keep reading to learn how to supplement with Tyrosine.
- Support digestion
Proper digestion is very important because If you eat protein and tyrosine-rich foods, but you’re not breaking down and absorbing the amino acids; your dopamine levels are going to be reduced, serotonin levels will be impacted, and so is the quality of your skin, hair, and muscle growth. To help support your digestion, you could take a pancreatic enzyme, betaine HCl or apple cider, vinegar with meals daily.
- Check iron levels and supplement if necessary.
You’ll note that there are some essential cofactors or nutrients that the body needs to make dopamine. One of the critical factors is iron, and it is crucial for mood and energy levels. Because women lose it every month when they have their period, making sure your iron levels are optimal.
Always go to your doctor and ask them to check your iron and ferritin levels. Ensure that your iron or iron store levels aren’t at the bottom of the normal reference range. You want them to be optimal, giving you good energy and also helping your body make dopamine. Also, Supplement your body with iron.
- Increase folate and vitamin B6
Folate and vitamin B6 are two other nutrients needed for dopamine production. You can increase folate and vitamin B6 through food or supplementation [1].
Some folate-rich foods include spinach, asparagus, broccoli, beans, lentils, avocado, nuts, and seeds. And vitamin B6-rich foods are chicken, beef, salmon, avocado, sunflower seeds, and molasses. Another option is to take a vitamin B complex supplement which includes both of these nutrients. B vitamins, including folate, are essential in making neurotransmitters, and they help support adrenal function and stress management.
- Manage stress and support the adrenal glands
What you may not know is that dopamine is made both in the brain and the adrenal glands. When the body is under stress and creates these stress hormones like adrenaline and noradrenaline, it depletes dopamine.
So anyone with adrenal fatigue or with adrenal stress, dopamine deficiency is very relevant to this situation. To increase dopamine levels in the body, you need to reduce stress levels and support your adrenal glands. Creating boundaries in your life, taking more time for rest and restoration, and keeping good sleep are great strategies.
- Balance your blood sugars
Unbalanced blood sugars can lead to anxiety, panic attacks, and fatigue. It can lead to adrenaline or epinephrine surges, and this puts stress on the adrenal glands and depletes the body of dopamine. Insulin, one of the hormones that regulate blood sugars in the body, needs to be working well for Tyrosine to get into the brain so that the brain can make it into dopamine. So the key here is to make sure your blood sugars are balanced. And an easy way to do that is to stop eating sugar or any processed foods.
- Tyrosine Supplementation
The last tip I want to discuss is using Tyrosine supplementation to improve dopamine levels. As we’ve discussed already, dopamine is made in the body from Tyrosine. If you take Tyrosine as a supplement, you can increase dopamine levels.
The standard dose for Tyrosine is 100-150 mg per kilogram of body weight. That means for a 60-kilogram adult, a total daily amount of 6000-9000mg daily. These high doses have only been used for up to 3 months in studies, so I’m not comfortable recommending these doses for long-term use. My suggestion would be to start low and increase slowly, taking the minimum amount of Tyrosine that you need to feel an improvement because some people can have an improvement with as little as 500mg per day.
Don’t take Tyrosine if you have a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or any other mental condition, and consult your doctor.
To get the best absorption of Tyrosine into the brain, you need to take Tyrosine in between meals on an empty stomach.
Consult your doctor, If you are already taking other medications like thyroid and antidepressant that increases dopamine or noradrenaline. Also, consult your healthcare provider if you are hypertensive.
Best Dopamine Supplements
Now that we discussed some natural remedies for increasing dopamine, let’s jump into some of the best dopamine supplements.
BrainPill®
Our #1 recommendation for boosting dopamine is BrainPill because this supplement is packed with 13 potent nootropics, including Tyrosine, L theanine, Phosphatidylserine, and other dopamine and mood-boosting ingredients.
The product will fight mental fatigue, brain fog and will protect your memory and overall brain performance. It will also increase your learning abilities, stamina and focus, and concentration.
You can read more about this product on their official company website.
Brain Pill (Quick) Product Name: BrainPill Manufacturer: Leading Edge Health Best Place To Buy BrainPill: Official Site Benefits: Improve Memory, Focus, Concentration, Mood Our Rating
Mind Lab Pro
Mind Lab Pro is the first and one of the best supplements to increase dopamine. This nootropic stack is safe to use and will safely increase your dopamine levels without causing any unexpected side effects.
This stack contains some natural dopamine enhancers like L-Tyrosine, Rhodiola Rosea, L-Theanine, and Citicoline. These ingredients work together with others, such as dopamine preparations, ensuring a good mood and superior mental performance and optimizing brain energy for superlative cognitive functions.
Let’s analyze these ingredients;
Ingredients
N-acetyl-L-tyrosine is the active and most bioavailable L-Tyrosine form, a precursor to catecholamines, including dopamine. Tyrosine forms DOPA, which is converted to dopamine. N-acetyl-L-tyrosine preparations can improve cognitive functions and academic performance by supporting dopamine production, especially in stressful situations.
L-theanine is an amino acid that induces alpha brain waves for alert relaxation. Natural antidepressants and anxiolytic effects reduce symptoms of physical and mental stress and improve learning and memory.
Citicoline’s main components of this stack are the best dopamine supplements that promote dopamine release and improve overall dopamine levels by acting as a dopamine agonist and inhibiting dopamine reuptake.
You can read Our full and honest Mind Lab Pro Review.
Genius joy
Genius is one of the best supplements for dopamine as it uses high-quality ingredients that will not harm you. They also don’t want to add unnecessary ingredients. They do tend to stick to a lot of nootropic ingredients because they are safe and effective.
It is made with SAM-e, Rhodiola, Ginseng, and 11 vitamins and minerals that increase focus, improving mood, relieving anxiety, clear brain fog, and an excellent replacement for antidepressant prescription drugs.
This supplement is used to improve your focus, energy, and cognition levels. Along with a brain boost, it also contains some nootropics, which are great for anxiety control.
This supplement has all the essential ingredients required for a great stress relief supplement. It contains a unique vitamin complex with b-12 and vitamin D, coupled with pure l-theanine to reduce further mental and physical while stabilizing mood.
Each ingredient is backed by research with a real purpose and to make a lasting difference. This is an alternative to the prescription of stimulants.
Ingredients
S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM-e) promotes synthesizing other compounds crucial to functions such as gene expression and DNA repairs. Researchers have also demonstrated that it may play a role in combating the effect of aging. It is also a newly accepted antidepressant. [2]
N-Acetyl L-tyrosine is also present in this stack and is used to produce dopamine and noradrenaline. This compound has been shown to support proper thyroid levels, stress levels, and cognitive function. [3]
Rhodiola is traditional Chinese medicine, and the supplementation of this ingredient can help fight age-related immune decline, a process known as immune senescence. [4]
Red Panax Red Ginseng has many anti-aging effects include immunostimulatory activity and antioxidant activity.
NeuroFactor ingredient is made from the whole coffee bean and has been shown to support long-term brain health. It is clinically shown to increase the level of important neuroprotein (BDNF) for learning, memory, and elevated thinking has been shown to increase significantly. [5]
Natural Stack Dopamine Supplement
If you have been looking for ways to improve your focus so you can get through those more boring types of activities, the Natural stack is specially designed for you.
This dopamine supplement is designed to support the body’s natural production of dopamine. There are many ingredients in the natural dopamine stack like vitamin C, vitamin b4, vitamin b6, folate, vitamin b12, selenium, l-phenylalanine l-tyrosine, and trimethylglycine (TMG). Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with the central nervous system’s movement balance, memory, and improved attention.
The product provides essential compounds for dopaminergic effects at a better rate. This is one of the best dopamine supplements that improve dopamine, a key neurotransmitter responsible for creativity, research, and alertness.
The ingredients used in this dopamine supplement are all from natural sources; they don’t use synthetic ingredients. They all better protect the brain’s neurotransmitter from degradation.
To ensure quality and safety, they share the content formulas and ingredient suppliers in an open-source format. In this way, you will know precisely what the products contain.
Health Benefits of Using Natural Stack
Here is a list of benefits you will get after taking this supplement;
- It improves mental performance.
- It also decreases brain fog.
- Best for metabolism and neurotransmitter support.
- One of the best supplements for dopamine boost.
- It Increases athletic balance.
- It improves overall brain health.
Joy-Filled
If you are frustrated with your anxiety and tension and have tried many expensive pharmaceutical products but still didn’t work, then the Joy-Filled is the natural solution to give you your joy back well.
It contains seven powerful herbs that will leave you with anxiety. Each herb has been scientifically proven to reduce symptoms of anxiety. Other companies tend to overload you with a long list of herbs and blends and attempt to impress you, but more isn’t always better.
Each bottle of Joy Filled contains 60 vegan-friendly capsules a 30 days supply for a price of 30$. That’s less than a dollar a day for the relief that you’ve been seeking.
The joy-filled offer a 30-day risk-free guarantee. If it doesn’t work for you, then you don’t have to pay for it.
Joy-Filled is a 100% plant-based supplement that provides total mode support. Your brain and body may need extra nutritional support to help with anxiety, depression, and stress. This company offers additional support for your brain.
The herbs involved in joy-filled work well with each other to improve your mood and reduce your anxiety. This allows you to spend your energy and ideas on the things that matter most to you.
The seven medicinal herbs have been used for centuries and promote moods that relieve anxiety and act as a natural antidepressant. The dose of each herb included has been scientifically helpful.
The herbs used in this formula are grown naturally on natural farms worldwide and have a non-GMO and vegan certificate.
Dopify™ Dopamine Supplement by VitaMonk
Dofiy is one of the best supplements for dopamine on the market. It contains both phenylalanine and Tyrosine, the amino acid precursors of dopamine. They are essential amino acids, which means they cannot be formed in the body, but instead, they should be obtained through food.
It also contains ingredients such as mucuna pruriens extract, a dopamine precursor. It also has uridine monophosphate, which is the building block of RNA and positively affects mood and pain. Dopify includes a super-powerful green tea extract (98% polyphenols, 50% EGCG, 80% catechin), amino acid monk type L-theanine, and beans, all of which have shown to be able to support dopamine levels.
Unlike other dopamine supplements, Dopify does not have an artificial charge. Dopify does not contain magnesium citrate, silicon dioxide, or titanium dioxide.
This supplement contains both phenylalanine and Tyrosine. This includes the dopamine precursor Mocona pruriensis. It also has a standard version of green tea extract, which contains extra L-theanine, turmeric, semolina, and more. All of which show evidence of increased dopamine.
Thanks to their 100% money refund guarantee, try this dopamine supplement without any financial risk.
Designs for Health DopaBoost
Dopa Boost is specially designed to support the production of dopamine, which is an essential primary catecholamine.
The main ingredient in Dopa Boost is mucuna pruriens, a plant that naturally contains L-dopa, a metabolic precursor of dopamine that can cross the blood barrier.
Additional ingredients include EGCG (epiglottechin-3 gallate), tyrosine STL, quercetin, and vitamin B6, all of which are selected for their synergistic functions in preparing and integrating dopamine.
Additional ingredients include green tea extract for 45%EGCg (epigallocatechin-3-gallate), acetyl L-tyrosine, quercetin, and vitamin B6.
Dopa Boost is Non-GMO, Gluten-Free, and Vegetarian-friendly.
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