1. New discoveries in brain research
With the application of modern instrumentation for probing, human beings have made a number of novel discoveries in the study of their own brains.
(1) The brain is a chemical factory
Experiments in recent years have confirmed that the brain can self-synthesize at least 50 neurologically driven drugs. These drugs synthesized by the brain affect human intelligence, memory, mood and health, such as the so-called "endogenous morphine" class of sedative drugs that people are familiar with. The latest experimental results show that the brain secretes more endogenous morphine during intense exercise, which can give people a sense of relaxation and well-being after a strenuous workout, which is called the "post-game euphoria".
(2) The brain is a computer system
The brain is not only the instruction base for all human activities, but also has its own code, similar to a computer program. Take the example of memorizing every action, we will never forget how to ride a bicycle. A healthy person can consolidate and expand this program through repetition.
Patients with brain injuries can still improve the brain's internal programs, according to research at MIT and Emory University. By stimulating the injured part of a quadriplegic's brain with electrical signals that mimic the codes used by a healthy brain to direct various movements, the limbs can slowly regain motor function.
(3) The brain can keep the human body healthy
According to U.S. health research, the brain's own sedative endogenous morphine released into the bloodstream will make a kind of white blood cells called macrophages proliferate, and macrophages have an important function in helping the traumatized organism to recover. Other studies have demonstrated other relationships between the brain and health. For example, when the limbic system - the part of the brain that controls emotions - is injured, the body's immunity is subsequently weakened.
(4) The brain repairs itself
In the past, brain experts believed that once the brain was injured, it was irreparable. Today, a number of studies and medical results prove that many of the brain's lost functions can be restored on their own, through nerve cell bypasses that divert signals around damaged tissue areas to form new contact channels. New rehabilitation centers in the United States, such as New York University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry Rehabilitation Center, are already accepting patients with serious brain injuries to improve their thinking skills. In fact, even patients who have been seriously injured for many years can make improvements.
(5) The brain has no pain
Some people may not believe it: the brain has no pain. The human body is touched, scalded, burned, can cause pain, so that the pain is unbearable. The brain, however, does not feel pain when it is burned, frozen or cut. People get headaches from blood vessels, usually peripheral arteries, not brain tissue. When you accidentally kick your toe or burn your finger, your brain is sensing pain through the corresponding part of your body. In fact, neurosurgeons sometimes perform surgery on fully conscious patients.
(6) Using your brain diligently can prevent aging
Psychiatrists have reminded that more attention should be paid to the psychological adjustment of the retired elderly and encouraged them to participate in more public service activities.
Clinically, the elderly problem with depression and dementia is the most. Most family members do not know how to face the mental problems of the elderly, care is a major problem.
The blood vessels of the elderly will gradually harden, and the lumen will become narrow or blocked, resulting in less blood flow to the brain. Brain cells in the long ischemia, easy to trigger nerve fiber desheathing, and then the occurrence of Alzheimer's disease, so the elderly more aerobic activity is best. In addition, more books, in the thinking process to promote blood circulation in the brain, reduce the degree of brain cell degeneration.
Many elderly people like to play mahjong in their spare time, playing mahjong can stimulate the peripheral nerves of the five senses and the skin's sense of touch, reflecting back to the center of the brain to promote blood flow to the brain, reducing the degree of degeneration of brain cells. In addition, doing handicrafts, playing the piano can achieve the same effect.
(7) The brain can send out hunger signals
British scientists have discovered a substance that produces hunger pains in the body, and are close to developing a spray that will reduce appetite.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool have discovered that a neuropeptide, gamma-substance, prompts the brain to signal hunger pains.
They are working on eliminating the effects of the substance with a chemical spray that they think they can test within the next 10 years. Layne Williams, a professor in the university's department of medicine who is leading the research team, said he hopes the new drug will help in the fight against obesity. He added that the spray would be "effective for all people, no matter how much weight they need to lose, because it will control one of the strongest signals in the brain."
(8) A bit of new research on the brain
Researchers report that they have discovered changes in the brain that may have a non-negligible impact on stroke, poor concentration and chronic medical conditions. The researchers found that prior to exposure to an imaginary spot on the skin, the brain repressed activity associated with regulating brain regions in other parts of the body. Measurements of cortical blood flow using positron-radiation X-ray tomography (PET) to observe activity in the cortex associated with the area of contact showed no change.
The researchers, in an article published in the British journal Nature, say that the entire brain seems to dramatically loosen up before imagining that contact is going to occur somewhere, in order to allow the brain to be more sensitive in sensing that touch when skin contact occurs.
Wayne Deleware, an assistant professor of psychiatry and radiology at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine, was one of the key researchers who said, "This is the first study to show that in the context of the human brain." He said, "Single-cell experiments have demonstrated that nerves suppress activity in localized areas of the skin, but this is the first study to find this in the somatosensory cortex of the brain."