When to Choose

There seems to be a difference in terms of brain energy expenditures between comtemplating options and actually makes choices. In one study by Yale University Professor Nathan Novemsky and his colleagues, participants who were asked to rate the attractiveness of different options were much less depleted of brain energy than were participants who were asked to actually make choices between the very same options.  It requires more brain executive resources to switch from a state of deliberating to a state of implementation. It takes more energy to transition from thinking about options to actually following through on a decision. Since making choices appears to deplete the brain's executive resources, subsequent decisions may be affected adversely if you are forced to choose with a fatigued brain. Try limiting choices to two at a time (your brain only has two cerebral hemispheres) and make your decision at a time when your brain is less likely to be fatigued. For example, if you decide first thing in the morning to stop by the gym and exercise right after work, you may be much more likely to follow through than if you try to make that decision at the end of a busy work day.

Brain Energy Does What?

It's a given that the brain uses more energy than any other human organ but what does it use that energy to do? A study at the University of Minnesota Medical School has identified where the bulk of that energy goes. Wei Chen, radiologist and co-author of an article entitled "Why Does the Brain need So Much Power?" used MRS (Magnetic resonance spectroscopy) to track the rate of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production in rat brains, which is the primarily source of cellular energy. The study found that two thirds of the brain's energy budget is used to help neurons "fire" or send signals. The remaining third is used for brain "housekeeping" activities or cell-health maintenance. The team also used MRS to study energy demands of a cat's brain. Next up? Humans, which Chen says they hope to study very soon..

Brain "Muscle"

For years the brain has been compared to muscles (although it is not composed of muscle tissue). Muscles, when overexercised, become depleted. In that sense the brain is like a muscle. When depeleted, the brain becomes less effective. It can be important to understand this if you have a major decision to make. Try to make that major decision with a fresh brain. If you've just made a series of minor decisions, or needed to exercise self-control about something, your brain may be somewhat depleted and the choice you make about the major decision may be less than desirable.

Cellular Memory and Cancer

And speaking of Cellular Memory (Epigenetics), another entry in Dr. Lipton's book addressed cancer cells and cellular memory. Ultimately cancer may be a severe form of cellular disharmony. Cancer cells have a “memory for their own tune” and have forgotten how to play with the rest of the group, so to speak. This has also been addessed by Jay Bradner, a physician and chemical biologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Dr.  Bradner believes that cancer may be defeated through control of epigenetics or cellular memory. “With all the things cancer is trying to do to kill our patient, how does it remember it is cancer?” Bradner says that the answer lies in epigenetics, the programs that manage the genome. Findings over the past ten years have strongly implicated dysregulation of epigenetic instructions in cancer, where growth-driving genes express like crazy, while genes that keep cell division in check are silenced. Bradner believes that it will be possible to create a drug that can rewrite those epigenetic instructions so that cancer cells forget what they are and cease their deadly proliferation.


 (Lipton, Bruce, PhD. The Biology of Belief. CA: Mountain of Love/Elite Books, 2005, p 102)

Quail Cackles?

Someone asked me today if Cellular Memory (Epigenetics) was a really recent discovery. I suppose it depends on your definition of "recent." Most likely the process has been operational since the first humans produced biological offspring. An understanding of the process is much more recent. I was reading Dr. Lipton's book (The Biology of Belief, 2005) the other day and ran across his comments about chickens and quails. It seems that researchers transplanted some chicken nervous-tissue cells into quails and vice versa. This resulted in the transfer of cellular memories that constitute the habits of one species to another, meaning that the chickens started to sing and the quails began to cackle. And since the advent of organ transplants there has been an increasing awareness that recipients of major organs (e.g., heart, liver, kidneys, lungs) often begin to exhibit preferences and behaviors that were seen in the donor -- but that are new to the recipient. If you're interested in this topic, I've been collecting cellular memory tid-bits from a variety of sources and they can be found on my website under Brain References. [  http://www.arlenetaylor.org/brain-learning-a-memory/1108-cellular-memory ]  If you find other sources, feel free to send me the source including URLs and I'll add them, as well.  

Brain and Energy

An article by Pierre J. Magistretti et al entitled "Brain Energy Metabolism" begins with the following statement: Glucose is the obligatory energy substrate for brain and it is almost entirely oxidized into CO2 and H2O. This simple statement summarizes (with few exceptions) over four decades of careful studies of brain energy metabolism. Although your brain represents only 2% of your body weight on average, the brain:


1. Receives 15% of the cardiac output

2. Uses 20% of the total body oxygen consumption

3. Responsible for 25% of total body glucose utilization

4. Extracts about 50% of oxygen and 10% of glucose from the arterial blood

Conflicting Mind Compartments

An article in “Scientific American” suggests that the mind is composed of compartments or modules that can conflict with one another. According to author Michael Shermer, “The module that leads us to crave sweet and fatty foods in the short term is in conflict with the module that monitors our body image and health in the long term.” The same is likely true for modules related to cooperation versus competition, or lying versus honesty, and play versus homework. Similarly, there may be compartments in the brain for beliefs. Researchers at Northwestern University found that when closely held beliefs of study participants were shaken, the subjects were even more enthusiastically persistent about those beliefs. That reminds one of stories about Galileo, who ran up against commonly held (and theological) beliefs. Reportedly, when he proposed that the earth moved around the sun, it got him house arrest for the remainder of his life. (There's also a common myth--one I was taught growing up--that Galileo was censured for saying the world was round.) Although the telescope had already been invented, Galileo apparently was responsible for some refinements or enhancements that assisted him in discovering several heavenly bodies and built his own telescope in 1608. It sure would be great if there was a historic library of DVDs so one could go back in time and "see" what really happened ...