Here’s the thing, it is a little tricky. In general, there are some activities and substances that create massive spikes of dopamine in most people. For example, meth. It is generally assumed to produce the highest dopamine response, to the tune of creating a 1000% increase over baseline. That’s a lot of dopamine. Most activities and substances don’t even come close to this. However, when was the last time you did meth? Right, probably not recently. I bet, however, you’ve checked your phone several times within the last hour alone. I also suspect you respond regularly to email throughout your workday. You might even crack open a cold beer after a long day of work or pour yourself a nice glass of red wine. I’m not interested in labeling behaviors as good or bad, but I would love to gently invite you to evaluate, for yourself, your exposure. To see if this level of exposure is both nourishing and sustainable. Keep reading to get a broad overview of what tends to create big spikes and what does not.