Silicon Valley epidemic a new wave: dopamine withdrawal

It’s the latest fad in Silicon Valley. By reducing the brain’s feel-good chemical known as dopamine – cutting back on things like food, sex, alcohol, social media and technology – followers believe that they can “reset” the brain to be more effective and appreciate simple things more easily.
这是硅谷的新风潮。通过减少大脑中使人感觉良好的化学物质多巴胺（减少接触食物、性、酒精、社交媒体和科技），拥护者们相信他们可以“重置”大脑，使其更高效，更容易欣赏简单的事物。
Some even go so far as avoiding all social activities, and even eye contact.
有些人甚至避开了所有的社交活动，甚至避开了眼神交流。
The exercise, dubbed “dopamine fasting” by San Francisco psychologist Dr Cameron Sepah, is now getting increasing international attention. But what exactly is it? And does it work?
被旧金山心理学家卡梅隆·赛帕博士称为“多巴胺斋戒”的这项活动，如今引起了国际社会的高度关注。但它到底是什么样的活动呢？它有效吗？
As someone who studies the brain’s reward system, I’d like to share my knowledge with you.
作为一个研究大脑奖励机制的人，我想和你们分享一下我的见解。
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter – a chemical messenger produced in the brain. It is sent around the brain conveying signals related to functions such as motor control, memory, arousal and reward processing.
多巴胺是一种神经递质，是大脑产生的一种化学信使。它在大脑中传递与运动控制、记忆、兴奋和奖励机制等功能相关的信号。
For example, too little dopamine can result in disorders like Parkinson’s Disease, involving symptoms of muscle rigidity, tremors and changes in speech and gait. One of the treatments for Parkinson’s is the drug L-DOPA, which can cross the blood-brain barrier and be converted into dopamine to help ease the symptoms.
例如，多巴胺过低会导致帕金森氏症等疾病，引起肌肉僵硬、颤抖以及言语能力和步态的改变等症状。L-DOPA是治疗帕金森氏症的药物之一，它可以穿过血脑屏障，转化为多巴胺，帮助缓解症状。
Dopamine is also important in the reward system in the brain. It is activated by primary rewards like food, sex and drugs.
多巴胺在大脑的奖励机制中也很重要。它可以被食物、性和毒品等基本奖励激活。
Importantly, the brain’s reward system can “learn” over time – cues in our environment that we associate with potential rewards can increase the activity of dopamine even in the absence of an actual reward. So just being in a sweet shop and thinking about sweets can activate our brain’s dopamine.
重要的是，随着时间的推移，大脑的奖励机制还可以“学习”，例如，即使没有真正的奖励，但我们联想到环境中潜在奖励的线索也可以增加多巴胺的活动。所以，在糖果店里，只是想着糖果就可以激活我们大脑中的多巴胺。
This expectation and anticipation of rewards is called the “wanting” in neuroscience language. As one of the main symptoms of depression is “anhedonia” – the lack of wanting, interest and pleasure in normally rewarding experiences – dysfunctional dopamine regulation has also been linked to this disorder.
这种对奖励的期待在神经科学语言中被称为“欲求”。抑郁症的主要症状之一是“快感缺失”也就是在通常令人满足的经历中缺乏欲望、兴趣和愉悦感，而多巴胺调节功能失调也与这种疾病有关。
Some treatments for depression, such as the drug bupropion, are designed to increase dopamine levels in the brain.
一些治疗抑郁症的药物，如安非他酮，就是为了增加大脑中的多巴胺浓度。