In the book Dopamine Nation: Why Too Much Pleasure Makes Us Unhappy and What We Can Do to Change American researcher Anna Lembke, the author tries to understand whether misfortune can be associated with excessive pleasure.

Doubt is also the subject of Friday’s aDiversa(14) podcast, which aims to understand how too much pleasure can make people more and more sad.

Can excessive pleasure bring unhappiness? The aDiversa podcast explains. – Photo: Disclosure/ND

Accompany host Luciana Barros, Neuropsychological Core Coordinator HU (University Hospital) UFSC (Federal University of Santa Catarina) and journalist ND group Ana Scholler.

dopamine and happiness

According to the neuropsychologist, a person works by releasing neurotransmitters that can serve as a reward depending on certain behavior.

“For example, dopamine is a neurotransmitter with a reward system that rewards us when we engage in self-preservation behaviors such as eating, sleeping, hiding. By releasing dopamine, we are rewarded. It just so happens that today the world is very simple, so dopamine is present all the time, and this also creates abstinence, as if it were a drug.”

The more you are stimulated by this excess of easy pleasure, the more you need dopamine and do not allow feelings of frustration. “Today, people don’t take disappointment well,” she explains.

extreme positivity

Ana believes that social media exposure plays a major role in the rise in unhappiness today.

“The feeling that something is always missing when we are on vacation and this is not on the Internet, or on Instagram, or on networks, we always think” am I missing something? Is something going on?”

In addition, extreme positivity on the Internet can also play a role. “For example, this is how advertising makes money. Because people are always looking for something, and that something is usually happiness. You will only be happy if you have such a thing,” adds Ana.

The full episode will air this Friday (14) at 19:00. Do not miss!

About aDiversa

The Diversa podcast makes room for everyday women’s issues. The episodes feature Lucian Barros and air every Friday at 7am on the Diversa+ page.