Everyone does it: scientists have named a simple daily habit that makes us exhausted
A modern person often complains of feeling tired even despite the lack of physical activity. And scientists have found the reason behind it.
From the moment a person wakes up, their life is full of decisions - from thinking about what to have for breakfast to checking if they have forgotten to charge their phone. And despite the fact that these decisions are quite simple, studies show that they can overload our brains, writes MailOnline. Hence the constant feeling of fatigue that affects our ability to think clearly.
The constant feeling of fatigue affects our ability to think clearly.
Source: freepik.com
Scientists explain that when we decide something, the brain sends an electrical signal between brain regions along wired structures called neurons. But in order to send these messages, it needs a brain chemical called glutamate, a neurotransmitter.
Researchers have found that after a decision is made, this chemical glutamate accumulates. And when it remains in the brain, it clogs it up, and, after solving new problems, the effect becomes worse and worse.
To conduct this study, experts at the Paris Brain Institute in France measured the levels of these chemicals in the brain and their effect on complex tasks.
They focused on a part of the brain called the lateral prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that solves complex problems and makes decisions. The study involved 40 people who performed memory tasks for six hours while lying on an MRI scanner.
One of the tasks involved observing a sequence of numbers appearing on the screen and determining whether the current number was the same as the previous one. The easier task was given to 14 people, and the harder one to 26.
Glutamate, along with eight different brain chemicals, was measured at several points during the cognitive exercises.
The accumulation of substance in the brain is influenced not by the complexity of tasks, but by their number.
Source: freepik.com
However, the scientists found that at the end of the experiment, both groups had the same level of glutamate in the lateral prefrontal cortex compared to the beginning of the experiment. That is, the accumulation of the substance in the brain is influenced not by the complexity of the tasks, but by their number.
Experts from the Paris Brain Institute in France noted that sleep can help restore the balance of glutamate in the brain but emphasized that more research is needed.
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