How Thinking Hard Makes the Brain Tired (economist.com) 47
An anonymous reader shares a report: Physical labour is exhausting. A long run or a hard day's sweat depletes the body's energy stores, resulting in a sense of fatigue. Mental labour can also be exhausting. Even resisting that last glistening chocolate-chip cookie after a long day at a consuming desk job is difficult. Cognitive control, the umbrella term encompassing mental exertion, self-control and willpower, also fades with effort. But unlike the mechanism of physical fatigue, the cause of cognitive fatigue has been poorly understood. Previous accounts were incomplete. One of the most widely known, the biological one, draws from what is known about muscular fatigue. It posits that exerting cognitive control uses up energy in the form of glucose. At the end of a day spent intensely cogitating, the brain is metaphorically running on fumes. The problem with this version of events is that the energy cost associated with thinking is minimal. One analysis of previous studies suggests that cognitively overworked and "depleted" brains use less than one-tenth of a Tic-Tac's worth of additional glucose.
If cognitive fatigue is not caused by a lack of energy, then what explains it? A team of scientists led by Antonius Wiehler of Pitie-Salpetriere University Hospital, in Paris, looked at things from what is termed a neurometabolic point of view. They hypothesise that cognitive fatigue results from an accumulation of a certain chemical in the region of the brain underpinning control. That substance, glutamate, is an excitatory neurotransmitter that abounds in the central nervous systems of mammals and plays a role in a multitude of activities, such as learning, memory and the sleep-wake cycle. In other words, cognitive work results in chemical changes in the brain, which present behaviourally as fatigue. This, therefore, is a signal to stop working in order to restore balance to the brain. In their new paper in Current Biology, the researchers describe an experiment they undertook to explain how all this happens.
If cognitive fatigue is not caused by a lack of energy, then what explains it? A team of scientists led by Antonius Wiehler of Pitie-Salpetriere University Hospital, in Paris, looked at things from what is termed a neurometabolic point of view. They hypothesise that cognitive fatigue results from an accumulation of a certain chemical in the region of the brain underpinning control. That substance, glutamate, is an excitatory neurotransmitter that abounds in the central nervous systems of mammals and plays a role in a multitude of activities, such as learning, memory and the sleep-wake cycle. In other words, cognitive work results in chemical changes in the brain, which present behaviourally as fatigue. This, therefore, is a signal to stop working in order to restore balance to the brain. In their new paper in Current Biology, the researchers describe an experiment they undertook to explain how all this happens.
The bottom line (Score:3)
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That certainly explains many things which are going on in this country.
Re:The bottom line (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually the problem is that a lot of people think too hard. The amount of mental strain needed to prove that you are absolutely right, despite solid facts showing that you are wrong, is actually very intense.
For some reason we like to punish politicians who admit that they were wrong, (calling them flip floppers, wishy washy... ) While being able to see your error and correct it, is actually a sign of growth and getting better. So people in a position of power are in a place now where they are constantly making sure they are right with extreme mental gymnastics, despite the strain on them, and the fact they will lead us further into trouble.
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they are constantly making sure they are right with extreme mental gymnastics, despite the strain on them
This is a result of not thinking in the first place. This mindset is caused by accepting facts about the world from trusted authority figures without question rather than critically thinking things through. By accepting the “truth” on faith they believe they are in a superior position of being correct by being adjacent to the power of the trusted sources and are better than the others. Critical thinking is the original sin of this belief system, and a lifetime of suppressing what little image
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Playing devil's advocate here, I think some of this is from people who want their politicians to stick to "ideals" and decisions. That is, if they say "no new taxes" then the assumption this is a statement of a position, the politician has drawn a line in the sand, and it is not just a starting negotiating position or a rough guideline. If that particular statement was indeed a statement of high ideal, then it feels like a betrayal when it doesn't hold up to reality.
A bigger problem is when such statement
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Fumes not Shrooms (Score:2)
The amount of mental strain needed to prove that you are absolutely right, despite solid facts showing that you are wrong, is actually very intense.
Perhaps, but if you are doing this then, at the end of the day, you'll find your brain is running on shrooms not fumes.
Flip-flopping isn't admitting you're wrong (Score:2)
I don't think anyone ever complains when a politician just says they were wrong about an issue and here's why. It's when they try to play both sides.
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I don't think anyone ever complains when a politician just says they were wrong about an issue and here's why.
There are these creatures who find a mere idea of progress and change repulsive to their very existence.
They're called 'Conservatives'.
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The politicians themselves don't dream up most their excuses, they have a team of spinners to help them. When they get burnt out, they toss them for another set.
Fuck You Web! (Score:2, Offtopic)
Yes, get away from fucking web programming or your brain will rot and your hair fall out. Modern web stacks are Rube Goldberg machines full of layers of dependencies, bugs, and fadshit. Web standards are ill-suited for ordinary office CRUD, making us have to micromanage details that a CRUD-friendly standard would mostly hide away. Scaffolding (code generation) automates bloat generation instead of remove it. KISS, YAGNI, and DRY are bloody murdered. I should have gone into Delphi/Lazarus so I can focus on d
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Yes, get away from fucking web programming or your brain will rot and your hair fall out. Modern web stacks are Rube Goldberg machines full of layers of dependencies, bugs, and fadshit. Web standards are ill-suited for ordinary office CRUD, making us have to micromanage details that a CRUD-friendly standard would mostly hide away. Scaffolding (code generation) automates bloat generation instead of remove it. KISS, YAGNI, and DRY are bloody murdered. I should have gone into Delphi/Lazarus so I can focus on domain issues and actual user concerns.
From the operations side I can tell you for certain, webitus has has already infected much of the IT bloodstream. It's everywhere now, no longer confined to "web developers". Listening to an excited devops engineer (aka formerly bored middleware developer) explain what containers are almost brings tears to my eyes. We see namespace virtualization, layered filesystem composition, an abomination of NATs and IP tunnels, and wtf you want to solve Linux's problems with application, runtime, dependencies deplo
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So the solution is to never think hard in the first place. Problem solved.
Certainly explains why those Jan 6th insurrectionists had, and MAGA followers have, so much energy... ;-)
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So the solution is to never think hard in the first place. Problem solved.
I think you've just solved why the Batgirl movie was shelved.
Ow, my brain (Score:1)
Just realized I shouldn't have thought about that. Now my head hurts.
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The funny thing is that with so much hype surrounding that movie being cancelled, It would probably be a hit now from everyone wanting to see what kind of shit show it is.
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The funny thing is that with so much hype surrounding that movie being cancelled, It would probably be a hit now from everyone wanting to see what kind of shit show it is.
If it’s so bad it’s good that’s their own fault for crappy integer overflow handling.
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Re: The bottom line (Score:1)
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Thank you, Captain Obvious (Score:1)
The relationship between mental activity and cognitive exhaustion has been known for decades and has been a subject to countless studies. So what's actuallly new in this post/article?
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I'm not sure if the biochemical aspects of it were explored this way. So this might be new?
Though I have to admit that I haven't followed this kind of research in any notable capacity. I'm confident that there are people around here who will know more on the matter.
Must resist . . . (Score:2)
A chemical slowdown (Score:3)
Since our brain is nothing but chemical reactions taking place, this would make sense. Like any chemical reaction, there are only so many times the reaction can take place before the process slows down or even stops. If the build up of glutamate slows the chemical process(es), you would feel "tired" because the processes aren't working as efficiently as they once did.
Glistening chocolate-chip cookies (Score:3)
If your chocolate chip cookies are actually glistening, you might want to avoid them for that reason alone. I prefer my chocolate chip cookies to not be laced with substances that might cause gastrointestinal distress and result in destroying the bathroom multiple times. But you do you.
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Coookieeee!!!! OM NOM NOM NOM
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If your chocolate chip cookies are actually glistening, you might want to avoid them for that reason alone. I prefer my chocolate chip cookies to not be laced with substances that might cause gastrointestinal distress and result in destroying the bathroom multiple times. But you do you.
I think hot melted chocolate glistens normally, but I'm not a food rocket engineer scientist.
Mental Fatigue? (Score:1)
no shits left to give
Clutter... (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd also like to add that CLUTTER is giving the mind too much to think about, and it's really contraproductive.
Recently I've de-cluttered my entire house down to such minimalism that I only focus on things that I do every day or at least bi-weekly, everything I don't use for years is just gone now.
And you know what? Something magical is happening, I'm starting to become more productive again. After a long burn-out as an IT supporter, coming home to a hoarders nerd paradise of a bazillion collectors items that would make any nerd drool with envy is not as cool as it sounds, it actually made me question my entire existence.
Turns out that these researchers and scientists are onto something, we do need to take a break from all these impressions around ourselves. It's kind of like when a coder goes on a vacation to focus on his code only and comes back with amazing results, it's because he shut down social media, television, youtube, whateverapp and focused only on a few things, this gives the mind freedom and a break from overthinking too much and all these impressions around us.
From that we could possibly gather that the extreme onslaught of social media is literally killing our creativity and our willingness to go the distance - with just about anything.
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> Recently I've de-cluttered my entire house down to such minimalism...coming home to a hoarders nerd paradise of a bazillion collectors items that would make any nerd drool with envy is not as cool as it sounds, it actually made me question my entire existence.
Well, you could talk it out with your Yoda collectable, but now you tossed it.
Did you really toss all those? Ouuuch. I think I'd rather get kicked in the nuts. (Thanks to clutter, I don't get to use them much anyhow.)
I don't know whether to admire
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> Well, you could talk it out with your Yoda collectable, but now you tossed it. Did you really toss all those? Ouuuch.
In all fairness I gave most to charity, I'd rather someone else get to enjoy those instead of the stress of selling so much, it would take literally forever.
And as for the Yoda, Print another one I can.
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>I'd also like to add that CLUTTER is giving the mind too much to think about, and it's really contraproductive.
Yep. Having downsized houses I'm now living in a sea of clutter. The office is first in line for the room-by-room decluttering. It's remarkable how many boxes of ethernet cords you can have when you put them all in the same place.
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Don't neglect sleep & underestimate burnout (Score:4, Interesting)
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Totally my case. (Score:2)
During work on my graduate thesis (alongside with another student - we were working on it jointly) if we had a part that required uninterrupted, undivided focus, "in the zone", progressing by strides - after about two hours I literally would feel the moment "my brain ran out of fuel" - minute to minute my cognitive ability dropping by strides, progress grinding to a halt. Half an hour of a break, an energy drink and a sweet pastry, and I was back to full capacity.
Now I understand (Score:2)
Pizza (Score:2)
Pizza must totally clean out the glutimate, because my brain runs 1000% better on pizza.
Harvey Korman in Blazing Saddles, thinking hard (Score:2)
"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought, cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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It gets worse (Score:2)
Brain strain leads to increasing errors and mistakes and in really bad cases leads to someone going batshit crazy where the police have to be called because the person's work chums are beginning to fear for their lives.
We are not robots, period. And our brains are no more evolved than those who tilled the fields all day and clanged swords together for their King's pleasure.
Link to original paper (Score:4, Informative)
Creatine (Score:2)
While I cannot comment on the article - this being slashdot, I barely even skimmed the summary - I would highly recommend creatine supplementation. Not only is it useful for lifting heavy things, but it has also been shown to have cognitive benefits.
5g a day for the rest of your life. Thank me later.
Chinese food (Score:1)