With the detection and application of modern instruments and equipment, human beings have made many novel discoveries in the study of their own brains.
(1) The brain is a chemical plant.
Experiments in recent years have confirmed that the brain can self-synthesize at least 50 kinds of nervous system driving drugs. These drugs synthesized by the brain affect people's intelligence, memory, mood and health, such as the well-known so-called "endogenous morphine" sedative. The latest experimental results show that when people do strenuous exercise, the brain will secrete more endogenous morphine, which can make people feel relaxed and healthy after strenuous exercise. This is the so-called "post-game euphoria".
(2) The brain is a computer system
The brain is not only the instruction library of all human activities, but also its code, similar to computer programs. Take memorizing every movement as an example. We will never forget how to ride a bike. Healthy people can consolidate and expand this procedure through repeated practice.
According to the research results of MIT and Emory University, patients with brain injury can still improve the internal procedures of the brain. Electrical signals are used to simulate and improve the codes of various actions commanded by the brain, so as to stimulate the injured parts of the brain of quadriplegic patients and make their limbs slowly recover their motor functions.
(3) The brain can keep people healthy.
According to the results of American health research, morphine is a self-made sedative in the brain. When it is released into the blood, it will make a kind of white blood cells called macrophages proliferate, and macrophages have an important function to help the injured body recover. Other studies have proved other relationships between the brain and health. For example, when the limbic system, a part of the brain that controls sensation, is injured, the body's immunity will be weakened.
(4) The brain can repair itself
In the past, brain experts believed that once the brain was injured, it could not be repaired. Today, some research and medical results prove that many functions of the brain can be restored by themselves. The mechanism is that nerve cells bypass the damaged tissue area and form new communication channels. Some new rehabilitation centers in the United States, such as new york University and the University of Medicine and Dentistry, have accepted patients with severe brain injuries and improved their thinking ability. In fact, even patients who have been seriously injured for many years can be improved.
(5) There is no pain in the brain.
Some people may not believe that there is no pain in the brain. Touching, scalding and burning a person's body can cause pain, so that the pain is unbearable. The brain is burned, frozen or cut without pain. When people have a headache, the pain comes from blood vessels, usually peripheral arteries, not brain tissue. When you accidentally kick your toes or burn your fingers, your brain will feel pain information through the corresponding parts of your body. In fact, neurosurgeons sometimes operate on patients who are fully awake.
(6) Regular use of the brain can prevent aging.
Psychiatrists reminded that we should pay more attention to the psychological adjustment of retired people and encourage them to participate in public welfare activities.
Clinically, depression and Alzheimer's disease are the most common problems in the elderly. Most family members don't know how to face the mental problems of the elderly. Taking care of the elderly is a big problem.
The blood vessels of the elderly will gradually harden, and the lumen will become narrow or blocked, which will reduce the blood flow to the brain. Long-term ischemia of brain cells can easily lead to the sheath of nerve fibers, and then lead to Alzheimer's disease, so it is best for the elderly to do more aerobic activities. In addition, read more books to promote blood circulation in the brain and reduce the degree of brain cell degeneration.
Many elderly people like playing mahjong when they have nothing to do. Playing mahjong can stimulate the peripheral nerves of the five senses and the sense of touch of the skin, reflect to the brain center, promote the blood flow of the brain and reduce the degeneration of brain cells. Besides, handicrafts and playing the piano can achieve the same effect.
(7) The brain can signal hunger.
British scientists have discovered substances that cause hunger and pain, and are close to developing a spray that can reduce appetite.
Researchers at the University of Liverpool have found that neuropeptide-γ can cause the brain to signal hunger and pain.
They are studying a chemical spray to eliminate the influence of this substance, and they think they can test this spray in the next 10 years. Ryan williams, a medical professor at the university who led the research team, said he hoped the new drug would help fight obesity. He also said that this spray will "be effective for everyone, no matter how much they need to lose weight, because it will control one of the strongest signals in the brain."
(8) New discoveries in brain research
Researchers report that they have found changes in the brain, which may have a major impact on stroke, inattention and chronic diseases. Researchers have found that the brain inhibits activities related to regulating brain regions in other parts of the body before touching virtual points on the skin. The blood flow of cerebral cortex was measured by positron emission tomography (PET), and the activities related to the contact area were observed, but there was no change.
The researchers published an article in the British journal Nature, saying that before imagining that there will be contact somewhere, the whole brain seems to relax sharply, so that the brain can feel this contact more sensitively when it comes to skin contact.
Wayne Drevet is an assistant professor of psychiatry and radiology at Malinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine. He is one of the important researchers. He said, "This is the first study in the human brain." He said: "Single cell experiments have proved that nerves can inhibit the activity of local areas of the skin, but this is the first study to find this in the somatosensory cortex of the brain."