What Are the Signs of Dopamine Deficiency? (2024)

Dopamine deficiency, in which too little dopamine is available or processed, can cause problematic changes in mood, memory, sleep, social behavior, and the many other processes that this neurotransmitter helps regulate. Dopamine performs these important functions despite making up only a small percentage—less than 1 percent—of the brain’s neurons.

Dopamine Deficiency Signs and Symptoms

With links to conditions like schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease, dopamine deficiency can cause similar symptoms, such as:

• Chronic back pain
• Persistent constipation
• Weight fluctuations
• Dysphagia or difficulty swallowing
• Sleep disorders
• Fatigue
• Attention difficulties
• Reduced sex drive
• Hallucinations and delusions
• Aspiration pneumonia
• Low moods

Causes of Dopamine Deficiency

Any number of factors might be responsible for low dopamine levels. These include sleep deprivation, obesity, drug abuse, saturated fat intake, and stress. Here's a closer look at each.

Sleep Deprivation

Besides your morning coffee, dopamine is one of the reasons you feel refreshed and alert most mornings. This wakefulness is promoted by dopamine receptors—in particular, the D2 receptor. These receptors help mediate the functions of dopamine in the body.

However, sleep deprivation can reduce the number of D2 receptors in important areas of the brain, impeding dopamine transmission and production. In fact, with conditions such as Parkinson's disease, many people lack sufficient dopamine and feel excessive daytime sleepiness.

Obesity

Among the other issues to which obesity has been linked is dopamine deficiency. Like sleep deprivation, obesity can lead to a reduction in D2 receptors. This becomes especially apparent when comparing the number of receptors in people who are and are not obese.

Drug Abuse

During early usage, certain drugs can contribute to an increase in dopamine. Cocaine, for example, produces euphoria and boosts dopamine levels. However, long-term use of these drugs is certain to offer diminishing returns, especially where dopamine production is concerned.

Saturated Fat

When you have fried chicken, buttered bread, chocolate, and other foods high in saturated fats, your brain understandably lights up with dopamine at all the pleasure you're receiving from these foods.

However, these foods produce only short-term enjoyment. Over time, a high-fat diet disrupts central nervous system functioning and disrupts dopamine production, in turn leading to a deficit.

Stress

Stressors such as financial, relationship, workplace, and family life issues, can affect your body’s production of dopamine. Over time, this can lead to a deficiency.

Conditions Linked to Low Dopamine

A few of the conditions that can lead to low dopamine symptoms includes the following.

Major Depressive Disorder

Major depressive disorder is characterized by prolonged depressive moods or a lack of interest in activities that would ordinarily be appealing. This loss of interest is commonly referred to as anhedonia.

Both anhedonia and dopamine deficiency are related to a disruption in the mind's reward process, which involves anticipation, motivation, and decision-making. Decreased levels of dopamine have been associated with major depressive disorders.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a severe mental health condition that can cause an abnormal interpretation of reality and, in turn, can affect a person’s ability to think and act. Some of its symptoms, such as hallucinations, delusions, and abnormal gait, can also be attributed to dopamine deficiency.

Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson’s is a disorder of the nervous system. It is identifiable by tremors which may begin as barely noticeable, before progressing into obvious quivers, muscle stiffness, or delayed movement. This disorder may also cause problems with balance during motion.

Parkinson’s disease is the result of a number of factors, one of which is a reduction in the production of dopamine in the brain. When there is a dopamine deficit, this can cause the distinct movement difficulties associated with this condition.

How to Treat Low Dopamine Symptoms

Low dopamine levels can produce negative reactions throughout the body. Some things that you can do to fix low dopamine include getting regular exercise, eating foods that support dopamine production, consuming probiotics, and listening to music

Exercise

Working up a sweat by running, swimming, dancing, or other forms of movement, can help with increasing dopamine levels in the body. Studies carried out on animals have shown that certain portions of the brain are flushed with dopamine during physical activity. It is why exercising may sometimes produce a high.

Natural Sources

Your body’s supply of dopamine may be supported by external sources. Natural sources such as bananas, plantain, and avocado have been found to contain high levels of dopamine. Apples, eggplant, spinach, and tomatoes have also been recognized as dopamine sources. Proteins are also notable components in the dopamine production process.

Probiotics

Probiotics may get more notice for promoting gut health, but this bacteria is not only an important part of the body’s microbiome, it may also be useful for the production of dopamine and other neurotransmitters.

Music

Music has been shown to stimulate dopamine production in the brain, generating the familiar feelings of pleasure and excitement you experience when you listen.

The Takeaway

Dopamine creates feelings of pleasure, excitement, and motivation when you're carrying out activities. Things start to go south, however, when the body runs low on this neurotransmitter. This can happen because of a genetic predisposition, obesity, stress, and other causes. Common symptoms include persistent tiredness, constipation, low moods, sleep disorders, and other negative effects. Eating well, listening to music, routinely exercising, and socializing can help you avoid dopamine deficiency.