So how does our lack of dopamine effect our daily functioning? Well, in every possible way.

Meet what I like to call your “executive functioning machine”—otherwise known as the executive system (ES).

Our brains are insanely complex, as we all know. And the ES, housed in the prefrontal cortex, is the machine that keeps us motivated and able to do the things in life we need to do to survive. The fuel that keeps the machine running, and the oil that makes it run smoothly is…you guessed it, dopamine (some other chemicals are involved too, like norepinephrine, but dopamine is the biggie).

To sum up so it’s really, really clear: the ES—your executive functioning machine—along with the prefrontal cortex, where it lives and does its work, is basically the motherboard of our brains and our entire lives and everything that happens in it. No big deal!

Late-diagnosed ADHD and dopamine: you can’t talk about ADHD without talking about dopamine. Dopamine is the reason why basic tasks seem so hard, and no matter how much you want to do something like do your taxes, you just can’t do it. Read more in this post about dopamine and late-diagnosis ADHD.