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8/11/2019 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.
http://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-facts-about-how-our-brains-work-2013-9http://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-facts-about-how-our-brains-work-2013-9http://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-facts-about-how-our-brains-work-2013-9http://www.businessinsider.com/surprising-facts-about-how-our-brains-work-2013-98/11/2019 10 Surprising Facts About How Our Brains Work
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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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