Kwik Brain with Jim Kwik

Episode: The 4 Chemicals Secretly Controlling Your Motivation and Mood

Date: November 10, 2025
Host: Jim Kwik
Guest: TJ Power (neuroscientist, educator, author of “The Dose Effect”)

Overview

In this episode, Jim Kwik is joined by neuroscientist and author TJ Power for a deep dive into the “DOSE” chemicals—dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins. They explore how these four brain chemicals shape motivation, mood, connection, and stress, particularly in the context of today’s highly digital, sedentary lifestyles. The episode offers practical, simple habits to naturally optimize each chemical and serves as a “brain owner’s manual” for listeners who want to reclaim their mental energy, motivation, and emotional well-being.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What are the DOSE Chemicals?

[01:41 – 04:17]

• Dopamine: Drives motivation and reward for effortful tasks.
  • TJ: “Dopamine wants us to do hard things that feel rewarding when we're doing them and after we've done them.” [02:36]
• Oxytocin: Governs connection and love; diminished by digital isolation.
• Serotonin: Regulates mood and energy; linked to sunlight exposure.
• Endorphins: Manage stress relief, released via physical activity.

Notable Quote:

• TJ: “Collectively, each of these brain chemicals is suffering as a result of the modern sedentary digital lifestyle that we now lead.” [03:17]

2. Practical Habits to Activate Each Chemical

[04:17 – 08:24]

Dopamine – Find Your Flow State

• Replace passive scrolling with creative, engaging activities.
• Tip: Identify something from your social feeds and actually do it—cook, draw, garden.
• Effort matters: “Dopamine right now is very… inexpensive in terms of time and energy and effort when people could just pick up their phone.” – Jim [04:17]

Oxytocin – Foster Fleeting Connections

• Practice brief, genuine interactions (with a barista, cashier, or fellow dog walker).
• TJ: “Bringing your eyes up on dog walk, smiling, nodding, saying hello, asking a barista in a coffee shop how their day's going… These brief moments of connection in your local community are powerful for that chemical.” [05:22]

Serotonin – Get Sunlight Before Screens

• Prioritize outdoor time, especially in the morning.
• TJ: “I like a basic rule of sunlight before social media in the morning.” [06:38]

Endorphins – Commit to Daily Movement

• 20 push-ups or squats every morning as a non-negotiable baseline.
• TJ: “Having it as a non negotiable, where every single day you always do it, I actually think will lead to more consistent endorphin activation.” [07:54]

3. Rewiring Your Relationship With Technology

[08:24 – 12:13]

• You can retrain your brain to prefer effortful, meaningful activities over easy hits.
• TJ shares his personal journey from smartphone addiction to placing strict, scheduled “social media moments” (using screen time blocking apps)—10 minutes at 10am, 3pm, and 8pm.
• Downfalls of constant dopamine hits: “The greatest challenge isn't just engaging with [technology], but it's the frequency of engagement that's really causing disruptions to our dopamine pathway.” – TJ [10:17]

4. Hidden Brain Chemical: Glutamate

[12:13 – 15:23]

• Jim posits a “DOSE dashboard” wearable; TJ suggests tracking glutamate—a chemical involved in decision-making.
• Modern problem: “We're making a lot of decisions in the modern world with our phone. Specifically, when you're on your phone, you are rapidly making minor decisions at all moments... and it's very overwhelming.” – TJ [13:31]
• Solution: Practice true downtime—napping, walks in nature, or intentional boredom to clear “glutamate overload.”

5. Overcoming Low Motivation, Mental Fatigue, and High Stress

[15:36 – 19:09]

• For low motivation: Fix your nighttime routine. No phone by the bed, earlier sleep = willpower/motivation reset.
• For stress/fatigue: Re-examine “rest.” Passive screen time isn’t true rest—try periods of intentional boredom or “no screen” meals/bedroom/bathroom.

Notable Quote:

• TJ: “An early night is just magic. You're going to wake up with more discipline and willpower.“ [16:42]

Viral Challenge Mentioned:

• “Meals, Bedroom, Bathroom” — avoid screens during these moments to experience how difficult and impactful real downtime can be.

6. The Cost of Letting Tech Use Us

[19:09 – 21:07]

• Jim: “If technology is using us, then we become the tool.” [19:09]
• TJ: “On Mass, I think it's rare that people are really strategically using it… these tiny, what seem like insignificant decisions are actually massive for how we feel.” [19:16]
• A vivid image: Photographs with phones digitally removed—people look disturbingly disconnected and depressed.

7. TJ Power’s Personal DOSE Routine

[21:07 – 23:27]

• Evening: Eat dinner earlier, “force field” against phones in the bedroom.
• Morning: Start day with a boring but essential task (brushing teeth); breathwork; sunlight if possible; open laptop (not phone) first for messages.
• “It’s a gradual process,” TJ stresses—start small, build up.

Notable Quote:

• TJ: "The most crucial part of my morning routine is my first engagement with technology. Every day is my laptop, not my phone." [22:13]

8. The Vision: A DOSE-Optimized World

[23:31 – 25:08]

• If people learned to balance their DOSE, more would fulfill their dreams, act on their ambitions, and feel genuinely fulfilled.
• “This time, right now is like the time for us to be like, okay, let's get a really good relationship with this stuff so that we can use it for all it has to offer us and live a life. That's amazing.” – TJ [24:39]

9. Learning Outside the DOSE Conversation

[25:34 – 26:07]

• TJ shares excitement about becoming a parent and exploring the science and art of guiding a child’s relationship with tech, food, and the natural world.

10. Connect with TJ Power

[26:09 – 26:21]

• Book: The Dose Effect (available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones, etc.)
• Instagram: @tjpower (“where I teach how to rebalance your brain”)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• TJ Power, on dopamine depletion:
  “The short video feed is just absolutely rinsed their dopamine chemical and then they're not going to have any dopamine for their evening.” [19:16]

• Jim Kwik, on brain agency:
  “You are not your brain, but you're the operator of your brain and you have the power to rewrite it for power and performance.” [End]

• TJ Power, on dreams and dopamine:
  “Everyone has a dream within them that is hard to fulfill because it requires such immense effort to actually achieve your dreams. And I think if your dopamine system specifically is in balance… your likelihood of accessing your dream... is much more likely.” [23:38]

Recommended Timestamps

• DOSE Chemical Breakdowns: [02:03 – 04:17]
• Small Habits for Each Chemical: [04:17 – 08:24]
• Personal Tech Boundaries: [09:50 – 12:13]
• Glutamate/Decision Fatigue: [12:38 – 15:23]
• Minimum Effective Dose Advice: [16:13 – 19:09]
• TJ’s Morning/Evening Routines: [21:07 – 23:27]
• Envisioning a DOSE World: [23:38 – 25:08]

Action Steps Suggested

• Choose ONE small action (S3: Small Simple Step) to begin optimizing a DOSE chemical today.
  • Example: Do a brief sunlight walk before checking your phone in the morning.
  • Example: Initiate a fleeting in-person connection with someone in your community.
  • Example: Move your phone’s charger out of the bedroom tonight.

Kwik Brain’s trademark energy, actionable simplicity, and focus on “owner’s manual” hacks shine through. The conversation empowers listeners to take control—one tiny step at a time—of the neurochemistry secretly running their motivation and mood.