London, Sep 22 (IANS) Million of holidaymakers can’t let go of their worries even amid beautiful beaches and stunning landscapes, finds a recent study.
Now scientists have figured out why so many people fritter away their precious time fretting about emails, work mates and office politics, even on a vacation.
Just as thinking burns energy, so does blocking a thought. Trying to clear your mind and think of nothing is like ‘stopping a truck on a downhill slope,’ say researchers.
The findings also shed light on why it’s so hard to meditate, and why it’s tricky to silence those irritating songs that play in your head repeatedly, according to the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism.
Daniela Calvetti, a mathematician and study co-author at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in US, said: ‘Maybe this explains why it is so tiring to relax and think about nothing.’
Rather than opening up a brain to study how thinking – and not thinking – burns up energy, researchers developed a computer model to mimic how the brain converts energy into thoughts, reports the Daily Mail.
The software replicates the pathways that link ‘excitatory neurons’ or brain cells that transmit thoughts and ‘inhibitory neurons,’ those that put on the brakes.
To stop a thought, the brain uses inhibitory neurons to prevent excitatory brain cells chatting with one another.
‘The inhibitory neurons are like a priest saying, ‘Don’t do it,” said Calvetti. These blocking neurons work by releasing a chemical called gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) which counteracts the effect of another brain chemical called glutamate.
Glutamate opens the gates between neurons, while GABA holds the gates closed.
The computer model showed that the brain consumes a relatively large amount of oxygen to mop up and recycle GABA and glutamate – and to close and open the gates between brain cells.
More oxygen requires more blood flow – and more energy, the researchers said. Researchers believe their brain model could help shed light on conditions such as dementia.
