Dopamine
Dec. 13th, 2025 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ehowtonFound as a comment on LessWrong:
Dopamine might be what regulates top-down, "will-imposing" action.
Stimulants are great for increasing attention, motivation and mood. However, they also cause downregulation of dopamine receptors, thus potentially causing dependence and the opposite of the benefits when not taking them.
Some lesser-known ways to upregulate the dopaminergic system without (or with less of) this effect:
Aspirin (upregulates TH - dopamine synthesis): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30187283/
Creatine (potentiates dopaminergics somehow): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22674968/
ALCAR (component of Monster drinks - upregulates D1 receptors): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27975173/
Caffeine (upregulates D3, D5 receptors): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4462609/
Sulbutiamine (upregulates D1 receptors): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10996447/ (a vitamin B1 derivative, a similar one (allithiamine) might be created by combining garlic (source of allicin) with conventional thiamine HCl)
vitamin D (increases GDNF, which increases survival of dopaminergic neurons): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29018141/
Thus, an easily available stack for improving attention might be Monster drink + vitamin D + Aspirin (and potentially some shredded garlic with thiamine HCl).
