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Video game's main focus of affect on the brain deals heavily with dopamine, the neurotransmitter that helps you feel excited.

The addiction normally occurs in those that seek out the happiness brought with video games that are unable to be replicated in reality. The dopamine rush is felt when playing, and it's unable to be felt when doing other things. Video games are a great source to acquire the large amount of dopamine that can be produced.

Contentment through serotonin can be given with gaming, but that dopamine rush is the main thing sought after.

Video game addiction has a negative effect on the body, though. The grey matter of the brain which helps with the processing of the brain gets faulty, making it harder to control emotions, remembering things, and types of movement and body functionality.

More physical effects can be seen as well. Gaming is a technology based culture, and this activity is hardly ever done face to face or any sense of sight between multiple people. Therefore, when this activity is done for long periods of time, self care with grooming, bathing, etc. is not done.

When gaming is taken away, without the wanted dopamine rush being given those with an addiction are prone to anger and even depression.

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Going to therapy is a great way to treat the addiction that is gaming, as this will better help identify why it is that you resorted to video gaming as the primary source for excitement and happiness, what dopamine brings.

It can help you discover new interests and hobbies that might bring the same level of excitement and form better and new personal relationships that are closer than what is made with the screen.

Therapy also is a good source for emotion management that will arise as you work yourself away from the addiction, and the depression that comes from the withdrawal of a familiar source of high dopamine.

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When caffeine is consumed into the body, it begins to interact and act as an antagonist to the neurotransmitter called adenosine.

Adenosine is a neurotransmitter that compares more to serotonin rather than dopamine, as it acts more as a calming agent but it works mainly with the body to try and work the body into a sleep. Adenosine is essential to the feeling of tiredness and tells you that you need to rest and sleep. (Without adenosine, you'll feel an increase in heart beats as well)

Caffeine works its way through and blocks the adenosine as it travels along and between neurons so that it can't reach the brain and tell you to rest.

When you enjoy drinking caffeine and get the dopamine out of that, it builds up and travels through rather than the needed adenosine that wants you to rest. You feel excited rather than down, energetic rather than tired.

The addiction comes from the constant consumption of this substance as your body begins to believe it needs caffeine to feel energetic and to block the tiredness you don't like. Without caffeine, you don't have the energetic boost you believe you need to get through the day.

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Sugar is mainly affecting the neurotransmitter serotonin. Sugar can really increase the amount of serotonin produced to bring you the feeling of calmness and contentment.

Sugar is consumed quite often, whether it be from certain foods, specific diets where those foods are eaten, treats, snacks, desserts. Much enjoyment can come out of sugary substances, but it doesn't act long on the increased serotonin production and withers away its effect rather quickly.

The short time of effect will want to be replicated to get that nice feeling of calmness, which is what leads to the addiction. A short window will make you want a longer window which means more sugar consumed.

Sugar cravings are the highest during the winter months when serotonin levels are most low.

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Change up diets that contain lots of sugar to other things like protein rich moods, or things like grains. Anything that helps manage blood sugar levels that would naturally change the value of an increased sugar intake so that the craving would decrease as your body begins getting the needed serotonin from other more natural sources.

Similar to what is mentioned in video games, that can be applied to any addiction, putting any negative energy and thoughts that come out of battling addiction into other things like built hobbies to replace the time spent interacting with the addictive substances can be beneficial in getting the mind away to a new and better place.

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Sleeping is a fantastic thing that you need to do, and sleeping more results in more of the energy that caffeine is felt to bring you. Adenosine tells you to sleep, so when you do so, it goes away. Finding more time in the day to nap or a longer sleep at night will result in less need for the caffeine.

At times you drink caffeine, try replacing it with water to try and mimic the process of naturally drinking that you do with caffeinated substances.

To start the process of relying less on caffeine, start switching out substances with that which has a smaller amount of caffeine in it, and get smaller and smaller until the small amounts act less and less on the body.

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Like all addictions, these three influence your dopamine levels to give the feeling of excitement and joy, but different neurotransmitters are usually specifically associated with the substances individually. Addictions take over your brain and become the main source of production for these substances, or maybe works to block them to get the feeling desired. Life can be focused on these substances and take over like video game addictions which leads to negative physical sights. All affect the brain negatively, but sometimes it can be hard to spot physical changes.

All of these do present physical changes, though. Video game addictions can have signs of a lack of self care, either it be for basic grooming and bathing. Caffeine addictions are presented in certain signs like what looks to be an obvious lack of sleep, shaking, and sometimes dizziness. Sugar is kind of similar to caffeine with its signs.

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The way they interact with the brain through different neurotransmitters is the big difference between these substances. All increase dopamine, but video game addictions have a clear focus on increasing this neurotransmitter's power and size to feel the joy usually lacking in the victim's real life.

Caffeine interacts mainly with adenosine, but instead of increasing it like games do with dopamine, caffeine tries to block adenosine to keep the feeling of tiredness away.

Sugar increases serotonin like games increase dopamine, but works to increase calmness instead of a clear excitement.

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