Creativity isn't something you are just born with.

It's a biological property, and something you can harness to achieve superior creative skills.

Here's how (thread):

One research group has proposed a 3 primary color model of emotions and mood based on our most prevalent neurotransmitters.

Norepinephrine: stress, fear, anger, fight or flight.
Dopamine: Joy, reward
Serotonin: punishment, inhibition, sadness, freezing

The key to understand is the serotonin vs dopamine balance.

Too much serotonin and our brains shut down creative processes, go into conservation mode and stop risk taking.

Dopamine is a cue to approach, explore and create.

Dopamine and serotonin not only functionally oppose each other, but they directly lower the synthesis of the other.

High brain serotonin prevents exploration and promotes playing it safe.

“activation of serotonergic neurons during foraging in mice promote exploitation of a rewarding patch rather than exploration of an alternative action,”

In other words, the opposite of creativity.

BCAAs are one way to lower serotonin.

These amino acids compete with tryptophan (serotonin precursor) for entry into the brain.

Problem is, they also compete with tyrosine, the dopamine precursor.

Adding in extra tyrosine = high dopamine + low serotonin.

Increasing dopamine in general is paramount for promoting creativity.

For instance, giving tyrosine, the precursor of dopamine, promotes deep thinking.

"Food for creativity."

Honing in on the fundamentals of dopamine production is one of the keys to improving creativity.

I've written more about that below.

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There are some other quick dopamine raising tools you can use to your advantage, which I've listed here:

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One important brain system to understand is the default mode network.

This is a series of brain regions that are most active under ordinary conditions, essentially when you're in your routine.

➠ Daydreaming
➠ Not thinking at all
➠ Mundane tasks you do on autopilot

etc. are all as a result of the default mode.

This system is the anti-creativity system.

If you can dampen the default mode network, you can release your true creative brain.

This is why psychedelics classically promote creativity.

Something like magic mushrooms are known to work in large part by profoundly disrupting the default mode network,

even after the trip is over.

But there are other ways of accomplishing this same effect.

Meditation lowers the default mode network, and improves creative performance.

But really, anything that gets you out of your routine will help, as we will see below ⬇️

Listening to music also promotes creativity.

Again, I think this is because this is just another tool to break your brain out of the mundane.

The effect seems to be greater for happy / instrumental music.

Being in nature stimulates creativity.

Nature has multiple tangible effects on stress and other physical metrics.

It also helps mental processes like creativity.

Nicotine also reduces the default mode network.

This is because nicotine acts on the cholinergic system in the brain - known to be responsible for sustained attention.

Some other tools that can support this system:

• Choline
• B1
• B2
• B5
• B9
• B12
• Glycine
• Methionine
• Creatine

There are also other cholinergics like alpha GPC, Alpha GPC, CDP-Choline, ALCAR and more.

Activation of the vagus nerve promotes creativity.

The vagus nerve is the primary parasympathetic nerve, and also uses the cholinergic system to mediate its signaling.

Some ways to activate it would be to practice humming, deep breathing practices, and binaural beats.