Rushabh Savla

Dope or Dopamine..its a thin line. One of the most primitive part of the Brain is the rewards system. Eating, exercise, reading or even shopping triggers enzymes at the base of the Brain to act on amino acids producing Dopamine which is like a kick of pleasure. Seeking this pleasure is what makes us want to do that repeatedly. Alcohol, Nicotine, Drugs etc trigger Dopamine - only in larger quantity. When a Drug is injected, it floods the Neural Pathways with extremely high dosage of Dopamine . The normal level of Dopamine now doesn’t suffice as tolerance level is up. This is classically how Addiction works in our Brain. There are Eight big addictions I see around me. 1. Gambling. Money is being lost by those who can least afford to. Only the poor buy lottery tickets - the rich sell it to them. 2. Reels. Young people are addicted to reels on Instagram. Doom-scrolling - an endless feed of news mostly negative and even fake. With a few dollars one can shape the opinion of a generation these days. 3. Porn. I am deeply concerned this is going unnoticed. I think the level of cruelty and the rising crime against women this has a key role to play. 4. Vaping. They have solved the problem of taste, smoke and needing to light up with a cool gadget that delivers Nicotine smoothly. School bathrooms and corridors now reek of this. 5. Shopping. A compulsive urge to shop what you don’t need and probably will never use even if it is with money you don’t have. Maxed out credit cards and loan pile up is the outcome. 6. Alcohol. The queues outside wine shops point to those that can least afford to, are falling most prey to this addiction. 7. Behaviour. Binge eating, Aggression, Anger, Me vs World, Victim syndrome, Sadness, Feeling hurt all the time…the Human brain is capable of fantastic addictions that are detrimental to our happiness. 8. The greatest addiction that isn’t even recognised as one is obsession with money. Many base all decisions they take on this one factor alone. Isn’t it amusing how humans chase money but expect happiness. As a society we have normalised addiction to money. In today’s time, solution cannot be to ban things. It has to be to create the right aspirations in the young. Where the young have found a purpose, they are driven and razor focused. A large part of our population is under-employed. Lonely men hanging around on the road side tea stalls. Societal unrest can be the outcome if this is not controlled. The Rich buy others’ time and the poor sell their time to buy stuff, ambitious buy skills and lazy buy distractions. So, the rich get richer and the poor, poorer by the choices they make. Meditation, exercise, music, stroll in nature also releases Dopamine. It’s a pity we aren’t taught how our body works. Dopamine is a happy hormone but wrong triggers can sow the seeds of our own decline. So from what do you get your Dopamine Fix? #sbfc