55. The DOSE Effect: One Small Habit to Boost Mood and Motivation

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In this episode of The Nurses' Break Room, host Jenny Lytle, RN explores The DOSE Effect by neuroscientist TJ Power — a powerful framework for improving mental health, energy, and motivation through brain chemistry. Learn how dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins (DOSE) impact your mood — and the simple, science-backed habits that boost each one.

Jenny shares her personal takeaways, including:

• Why you shouldn’t try to overhaul everything at once
• The cold shower habit that supercharges motivation
• How celebrating tiny achievements rewires your brain
• What nature walks (without your phone!) can do for stress
• The endorphin-boosting ritual you can start today

🎯 Whether you're overwhelmed, burned out, or just looking for a more sustainable way to feel better — this episode will give you one small shift you can make today.

Takeaways / Action Steps: Pick one thing to focus on in each DOSE area - things like:

• Try ending your morning shower with 30 seconds of cold water
• Celebrate a win — even if it’s small — to train your brain for motivation
• Take a walk in nature without distractions
• Add a simple stretching routine to your day to ease tension and elevate mood

If you're feeling overwhelmed, burned out, or like there’s never enough time, I’ve got something just for you! Head to https://selfcareisntselfish.com to grab your FREE copy of my book, Self-Care Isn’t Selfish: The Compassionate Nurse’s Step-by-Step Guide to Personalized Stress Relief. It’s packed with simple, effective strategies to help you prioritize your needs—without guilt—so you can feel energized, focused, and ready to take on the day. Go to https://selfcareisntselfish.com 

Looking for connection with people who get the stress and self-care struggles of nurses and caregivers? Check out https://thenursesbreakroom.com

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennylytlern/

More ways to connect here: https://linktr.ee/jennylytle

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Nurses' Break Room with JennyLytle RN.
Today we're going to dosomething a little bit different
and I'm going to share some ofthe things that have really
stood out to me from a book thatI'm reading, and this book is
called the DOSE Effect by TJPower, and he is a
neuroscientist, and right now Ihave been listening to the audio

(00:24):
and I've got the a copy of thephysical book here in front of
me that I got from the libraryand I think I'm probably going
to end up buying the physicalbook because I just like to be
able to mark things up and andit's something that I'm sure
that I'm going to refer back toover and over again On the front

(00:45):
cover, the point of it isoptimize your brain and body by
boosting your dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins.
That's where dose comes from.
I really like the way that hebreaks things down, but there's
also studies that back all ofthat up on the website where you
can dig into things further,and I haven't done a ton of that

(01:07):
yet, but I've just taken a peekat it.
But each area when he talksabout the particular thing, the
first one is dopamine.
So TJ goes into these fivedifferent actions that you can
take that will boost yourdopamine, but then encourages
you to just choose one of thoseactions to be your primary one,

(01:29):
because if you're somebody likeme, you probably want to do all
of the things, think you knowwhat I'm going to do all of that
and there's ways to incorporatebits of each one.
But starting with one as yourprimary focus is a better way to
really cement that in, asopposed to you think you're
going to do them all.
Then it feels too overwhelmingand you end up just going back

(01:49):
to where you were.
So for dopamine, the primaryactions are flow, state
discipline, phone fasting, coldwater and my pursuit.
I know those may not make a lotof sense just in and of
themselves, but I just wanted togive you that quick overview.
The one that I am reallyfocusing on and loving is cold
water and it's turning yourshower to cold each morning as a

(02:14):
way to bump up your dopaminesupercharge, your motivation and
really it.
At first, especially for someof you, you may think there is
no way I can do that, but youdon't do it all at once.
You don't just jump into a coldshower.
It's at the end of your shower.
You turn it on for 30 to 60seconds.
So my last step is rinsing theconditioner out of my hair and

(02:36):
rinsing my body, and so I'malready under the warm shower.
And then, when I'm justactually now today, I did almost
my entire rinse in cold water,but I just reach over and I turn
it down to pretty darn cold.
So starting with it on the topof your head is the best way to

(03:00):
do it, just like we were taughtto jump in when you're getting
in the pool.
There is science that backsthat up.
So letting that cold water runon your head yes, it's going to
be a little jarring at first,but then you'll be amazed that
it feels good, like in a stretchyourself kind of way.
And if you shiver, that's okay.
That actually is not a badthing either, but it really

(03:21):
helps to perk you up, and I findthat those effects last
throughout the day as well.
So that's the one that I'mfocusing on.
From the dopamine section A.
Part two is about oxytocin.
That's the O in dose and theprimary oxytocin actions are
contribution, touch, social life, gratitude and achievements,

(03:43):
and contribution.
I feel like that's one that Ialready do a fair amount of, and
that's ensuring that others areat the forefront of your mind,
and that's something thathonestly comes naturally to me.
So I wanted to do somethingthat was a little more of a
stretch.
So, for oxytocin, I'm going tofocus on achievements, which is
committing to celebrate myselffor the effort and progress that

(04:05):
I'm making in my life.
I have a tendency to celebrateothers, and I'll take a moment
to celebrate myself, but I canoften focus on all of the things
that I didn't get done, and sothat is why I feel like focusing
on that one would be a greatidea.
The Next one is serotonin, andso the primary serotonin actions

(04:30):
are nature, sunlight, guthealth, under thinking and deep
sleep.
I'm doing bits of all of thesealready, but the one that I
really want to focus on first isnature, and although I get into
nature, part of this isconnecting with nature, with the

(04:56):
outside world, headphone free,so without distractions, and I
do that some, but I also use mynature time or my time in walks
to get caught up on things, tolisten to things, to brainstorm,
and a lot of that involves myphone and talking to it, and so

(05:17):
this is going to be a bit of astretch for me, but I do believe
that there are some really goodbenefits from that.
So that is something that Iwant to work on and, last but
not least, endorphins work onand, last but not least,
endorphins.
The primary actions for thisone are exercise, heat, music,
laughter and stretching.

(05:38):
I've been bumping up myexercise a little and I've also
been trying to increase my musictime, because I know that it
does really improve my mood.
But I often listen to audiobooks or podcasts or things like
that when I'm driving, and soI'm trying to spend a little bit
more time with music.
But for this one, I really wantto focus on stretching, because

(06:01):
I know that I sit a fair amountand, especially driving things
like that, I get stiff and I'mnot getting any younger, and so
being able to be a little moreflexible, stretching more often
and really being intentionalabout that is the way that I
want to go with this one.
This is a book that has beenreally great so far, and I read

(06:25):
part of it and then I listenedto the rest of it.
I got it on Audible and I'mreally enjoying it, and it's
definitely something that I wantto go back into and learn more
about and dig deeper.
But I just did a high leveloverview when I was listening to
it.
One of the really high leveltakeaways that you can use going
forward is whether or not youread the book, and I do

(06:48):
encourage you to read the book.
It's great, but I probably willbe going into it a little bit
more because I think there is somuch in there to unpack.
But when you're looking at doingsomething different in your
life, it's so important to lookat what you're already doing and
maybe expand on that a littleor choose something to add into

(07:13):
that completely different that'sgoing to benefit you in a
different way, and don't try todo a big overhaul all at once,
but add in things and thenslowly build on that and as you
do, you'll find that it's notnearly as overwhelming.
It doesn't take as much time orenergy as you feel like it's

(07:34):
going to, because you're nottrying to completely revamp your
life all at once.
I would love to hear from youif you've read this book or if
any of the things that I talkedabout today stood out to you.
I would love to know, like,what you're thinking and if
you've tried any of these thingsor what you will try, and maybe
it's something that just madeyou think of something
completely different and youthought you know what I want to

(07:57):
do this particular thing.
I'd love for you to share thatwith me, and you can reach out
to me on social media.
I'm Jenny Lytle or Jenny LytleRN, and feel free to shoot me a
message.
You can email me at Jenny Lytleat Jenny Lytlecom, or, if
you're on Buzzsprout, there's anarea where you can just reply

(08:19):
to the podcast.
Either way, I'd love to hearfrom you and be sure to check
out my free resources on mywebsite at Jenny Lytlecom.
Thanks so much.
Have a wonderful week andremember self-care isn't selfish
.
It's essential if we want tocontinue to care for others and
live our best lives.