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Dopamine: How to Naturally Increase the “Happy Hormone”

By Ethan Boldt

March 27, 2025

Dopamine is one of those chemicals made in the brain that we’re often completely unaware of unless it’s too low or too high. When that happens, even if we don’t know what it is, we surely can feel its sizable impact.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and the so-called “feel good hormone.” It’s best known for helping us feel pleasure as part of our brain’s reward system. For some, the smell of certain foods, going shopping, having sex or certain types of exercise can trigger a dopamine release.

Meanwhile, not having enough dopamine can negatively affect your body and brain in myriad ways. We’re talking about your movement and motor control, but also your mood, focus and even enthusiasm.

So how do you naturally increase your dopamine levels? Here are the specific foods, lifestyle changes and exercises that can help promote healthy levels of dopamine.

What is dopamine?

Called the “happy hormone,” dopamine is a neurotransmitter, or chemical messenger, that plays a critical role in the body and brain. Considered an essential element in the brain reward system, dopamine neurons account for less than 1 percent of the total neuron count in the brain yet research shows it exerts a profound effect on both brain and body function.

Involved in a wide range of physiological functions, dopamine is associated with various aspects of behavior, mood and cognition. It literally helps us learn, move, find pleasure and sleep.

Dopamine increases whenever you feel pleasure or reward, including through everyday moments like listening to your favorite music, hanging out with your best friend or hitting an exercise goal. At the same time, certain stimulant drugs, mental health conditions and medications can also cause high dopamine levels but these come with a variety of serious side effects.

In contrast, when dopamine levels are too low, we feel a lack of motivation and feelings of helplessness.

In particular, here are key roles of dopamine in the brain and body:

• Reward and pleasure: Dopamine is released when we engage in pleasurable activities. It’s directly involved in the brain’s reward system, which serves to reinforce behavior by providing feelings of pleasure and motivation.

• Movement and motor control: Dopamine helps us coordinate both smooth movements and motor control. Not having enough dopamine can mean difficulty with motor control.

• Mood regulation: Dopamine helps regulate mood by modulating feelings of pleasure, motivation and reward. These feelings are critical to experience positive emotions and motivation.

• Cognitive function: Dopamine is essential for multiple cognitive processes, including memory, attention, learning and decision-making.

• Hormone regulation: Dopamine also operates as a hormone that regulates the release of other hormones, such as prolactin that is involved in lactation and reproductive functions.

How does dopamine compare to serotonin? These two neurotransmitters work together to regulate both mood and behavior, but while dopamine promotes reward-seeking behavior, serotonin works to stabilize and regulate mood.

How to increase dopamine levels

1. Eat tyrosine-rich foods

Tyrosine is an amino acid that serves as a precursor for dopamine as well as norepinephrine and epinephrine. Studies show that having more tyrosine-rich foods as well as phenylalanine, another amino acid, can increase dopamine levels in the brain.

The best tyrosine foods include meat (beef, poultry), eggs, dairy products, seeds and legumes as well as some protein powders like whey protein. Be aware that for the body to properly convert tyrosine into neurotransmitters, you also need proper amounts of vitamin B6, folate and copper.

2. Limit saturated fats

While the first step is to eat dopamine-increasing foods, it’s also key to avoid dopamine-depleting foods, like saturated fat. Animal studies indicate that too much saturated fat in the diet can slow down the release of dopamine as well as uptake.

Try to avoid saturated fats like excessive fatty cuts of meat, full-fat dairy, butter and coconut oil. Go for healthy fats like olive oil and avocado oil instead.

3. Try probiotic-rich foods

Researchers have discovered that gut bacteria can synthesize and respond to hormones and neurotransmitters — and that adding more good bacteria to your gut, such as with probiotic foods, can exert positive effects on dopamine levels.

Indeed, the gut and the brain are physiologically connected via a complex system also known as the gut-brain axis. Our gut’s bacteria produce neurotransmitters that impact mood and brain function.

4. Take a multivitamin

As discussed above, you need vitamin B6, folate and copper in order to have tyrosine-rich foods convert into dopamine. You also need vitamin B5, iron and magnesium to support dopamine production.

An easy way to make sure you have enough of those vitamins and minerals on board is taking a daily multivitamin.

5. Consider Mucuna pruriens

The topical plant called Mucuna pruriens (velvet beans) contains high levels of L-dopa (levodopa), which is the precursor to dopamine. Eating velvet beans or taking the supplement version has been shown to help increase dopamine levels and aid with movement in some studies. Be aware that consuming too many velvet beans can be toxic.

6. Exercise often

Exercise affects three major neurotransmitters: noradrenaline, serotonin and dopamine. The connection between exercise and these neurotransmitters helps positively affect brain function, and dopamine can be triggered by exercise.

This is in line with research that shows how exercise can boost mood. And yes, this particularly can include dancing, walking outside, playing a sport with friends and so on. In other words, exercise that you look forward to and literally makes you happy.

7. Get adequate sunlight

Not getting enough sunlight may lead to lower levels of mood-influencing neurotransmitters like dopamine, according to studies.

8. Practice meditation

Research shows that practicing mindfulness meditation and yoga can increase dopamine levels. Both of these activities involve clearing your mind, deep breathing and fully relaxing your mood as much as possible, including not judging your thoughts.

One benefit is the people who meditate are often more open to feedback.

9. Listen to music

As shown in multiple studies, listening to music can trigger a dopamine release. In particular, it’s music that triggers strong feelings, such as “the chills” because you find the music so moving.

10. Get enough sleep

Finally, it’s critical to get enough sleep to help the brain regular dopamine. While dopamine levels go up naturally in the morning, helping us get up and about, they naturally fall in the evening.

Applying good sleep hygiene and keeping a consistent bedtime each night and wake up time the next morning helps ensure proper regulation of dopamine. Our dopamine receptors tend to decrease when we get inadequate sleep, and this can lead to less alertness and more sleepiness.