10 Surprising Facts About How Our Brains Work

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http://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-facts-about-how-our-brains-

work-2013-9

10 Surprising Facts About How Our Brains

Work

Author: Bee Beth !ooper

"ne of the things that surprises me time and time again is how we

think our brains work and how the# actua# do.

"n man# occasions $ %nd m#sef con&inced that there is a certain wa#

to do things' on# to %nd out that actua# that(s the compete wrong

wa# to think about it. )or e*ampe' $ awa#s found it fair#

understandabe that we can mutitask. +e' according to the atest

research studies' it(s itera# impossibe for our brains to hande 2

tasks at the same time.

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,ecent# $ came across more of these fascinating e*periments and

ideas that heped a ton to adust m# workow towards how our brains

actua# work instead of what $ thought.

o here are 10 of the most surprising things our brain does and what

we can earn from it:

1. our brain does creati&e work better when #ou(re tired.

+hen $ e*pored the science of our bod# cocks and how the# a4ect our

dai# routines' $ was interested to %nd that a ot of the wa# $(d panned

m# da#s wasn(t rea# the best wa# to go about it. 5he wa# we work' in

particuar' actua# has a ot to do with the c#ces of our bod# cocks.

6ere(s how it breaks down:

$f #ou(re a morning ark' sa#' #ou( want to fa&or those morning hours

when #ou(re feeing more fresh to get #our most demanding' ana#tic

work done. 7sing #our brain to so&e probems' answer 8uestions and

make decisions is best done when #ou(re at #our peak

)or night ows' this is ob&ious# a much ater period in the da#.

"n the other hand' if #ou(re tr#ing to do creati&e work' #ou( actua#

ha&e more uck when #ou(re more tired and #our brain isn(t functioning

as ecient#. 5his sounds cra#' but it actua# makes sense when #ou

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changes in brain function. $ was surprised to %nd this out when $ ooked

into how stress a4ects our brains.

$ aso found some research that showed signs of brain sie decreasing

due to stress.

"ne stud# used bab# monke#s to test the e4ects of stress on

de&eopment and ong-term menta heath. 6af the monke#s were

cared for b# their peers for = months whie the other haf remained

with their mothers. Afterwards' the monke#s were returned to t#pica

socia groups for se&era months before the researchers scanned their

brains.

For the monkeys who had been removed from their mothers

and cared for by their peers areas of their brains re!ated to

stress were sti!! en!arged even after being in norma! socia!conditions for severa! months"

Athough more studies are needed to e*pore this fu#' it(s prett# scar#

to think that proonged stress coud a4ect our brains ong-term.

Anotherstudy found that in rats who were e#posed to chronic

stress the hippocampuses in their brains actua!!y shrank" $he

hippocampus is integra! to forming memories" %t has been

debated before whether &ost $raumatic Stress 'isorder (&$S')

can actua!!y shrink the hippocampus or peop!e with natura!!y

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sma!!er hippocampuses are *ust more prone to &$S'" $his

study cou!d point to the stress being a factor in actua!!y

changing the brain"

3.

$t is itera# impossibe for our brains to muti-task.

>uti-tasking is something we(&e ong been encouraged to practice'

but it turns out it(s actua# impossibe. +hen we think we(re muti-

tasking' we(re actua# conte*t-switching. 5hat is' we(re 8uick#

switching back-and-forth between di4erent tasks' rather than doing

them at the same time.

5he book Brain ,ues e*pains how detrimenta ;muti-tasking< can be:

,esearch shows #our error rate goes up ?0 percent and it takes #ou

twice as ong to do things.

5he probem with muti-tasking is that we(re spitting our brain(s

resources. +e(re gi&ing ess attention to each task' and probab#

performing worse on a of them:

When the brain tries to do two things at once it divides and

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con+uers dedicating one,ha!f of our gray matter to each task"

6ere is how this ooks ike in reait#. +hist we tr# to do both Action A

and Action B at the same time' our brain is ne&er handing both

simutaneous#. $nstead' it has to painfu# switch back and forth and

use important brainpower ust for the switching:

+hen our brains hande a singe task' the prefronta corte* pa#s a big

part. 6ere(s how it heps us achie&e a goa or compete a task:

5he anterior part of this brain region forms the goa or intention@for

e*ampe' ;$ want that cookie

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. aps impro&e #our brain(s da# to da# performance.

+e(re prett# cear on how important seep is for our brains' but what

about napsC $t turns out' these short bursts of seep are actua# rea#

usefu.

6ere are a coupe of wa#s napping can bene%t the brain:

$mpro&ed memor#

$n one stud#' participants memoried iustrated cards to test their

memor# strength. After memoriing a set of cards' the# had a 0-

minute break wherein one group napped' and the other sta#ed awake.

After the break both groups were tested on their memor# of the cards'

and the group who had napped performed better:

>uch to the surprise of the researchers' the seep group performed

signi%cant# better' retaining on a&erage D? percent of the patterns'

compared to =0 percent for those who had remained awake.

Apparent!y napping actua!!y he!ps our brain to so!idify

memories:

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,esearch indicates that whena memor# is %rst recorded in the brain@

in the hippocampus' to be speci%c@it(s sti ;fragie< and easi#

forgotten' especia# if the brain is asked to memorie more things.

apping' it seems' pushes memories to the neocorte*' the brain(s

;more permanent storage'< pre&enting them from being ;o&erwritten.e !enter' making #ou fee scared

and under attack.

+hen we meditate' we weaken this neura connection. 5his means that

we don(t react as strong# to sensations that might ha&e once it up our

>e !enters. As we weaken this connection' we simutaneous#

strengthen the connection between what(s known as our Assessment!enter the part of our brains known for reasoning and our bodi#

sensation and fear centers. o when we e*perience scar# or upsetting

sensations' we can more easi# ook at them rationa#. 6ere(s a good

e*ampe:

)or e*ampe' when #ou e*perience pain' rather than becoming an*ious

and assuming it means something is wrong with #ou' #ou can watch

the pain rise and fa without becoming ensnared in a stor# about what

it might mean.

>ore creati&it#

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,esearchers at Eeiden 7ni&ersit# in the etherands studied both

focused-attention and open-monitoring mediation to see if there was

an# impro&ement in creati&it# afterwards. 5he# found that peope who

practiced focused-attention meditation did not show an# ob&ious signs

of impro&ement in the creati&it# task foowing their meditation. )or

those who did open-monitoring meditation' howe&er' the# performed

better on a task that asked them to come up with new ideas.

Better memor#

"ne of the things meditation has been inked to is impro&ing rapid

memor# reca. !atherine Merr' a researcher at the >artinos !enter for

Biomedica $maging and the "sher ,esearch !enter found that peope

who practiced mindfu meditation were abe to adust the brain wa&e

that screens out distractions and increase their producti&it# more

8uick# that those that did not meditate. he said that this abiit# to

ignore distractions coud e*pain ;their superior abiit# to rapid#remember and incorporate new facts.< 5his seems to be &er# simiar to

the power of being e*posed to new situations that wi aso

dramatica# impro&e our memor# of things.

>editation has aso been inked to increasing compassion' decreasing

stress' impro&ing memor# skis and e&en increasing the amount of

gra# matter in the brain.

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9. L*ercise can reorganie the brain and boost #our wipower.

ure' e*ercise is good for #our bod#' but what about #our brainC +e

apparent# there(s a ink between e*ercise and menta aertness.

A ifetime of e*ercise can resut in a sometimes astonishing ee&ation in

cogniti&e performance' compared with those who are sedentar#.

L*ercisers outperform couch potatoes in tests that measure ong-term

memor#' reasoning' attention' probem-so&ing' e&en so-caed uid-

inteigence tasks.

"f course' e*ercise can aso make us happier' as we(&e e*pored

before:

$f #ou start e*ercising' #our brain recognies this as a moment of

stress. As #our heart pressure increases' the brain thinks #ou are either

%ghting the enem# or eeing from it. 5o protect #oursef and #our brain

from stress' #ou reease a protein caed BG) Brain-Geri&edeurotrophic )actor. 5his BG) has a protecti&e and aso reparati&e

eement to #our memor# neurons and acts as a reset switch. 5hat(s

wh# we often fee so at ease and things are cear after e*ercising and

e&entua# happ#.

At the same time' endorphins' another chemica to %ght stress' are

reeased in #our brain. 5he main purpose of endorphis is this' writes

researcher >cNo&ern:

$hese endorphins tend to minimie the discomfort of e#ercise

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b!ock the fee!ing of pain and are even associated with a fee!ing

of euphoria"

10.2ou can make your brain think time is going s!ow!y by doing

new things.

L&er wished #ou didn(t %nd #oursef sa#ing ;+here does the time goake ou 6appier' Backed B# cience.

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5his post origina# appeared at Bu4er. !op#right 2013.

,ead more: http://bog.bu4erapp.com/10-surprising-facts-about-how-

our-brain-worksC

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