Several weeks ago I read a nonfiction book that I had bought and read in 1992 and not since. When I finished it, I felt peculiarly rested and happy, so much so that it surprised me when the feeling continued until the end of the day. I won\u2019t name the book because among other things it involves church politics, and I don\u2019t talk about politics in this space. What matters is that it put me at ease vis-a-vis some issues I\u2019ve had with religion for a long time. Some books, while interesting, put me on edge. This one, while also interesting, put me at ease.<\/p>\n
It took two days\u2019 worth of easy-chair time to go through it. I didn\u2019t rush; I learned back now and then and pondered certain of its many points, and stopped a couple of times to look up things that might have changed since 1992. I felt it was a worthwhile use of my time.<\/p>\n
What I didn\u2019t expect was a day-long dopamine rush.<\/p>\n
Dopamine is a brain chemical. It\u2019s what makes us feel good. I\u2019ve known that for years. What I didn\u2019t know is that the slower you do something that generates dopamine, the longer the dopamine lasts, sometimes long after you finish what you\u2019re doing. Conversely, when you scroll through your phone or tablet hunting for memes, silly videos, or quick, short text posts that make you smile, the dopamine rises fast, and then goes away just as quickly. The faster the rise, the faster the fall. This even has a name: fast dopamine<\/em>. Do too much fast dopamine, and all that falling after the brief hits can actually lower your background dopamine levels and drive you to depression or addiction.<\/p>\n What you really want instead is slow dopamine<\/em>. The articles I\u2019ve seen (like this one<\/a>) emphasize slow pleasures over fast pleasures. But more than that, slow dopamine sticks around longer if you put effort into something that pleases you. The more effort and the more time expended in something you enjoy means that the dopamine generated will stick around longer and fade away a great deal more slowly.<\/p>\n