Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body

by Michael Matthews

This is especially problematic in today’s modern world, which in many ways is literally engineered to keep us always wanting more. Food companies know how much salt, sugar, and fat to include in recipes to hook us, and they know that a never-ending variety of new flavors and options prevents us from becoming “desensitized” to their brands of reward. Video game makers carefully craft experiences that can elevate dopamine to amphetamine-like levels, which explains a lot of the obsessive-compulsive behavior seen in gaming.11 Online shopping, constant sexual stimulation in all forms of media, Facebook, and even the aromas pumped into stores, hotels, restaurants, fast food joints, and ice cream parlors all scream “Here’s a reward!” to your brain, which wallows in all the dopamine like a pig in—well, you know—and we feel like we have to scratch all of these itches, sooner rather than later.