The specific mechanism by which short-term cold exposure enhances positive affect and alters brain connectivity is not confirmed to be solely due to dopamine.

“This new @ThisAmerLife @NPR by @ittycity will tell you how cold water exposure relates to dopamine circuits & behavior.”

“What I can say is once you become cold water adapted, once it no longer has the same impact of novelty and feeling a bit like a, I don't want to say a shock to your system, 'cause you don't want to go into cold water shock, but once it is comfortable for you, then it will no longer evoke this release.”

“It's probably going to take less cold water exposure, or I should say less time doing cold water exposure early in the day to get a big increase in dopamine than it would later in the day. Because later in the day, your baseline levels of dopamine are lower and you've got more serotonin circulating.”

“There's not a lot of evidence on the topic of cold exposure and CNS dopamine levels, although some evidence suggests cerebral dopamine might increase after prolonged cold exposure in rats (https://t.co/YAttkHtQit).”

“but of course we cannot say this is due to dopamine per se.”

“I'm in agreement that the study we discuss in this clip measured plasma dopamine and therefore, we can't infer that this same effect (or its magnitude) would be observed in the brain, as peripheral dopamine doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier.”

“but of course we cannot say this is due to dopamine per se.”

“There's not a lot of evidence on the topic of cold exposure and CNS dopamine levels”