The following podcast is a Dear Media production.

So there are two big challenges that really give dopamine hits, which makes you come back for more, screens and processed foods.

And I'm speaking with biologist Michaeline Ducleff about her new book, Dopamine Kids,

a science-based plan to rewire your child's brain and take back your family in the age of screens and ultra-processed foods.

Those two things are really good examples of kind of how tempting it all is and how the wrong

information gets passed down about self-control and about how we're motivated and about what

feels good and self-regulation. So Michaeline's point is let's just set up our home and routine

so that you're not constantly depending on this false idea of willpower.

I'm Dr. Alisa Pressman, and this is Raising Good Humans podcast.

Michaeline, tell us what dopamine actually is and what it does

and what maybe we might mistake it for.

Yes, so dopamine is not what you think it is. And understanding

what it is will make you a powerful parent. That's what I'm finding myself and also in other parents

that I talk to. So we're told that dopamine equals pleasure, right? That the more dopamine we have,

the happier we are. But neuroscience tells us

something quite different. Neuroscience tells us that dopamine gives us the feeling of wanting,

desire, craving. It's the do it again button in the brain. So it's, I want it again, I want it again,

I want it again. And it pulls us to things like a magnet.

And understanding that is really important because dopamine can pull us to activities and foods that actually make us feel bad or worse afterwards.

They actually rob us of pleasure.

So a good example of that is social media and teenagers.

A lot of kids are on social media to feel a sense of belonging, right?

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