Biologically Realistic Mathematical Model of How the Brain Makes Complex Decisions Created

Feb. 4, 2016

Cambridge, UK (Scicasts) — Researchers have built the first biologically realistic mathematical model of how the brain plans and learns when faced with a complex decision-making process.

Researchers have constructed the first comprehensive model of how neurons in the brain behave when faced with a complex decision-making process, and how they adapt and learn from mistakes.

The mathematical model, developed by researchers from the University of Cambridge, is the first biologically realistic account of the process, and is able to predict not only behaviour, but also neural activity. The results, reported in The Journal of Neuroscience, could aid in the understanding of conditions from obsessive compulsive disorder and addiction to Parkinson’s disease.

The model was compared to experimental data for a wide-ranging set of tasks, from simple binary choices to multistep sequential decision making. It accurately captures behavioural choice probabilities and predicts choice reversal in an experiment, a hallmark of complex decision making.

Our decisions may provide immediate gratification, but they can also have far-reaching consequences, which in turn depend on several other actions we have already made or will make in the future. The trouble that most of us have is how to take the potential long-term effects of a particular decision into account, so that we make the best choice.

There are two main types of decisions: habit-based and goal-based. An example of a habit-based decision would be a daily commute, which is generally the same every day. Just as certain websites are cached on a computer so that they load faster the next time they are visited, habits are formed by ‘caching’ certain behaviours so that they become virtually automatic.

An example of a goal-based decision would be a traffic accident or road closure on that same commute, forcing the adoption of a different route.

“A goal-based decision is much more complicated from a neurological point of view, because there are so many more variables – it involves exploring a branching set of possible future situations,” said the paper’s first author Dr. Johannes Friedrich of Columbia University, who conducted the work while a postdoctoral researcher in Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. “If you think about a detour on your daily commute, you need to make a separate decision each time you reach an intersection.”

Habit-based decisions have been thoroughly studied by neuroscientists and are fairly well-understood in terms of how they work at a neural level. The mechanisms behind goal-based decisions however, remain elusive.

Now, Friedrich and Dr. Máté Lengyel, also from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, have built a biologically realistic solution to this computational problem. The researchers have shown mathematically how a network of neurons, when connected appropriately, can identify the best decision in a given situation and its future cumulative reward.

“Constructing these sorts of models is difficult because the model has to plan for all possible decisions at any given point in the process, and computations have to be performed in a biologically plausible manner,” said Friedrich. “But it’s an important part of figuring out how the brain works, since the ability to make decisions is such a core competence for both humans and animals.”

The researchers also found that for making a goal-based decision, the synapses which connect the neurons together need to ‘embed’ the knowledge of how situations follow on from each other, depending on the actions that are chosen, and how they result in immediate reward.

Crucially, they were also able to show in the same model how synapses can adapt and re-shape themselves depending on what did or didn’t work previously, in the same way that it has been observed in human and animal subjects.

“By combining planning and learning into one coherent model, we’ve made what is probably the most comprehensive model of complex decision-making to date,” said Friedrich. “What I also find exciting is that figuring out how the brain may be doing it has already suggested us new algorithms that could be used in computers to solve similar tasks,” added Lengyel.

The model could be used to aid in the understanding of a range of conditions. For instance, there is evidence for selective impairment in goal-directed behavioural control in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder, which forces them to rely instead on habits. Deep understanding of the underlying neural processes is important as impaired decision making has also been linked to suicide attempts, addiction and Parkinson's disease.

Article adapted from a University of Cambridge news release. The original article is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence.

https://scicasts.com/neuroscience/2061-computational-neuroscience/10677-biologically-realistic-mathematical-model-of-how-the-brain-makes-complex-decisions-created/?highlight=WyJwYXJraW5zb24ncyIsInBhcmtpbnNvbiIsInBhcmtpbnNvbidzXHUyMDFkLCIsInBhcmtpbnNvbidzLWFmZmVjdGVkIiwicGFya2luc29uJ3MuXHUyMDFkIiwicGFya2luc29uJ3MtbGlrZSIsInBhcmtpbnNvbidzLFx1MjAxZCIsImRpc2Vhc2UiLCJkaXNlYXNlJ3MiLCJkaXNlYXNlJy4iLCInZGlzZWFzZSIsImRpc2Vhc2UnIiwicGFya2luc29uJ3MgZGlzZWFzZSJd

Parkinson’s Balance Problems May Be Evident Decades Before Disease Diagnosed

FEBRUARY 5, 2016
BY DANIELA SEMEDO, PHD

People with Parkinson’s disease have a higher risk of bad falls and hip fractures as early as 26 years before diagnosis, partly because of a poorer sense of balance that might be an early sign of the illness, according to a study published in the journal PLOS Medicine and titled “Risk of Injurious Fall and Hip Fracture up to 26 years before the Diagnosis of Parkinson Disease: Nested Case–Control Studies in a Nationwide Cohort.”

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurological disorder caused by the gradual loss of the nerve cells that usually produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter that regulates the body’s motor functions. Evidence from studies has shown that low muscle strength in late adolescence is linked with PD diagnosed 30 years later.

To investigate if such lower muscle strength may also translate into increased risks of falls and fractures before a PD diagnosis, researchers looked at 24,412 adults — a cohort taken from the Swedish National Patient Register —  diagnosed with PD between 1988 and 2012. All patients were matched with up to 10 controls. During an average study period of 20 years prior to a PD diagnosis, 18 percent of PD patients, and 11.5 percent of controls, had at least one fall that caused an injury that required emergency care.

The results revealed reduced muscular strength in the arms could be detected, on average, 30 years before a PD diagnosis. Moreover, this reduced muscular strength could also be associated with an increased risk of hip fractures more than 15 years before PD diagnosis, and injuring falls up to 10 years before diagnosis. Signs of gradual dysfunction in balance reactions and impaired mobility were also present at an early stage.

These findings suggest that clinically relevant neurodegenerative impairment could be present many years before the clinical onset of the disease. “We asked ourselves if fall-related injuries at an early age could be a warning sign of the deteriorating balance that is characteristic to Parkinson’s disease,” Helena Nyström, a doctoral student at the Department of Community Medicine and Rehabilitation and co-author of the article, said in a news release. “By investigating health data from registers, we could see a correlation between individuals who were later diagnosed with Parkinson’s and who were more often involved in injurious falls. It was also shown that the higher risk of hip fractures could be measured more than two decades before the diagnosis.”

http://parkinsonsnewstoday.com/2016/02/05/high-risk-of-falling-an-early-sign-of-parkinsons/

Counting Parkinson’s patients one by one- Important!

February 04, 2016,

WE NEED TO BE COUNTED

CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES

WE NEED TO KNOW AN ACCURATE COUNT OF PEOPLE WITH PARKINSON'S DISEASE IN THE U.S.

If you ask how many people in the United States are living with Parkinson's disease, you can get a number anywhere from 500,000 to 1,500,000 or more, depending on the source. Why such a disparity in the numbers?

 

Why, despite advances in research and so many improvements in medical data collection, don't we know more about Parkinson's disease?

The answer is that we simply don’t know. We don’t know, in large part, because there is no national database on Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders in the United States. 

An integrated national database would help answer many questions, including: does the disease affect more men or more women? How many Parkinson’s patients should be classified as early onset? What effect does the environment have on the disease? How many different types of Parkinson’s disease exist?  

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological disease. You may be familiar with Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali and the tremors and involuntary movements they exhibit. But not all people with Parkinson’s disease have tremors. Symptoms can vary widely, including many symptoms not readily seen, such as muscle stiffness, depression, and cognitive difficulties. 

Someone may not be able to tell from looking at me, but I have had Parkinson’s for several years and it has had a significant impact on my life. My diagnosis may not be uncommon, yet the intricacies of my experience are neither well understood nor well documented.

Our basic lack of data has far-reaching effects. Without complete information, policymakers devote insufficient funding for services and the research that can help us find new treatments and potential cures. Pharmaceutical companies choose other diseases in which to invest their research monies. Nonprofit organizations dedicate fewer resources for support services. Without data, the world of Parkinson’s treatment and services can be a mystery without much hope--and the same holds true for many other progressive neurological disorders.

The House-passed 21st Century Cures Act would create a neurological disease registry at the Centers for Disease Control. The overwhelming bipartisan effort in the House should not be wasted. I urge the Senate HELP committee to support similar legislation about the registry, the Advancing Research for Neurological Diseases Act.

Establishing a national database is a smart investment. Currently, Americans spend more than $500 billion per year treating neurological diseases. This database would cost $25 million over five years, and it would ensure that we are treating neurological diseases more effectively. Much of the additional funding for Parkinson’s would support research at our world-renowned institutions, including Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. 

The benefits of this bill should appeal to both Democrats and Republicans. As Newt Gingrich has pointed out, if we cannot effectively treat and prevent neurological diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's in the near future, the growing prevalence of these diseases among the aging Baby Boomer generation could soon cost the nation trillions more in healthcare and support services. 

If the Senate does not act soon, the issue could become lost in the fray of a presidential election year. What we don’t know is hurting us and the solution is clear. Once we know more about patients with Parkinson’s and other neurological diseases, we will be closer to finding a cure and improving lives.

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/268136-counting-parkinsons-patients-one-by-one

Saliva may provide early test for Parkinson's disease

A saliva gland test could become a new way to test for early Parkinson's disease, according to research published in Movement Disorders.

February 5, 2016

Parkinson's disease can go undetected for some time, but the new test could help patients obtain an early diagnosis.

The Parkinson's Disease Foundation (PDF) note that a million Americans may be living with Parkinson's disease, and around 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, while thousands go undetected.

Parkinson's mostly manifests in older people, but 4% of cases are diagnosed before the age of 50 years. The risk is one and a half times higher for men than for women.

The degenerative neurological disorder affects movement, sleep, walking, balance,blood pressure and smell. There is no cure, but medications can relieve the symptoms.

The first and best-known sign of the disease is often just a small tremor in one hand. Stiffness or slowing of movement may occur, which gradually gets worse.

No test so far has been able to diagnose Parkinson's disease accurately. The basis for diagnosis is currently medical history, signs and symptoms, a neurological examination and exclusion of other conditions.

Submandibular gland biopsy may provide early diagnosis

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, AZ, and Banner Sun Health Research Institute in Sun City, AZ, carried out the current study. They had previously found that up to 45% of patients in the early stages may receive an incorrect diagnosis.

The team wanted to see if a procedure termed "transcutaneous submandibular gland biopsy" could provide an answer. In this procedure, a core of gland tissue is extracted by inserting a needle into a salivary gland under the jaw.

The scientists were searching for a protein in the cells that could indicate early Parkinson's disease. They took the biopsies from one salivary gland to test for it. In earlier tests, they had found that that the same biopsy test could detect the abnormal protein in 9 out of 12 patients with advanced Parkinson's.

The new study involved 25 patients who had the disease for less than 5 years and 10 healthy individuals.

Of the 25 subjects, 19 had sufficient tissue for the study. The researchers tested the biopsied tissues to see if they contained the Parkinson's protein. The researchers then compared the results with those of the healthy controls.

The protein was found to be present in 14 out of 19 patients.

Study co-author Dr. Thomas Beach, PhD, a neuropathologist with Banner Sun Health Research Institute, says:

"This procedure will provide a much more accurate diagnosis of Parkinson's disease than what is now available. One of the greatest potential impacts of this finding is on clinical trials, as at the present time some patients entered into Parkinson's clinical trials do not necessarily have Parkinson's disease and this is a big impediment to testing new therapies."

Study author Dr. Charles Adler, PhD, neurologist and professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic, adds that using submandibular gland biopsies to test for early Parkinson's disease may help many people because, currently, testing after 10 years gives a far more reliable diagnosis than early testing.

The team hopes for further studies to expand understanding of the disease and to develop better treatments.

http://www.topix.com/health/parkinsons-disease/2016/02/saliva-may-provide-early-test-for-parkinsons-disease

10 Ways You Can Increase Dopamine Levels In The Brain Without Medication

January 20, 2016 by Stephan Gardner

“Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. Dopamine also helps regulate movement and emotional response, and it enables us not only to see rewards, but to take action to move toward them.”  – Psychology Today

There are a lot of articles on the internet about dopamine and how it affects your mood, behavior, energy, and focus. What’s not commonly spoken about, however, is how dopamine is affected by your perception. Discussed more rarely still is the reason why your dopamine levels may be low. Below are 10 ways to increase your dopamine levels, courtesy of Power of Positivity, as well as my own observations regarding the underlying issues which may have led to each situation, and how to tackle them.

1. Don’t Get Addicted

“Many people get addicted to something because it gives them some kind of instant gratification – drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, shopping, and other addictive behaviors actually have the opposite effect on dopamine levels in the long-term. In essence, when we get overly addicted to something, the ‘reward circuitry’ of our brain kicks into overdrive and we crave the ‘quick hit.’ This is not a sustainable solution for dopamine production, which can and should be done naturally.” 

What’s missing here is the fact that addiction is quite often a result of low dopamine, meaning addiction is more of an attempt to fix an already existing problem. In essence, “the underpinning of your addictive personality is a lack of fulfillment from within, with a resulting urge to achieve fulfillment through substances, objects, or events that relieve the inevitable pain – for a while.” (source)

“When we receive a reward of any kind, dopamine is released in our brains. Over time, this stimulus and release of dopamine can lead to learning. Researchers have recently found that how quickly and permanently we learn things relates directly to how much dopamine we have available in our brains. As we get rewarded over and over again for something, we learn that we should keep doing whatever that is very deeply, and it’s hard to unlearn those kinds of behaviours.” (source)

What this means is that low-dopamine is a response to a lifestyle which doesn’t offer much in terms of reward to the person living it. It may be a response to the environment you’re living in, the clothes you’re wearing, the tight budget you’re working within, the relationship choices you’ve made or have been made for you, or a result of trauma where there was no perceived reward. It’s very easy to understand how dopamine levels may appear low when we consider all the potentials leading to less-rewarding lifestyles and life-experiences.

What’s necessary then is less of a ‘don’t get addicted’ approach and more of an ‘increase the rewards in your life’ style of applied advice. Fact is, you’ll constantly feel less fulfilled through low dopamine when you’re not (or are unable to) fill your day with things that inspire and reward you. Meaning, the most effective protection against addiction and greatest advantage to high-dopamine levels is a defense against low-rewarding activities and an offence working towards rewarding actions, activities, and ultimately, a lifestyle of fulfillment and achievement.

Also, because addiction is most often rooted in past traumatic experiences, where emotions create a fight or flight response that becomes rooted in your core emotions, it’s vitally important to seek proper and effective help in dissolving past trauma. Doing so can only help you perceive more rewarding experiences in your life, rather than filtering experiences through a ‘traumatized’ awareness.

2.  Checklist Small Tasks

“Dopamine increases when we are organized and finish tasks – regardless if the task is small or large. So, don’t allow your brain to worry about things that need to be done. Instead, write these tasks down and then check them off one at a time. It’s been shown that it’s more satisfying to the brain’s dopamine levels when we physically check something off of our to-do list. Also, write down and check stuff off regardless if you can mentally remember the tasks.” 

In reading the book Principles of Self-Management, I came across a brilliantly well-researched understanding of motivation when it comes to tasks. In short, if a task is greater than 25% of a change in a person’s routine, the person will be overwhelmed with feeling incapable of achieving it. This leads them to self-defeat and self-sabotage to avoid accomplishing the task. On the other side, if a task is less than 10% different than a person’s normal routine, they don’t do it because it won’t have enough meaning for them to do so. As such, it’s wise to make sure you write down goals and tasks that are in between this 10% to 25% range of new behaviors and actions, otherwise, you just won’t do it.

However, this 10-25% range is simply a guide for tasks that are not directly linked to our highest values. In reality, if you can link a task to your highest values and see clearly how it will help you accomplish what’s truly most important to you, you’ll do it. If you can’t see how it will help fulfill your highest values, you’ll procrastinate, hesitate, and get frustrated in the attempt to do it. By linking a task to your highest values, you’ll both increase the chances of you doing it and also increase the reward you will feel when you accomplish it, a result of producing more dopamine in the brain.

3. Create Something

“For us writers, painters, sculptors, poets, singers, dancers, and other artists, we can identify with this. When we’re in creative mode, we can become hyper-focused. As a result, we can enter a state called flow. Dopamine is the brain chemical that allows us to achieve this state. The lesson is this: take up a hobby or activity in which you actually create something tangible. Try something like arts, crafts, auto repair, drawing, photography, or something else that sounds interesting.” 

Sparking your creative drive is an effective way to increase your potential for feeling great, achieving goals and inspiring yourself through your accomplishments. However, it can also be a distraction from a feel-bad lifestyle, if it’s not maintained with a purpose in mind. Whenever you’re working on a project, creative or not, that truly inspires you, you’ll activate your ‘flow state,’ where time and space seem to stand still. So how to you determine what it is that truly inspires you?

The most important goal in revealing your most authentic creative energy is to remove the creative energies of other people from your life. So many of us look up to the creations of others, whether works of art or music, and their works or talents take up time and space in our own minds. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it can influence your own beliefs about what you can create. If you compare yourself to others and minimize yourself, you’ll repress your own creative ability. This can affect your dopamine levels, because if you can’t see your own creations as rewarding to you, as much as someone else’s, you’ll feel inferior and incapable.

One very effective way of neutralizing the influence other people have on your mind is to literally look at the negatives or downsides of their accomplishment. This isn’t to practice being a critic, but it can enable you to de-infatuate with their creative powers, helping you to stop minimizing your own. Once you recognize that your creative endeavors can exist on the level of those you admire, through practice (just like they did), you’ll increase your ability to see your own creations as meaningful and rewarding.

 4. Exercise

“Same ‘ole, same ‘ole, we know. We’ve discussed repeatedly the importance and benefits of physical exercise, and we’re just going to add to this list again. So, not only does exercise help us relieve stress, achieve better physical health and make us more productive; it boosts our dopamine levels. More specifically, exercise increases multiple neurotransmitters – serotonin and endorphins, besides dopamine, receive a boost. Here’s something else cool: the exercise needn’t not be arduous. Simply taking a stroll or climbing some stairs will achieve a good dopamine jolt.” 

Exercise is important, but it can also become a crutch or an addiction if it’s not something being integrated into your daily life. Many people go to the gym to work out, yet don’t live a life that requires the body they’re building. Another thing is actually placing a value on exercise itself. Many people buy the gym memberships, yet never use them. So what’s the easiest way to make exercise a part of your life?

There’s a branch of exercise called ‘functional training’ in which exercises are tailored to help you with your daily tasks. This is much more helpful than just ‘workouts,’ because if you can train your body into a state where your daily tasks are not taxing on your energy, you’ll breeze through the day and have more energy at the end of it. Staying in a high energy state instead of being brought down by your daily tasks will help you be more inspired during your day and innately feel more inspired to exercise.

5. Get a Streak Going

“As with creating a checklist, getting a streak going is a great way to increase dopamine levels. For the purpose of this article, a streak is a visual reminder of how many days in a row you’ve achieved something.

Get a calendar specifically for this purpose: write down whatever goal you have and the days of the week or month when they are scheduled. For example, if you work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, mark these days on the calendar for the month. As you finish a workout, mark it off on the calendar. Keep a streak going, and you’ll keep the dopamine coming.”

While the ‘streak’ is a useful tool for celebrating accomplishments, it unfortunately has a downside—routine. Doing something enough times becomes a routine, especially if the action isn’t continuously fulfilling to your highest values. To counter this, try adapting the ‘goal’ or ‘action’ in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. By continuously finding ways to improve the performance of the behavior, over time, you can look back at how many times you’ve done it, but also how much better you’ve become at it. This way, your performance becomes a competition with yourself, which increases your potential for feeling rewarded as you master a skill.

6. Increase Tyrosine

“Of the chemicals that make up dopamine, none are more important than tyrosine. In fact, tyrosine is considered the building block of dopamine. Therefore, it is important that you get enough of this protein. There’s a large list of foods that increase Tyrosine, including: Almonds, Avocados, Bananas, Beef, Chicken, Chocolate, Coffee, Eggs, Green Tea, Watermelon, Yogurt.” 

Food is a reward, not a chore. This is the difference between living to eat and eating to live. While it’s important to utilize foods to your advantage, it’s just as important to recognize that the brain is its own best pharmacy. Few foods actually make it past the blood-brain barrier and this actually includes Tyrosine.

“Tyrosine is one of the 22 key amino acids that are used for building proteins around the body. In addition to this, however, it also raises the levels of certain neurotransmitters in the brain, namely dopamine and norepinephrine. These are famous for being ‘feel good’ chemicals that can help boost mood and elevate concentration, making tyrosine a popular nootropic. However, tyrosine is completely incapable of passing the BBB. This way, no matter how much of it you were to take, you’d feel almost no effects.” (source)

The truth is, tyrosine must be bonded with another molecule to make it past the blood-brain barrier, so tyrosine in itself isn’t capable of making significant impacts on the brain. However, through natural digestion and regulating healthy bodily function, it can assist the brain in having to work less on fixing an unhealthy system, which in turn can help increase the potential for dopamine and dopamine related good feelings.

7. Listen to Music

“Do you ever wonder why music makes you happy? I mean, we can be in the dumps one moment but once we put on our favorite jam, we’re swaying and shaking away…feeling pretty good about ourselves too! The reason for this is that listening to music increases dopamine levels. In fact, scientists say that listening to music has the same effect as eating our favorite foods or watching our favorite T.V. show. So, when you’re feeling down, throw on some of your favorite tunes and jam out!”

Listening to music can increase dopamine levels temporarily, but what we’re really looking for is a lasting fulfillment feeling so you can make your daily life enjoyable and productive for your goals. Also, popular music these days is often manufactured in such a way as to prey on your brain’s chemical dependency, making much of music a form of substance addiction.

However, music has been a part of human history since as far as we can see, so its influence on our brain is greatly appreciated. In fact, one of the greatest cultural appreciations throughout history has been music. So, listen to music, but just make sure it’s not the only source of dopamine in your life.

 8. Meditate

“As with exercise, we are discovering more and more benefits to meditation. We are again adding to the list. As we discussed, the human brain is susceptible to a variety of addictions. One other addictive habit that we have is overthinking. In fact, some Buddhists have a phrase for this addiction: ‘monkey mind.’

Overthinking is not merely a distracting habit, it’s also a genuine compulsion that leaves us in a perplexing state, while also having a negative effect on our spiritual development. However, scientists are finally catching up to what Buddhists have known for thousands of years: meditation and mindfulness are essential to a healthy mind.”

Meditation can be a highly effective form of dopamine increase if done properly, as it can weed out the mental influences which may be causing your chemistry to be less than desired. With the intent of reaching a state of self-fulfillment, meditation clears out the mental clutter and replaces it with presence and fulfillment for just being alive. This is a state available to every human and can help assist our daily lives by increasing our awareness of what feels good for us and what we don’t resonate with.

9. Take Supplements

“While there are some great ways to increase dopamine levels, sometimes we’re facing a time crunch. Fortunately, there are natural supplements on the market that have been shown to increase dopamine levels. Here are a few:

Acetyl-l-tyrosine: Another building block of dopamine. A healthy dose of this makes it easier for the brain to produce dopamine.

Curcumin: An active ingredient that’s also common in curry spices and turmeric.

Ginkgo Biloba: A tremendously popular wonder supplement that’s also believed to boost dopamine levels and keep it circulating in the brain longer.

L-theanine: Increases multiple neurotransmitters in the brain, including dopamine. Green tea is a terrific source for this.” (source)

While supplements can impact our dopamine response, they should by no means replace your own inner potential for fulfillment. That responsibility lies with you and you alone. However, with respect to inner wisdom, without knowing what feeling amazing actually feels like, it’s difficult to strive for it as a goal. Supplements can help us get there so we can have a reference point for what our potential can be. The trick is to facilitate change in our lives, enough so that the need for supplementation to feel good is lower than the feel goods we actually experience in our life.

10. Toxic Cleansing

“As miraculous as our bodies are, we do accumulate toxins and bacteria that is bad for us. Endotoxins are the kind that can cause our immune systems to get out of whack, and it also constrains the production of dopamine. Here are a couple tips for helping cleanse the gut of endotoxins: eat fermented food, get enough sleep, and resist the urge to indulge in fatty or sugary foods.”

Whenever you’re not fulfilled in your life, you run the risk of over-indulging in sugary and sweet foods in an attempt to temporarily fulfill yourself. However, if you find fulfillment through the challenge and support of your day, you’re more likely to eat for the tasks you’re doing instead of eating just to feel good.

How you eat and how fulfilled you are, are directly correlated. If you’re actively enjoying the challenges of your life, you’re more likely to consume foods that serve your highest interests and health, because you see a reason to eat well. Controlling how you eat is less important than finding fulfillment in what you do.

So the next time you find yourself craving that candy bar, ask yourself if there isn’t something else you could eat that could help you find fulfillment. Also, notice what you are doing at the time you’re craving sugar and ask yourself if it’s really something you need to do, or can you delegate it to someone else so you can get back to things that inspire you. By focusing on what inspires and fulfills you, you’ll find yourself actively seeking to better your health without having to really focus on it.

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/01/20/10-ways-to-increase-dopamine-levels-in-the-brain/