Optimal Health Daily - Fitness and Nutrition 3383: Dopamine by Kerry Ogden on Understanding Dopamine
May 3, 2026
Kerry Ogden, a writer on behavior and neuroscience, digs into how dopamine went from earned reward to constant digital supply. She explores tech-driven soft addictions, neuroplasticity and tolerance, the role of boredom and quiet, and practical timelines and tools for restoring natural reward systems.
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Digital Dopamine Overloads Our Ancient Reward System
- Modern life supplies dopamine in unprecedented quantity, potency, and accessibility, which are the three ingredients of addiction.
- Kerry Ogden explains smartphones act like a hypodermic needle delivering continuous digital dopamine to a prehistoric nervous system, creating widespread soft addiction.
Tolerance Rises As The Brain Rewires To Normalize Pleasure
- Neuroplasticity causes tolerance: the brain reroutes to restore homeostasis, requiring increasing doses to feel the same reward.
- Ogden notes older adults have less plasticity, so bad habits become harder to break later in life.
The High Low Pendulum Creates Cravings
- The brain's reward system self-regulates so highs are followed by lows, and those lows drive cravings.
- Ogden describes the cycle: agitation during dips then reaching for well-worn neural pathways like swiping another video.