It makes sense to fish: the brain accumulates toxins as soon as they think, and they must rest to clear them | Cell Sub-Journal

The latest research finds that this is not your fault alone, but has a general physiological basis:

When you think, a toxin is created in your brain, too much accumulation can destroy brain function, and exhaustion is the signal to stop

To stop, to maintain the integrity of brain function

That is to say, fishing has a theoretical basis since then

The research was completed by a group of French scientists from the Paris Brain Institute, Sorbonne University, etc.

Their original intention of doing this research was to find out one thing—

Why can computers work continuously, but the human brain can't?

In previous studies, the team had suspected that this was related to the need to recycle harmful substances produced by neural activity

But the magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) method they used before, failed to find the problem

This time, magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was used, and the identity of the harmful substance was finally located - glutamate

Glutamate is a type of amino acid, but if it accumulates too much in the synapses of the brain's prefrontal cortex, it will affect neural activity

For example, even top professional chess players start to make mistakes after 4-5 hours of consecutive games, not if they are well rested in between

In the experiment, volunteers needed to complete a series of tasks for 6.

The task is relatively boring.

The volunteers were divided into two groups, one with very difficult tasks and the other with relatively easy tasks

At the end of the day, the group with the difficult task had higher levels of glutamate in the prefrontal cortex

When choosing compensation, they tend to get less money now rather than more a week or a month later

It was also observed that the group with the difficult task had less pupil dilation when choosing a reward

Pupil dilation, which has previously been shown to be an important indicator of the brain's "cognitive control", can be understood as suppressing impulses
.

The prefrontal cortex is the birthplace of "cognitive control"
.

The team speculates that it's a day's worth of hard work that causes glutamate to build up, making it harder for neurons in the prefrontal cortex to fire
.

This makes people unable to resist the urge to choose short-term returns and give up striving for more valuable long-term returns
.

In daily life, it may be manifested as more fond of snacks and more fond of brushing mobile phones, which can be happy without effort, instead of continuing to think hard
.

In other words, there is a limit to a person's ability to think for a period of time
.

So, how to clear the accumulated glutamate in the brain?

The method is also very simple, rest and sleep
.

Mathias Pessiglione, the corresponding author of the paper, said:

There is good evidence that glutamate at synapses is eliminated during sleep
.

Originally, according to convention, the author team of the paper and the next research direction were also introduced
.

However, after reading the 25-page paper, this baby has accumulated too much glutamate in the prefrontal cortex, and he has to take a break
.

The address of the paper is provided, and if you still have spare time, you can go and see it yourself~

Paper address:
link:
[1]
[2] Finish-

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