We have all seen that when the battery of computers and smartphones is low, the screen turns black and the processing speed can drop considerably. Scientists have now revealed that a similar mode exists in people’s brains.
Of course, it is not something that happens immediately that our brain goes into energy-saving mode. In order for this situation to occur, it is necessary to not get enough food and the body weight must fall below a certain critical point. By this stage, the brain is changing the way it processes information to conserve energy.
Our brain is trying to conserve its energy.
Our brain, which makes a significant part of our daily energy consumption under normal conditions, basically produces energy from the sugar called ATP (adenosine triphosphate). When we look at it from a historical point of view, it has been revealed that our brain, which has faced long migrations and famines, therefore takes some precautions in case of long-term hunger.
In a study published in the journal Neuron, Nathalie Rochefort of Edinbrough University examined the visual skills of mice in terms of energy conservation. Accordingly, a change emerged in the cells that perform visual processing in the brains of mice that did not get enough nutrients for a long time and lost about one-fifth of their body weight. Neurons in this region reduced the amount of ATP used at their synapses by 29 percent.
On the other hand, this situation is not without some disadvantages. First of all, the capacity to perceive details decreases. In addition, the quality of perception of the images seen by the eye decreases in general. To put it simply, our brain perceives life by reducing it from Ultra HD to 720p in order not to waste a lot of energy.
In fact, people can see the effects of this situation in their own lives. The fact that you think only about food when you are very hungry or have not eaten for a long time or that you skip details while doing business is actually a result of this situation. In its most basic form, the nerve cells in our brain increase the level of force required for the interaction of stimuli and skip the little details. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem like this way of storing energy is causing a permanent change in our brain at the moment.
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