These 4 things are "killing" your brain!Maybe you do it every day!

Humans have thinking, emotions, and memories, all of which are inseparable from the brain. But do you know? Some bad habits will damage this important organ.

Today is the 22nd China Brain Health Day. Let's see if you also have the following four bad habits that damage the brain.

01

Smoke

When it comes to the harm of smoking, people will think of severe diseases such as lung cancer and heart disease. In fact, smoking is also very harmful to the brain. The brain needs a large amount of oxygen, and the oxygen inhaled during smoking is reduced. This is not good for the brain. At the same time, a large amount of toxic substances that are inhaled into the body will further poison the brain.

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In addition, smoking can make people illuminate. Some people think that smoking can refresh the brain. This is because nicotine in tobacco is a stimulant, which will make people feel excited. After a long time, it will make people feel happy, forming smoking addiction, and forming smoke addiction. Essence For this pleasant feeling, the price paid by the smokers is very huge.

Earlier, the magnetic resonance image team of the Institute of Physics and Mathematics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, studied the smokers of the "cigarette age" more than 25 years. [1] Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging technology to scan the brain of these "old smoke guns" and found that after so many years of tobacco, these "old tobacco guns" brains have already appeared abnormalities, and the parts connected to the left and right brains have varying degrees of varying degrees Structure change.

At the same time, the overall efficiency of the neural network in the brain has decreased and local efficiency has increased. What does it mean? The different areas of non -smokers have a wealth of connections to form an efficient network. However, if long -term smoking, this network connection will decrease, and the efficiency will be reduced. Only the connection of a few areas will not decrease. And this is an abnormal phenomenon. These are the effects of long -term smoking on the structure and function of the brain.

In contrast of the brain neural network, the blue part is not smoking in the area of ​​severe smokers, and red is the area where severe smokers are better than smoking. It can be seen that in addition to the visual area, the neural network of multiple brain areas without smokers is better than severe smokers. Picture source: reference [1].

Scientists have also found that the damage of the brain is related to the age of smoke. The longer the smoking time, the more serious the damage. And it is not too late to quit smoking. If you have the habit of smoking, you might as well let this habit go today.

02

Drink

The second bad habit of damaging the brain is drinking. Alcohol not only damage the internal organs such as the liver, but also affects the brain, causing memory recession, and slow reaction [2].

Some people feel that drinking a little wine will not damage the body, and some people say that scientists also say that a glass of wine every day is good for the body. Unfortunately, the latest research refutes these claims.

British scientists have just published a pre -printed book of a paper [3], and they found that the gray volume of the drinker's brain was reduced. The gray quality of the brain is the area where the neuron cells are concentrated in the brain. This area narrowed indicates that the brain has been injured.

The brain area where the alcoholic changes. Picture source: reference [3].

Scientists not only scanned the brain of drinkingrs, but also investigated their habit of drinking. As a result, compared with those who never drink, whether they were drinking a large number of alcohol or drinking only a little bit of people, the brain status of these drinkers' brain status It's worse.

Moreover, it doesn't matter what wine is to drink in the state of brain injury. Whether it is beer, wine or spirits, it will damage the brain. In other words, there is no safety dose for drinking, and there is no health wine.

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Moreover, the possibility of drinking alcohol is more likely to get Azheimer's disease.

Although scientists have not yet figured out the cause of Alzheimer's disease, research has found that people who drink for a long time are more likely to be able to go to this disease. Alzheimer's disease often develops in his later years, that is to say, when you are young, drinking may only be seen when he is old.

In order to protect the brain, let's keep us away from alcohol.

03

lack of sleep

The third bad habit is lack of sleep. Today, staying up late is the norm of many people in the workplace. Students often stay up late to study. Many people like to brush short videos at night. They also want to have as easy time as possible.

Some people think that as long as the grades are good, staying up late before the exam is nothing. I also think that as long as you can make up for a rest day, it is not a big deal that occasionally staying up late. However, scientists have found that the habit of staying up late is really worthless.

Many people have experienced night car review before the exam. This method is likely to be no good for learning.

Scientists conducted comparison experiments [4]: ​​Let a group of people study desperately, while another group of people sleeps for a while. It was found that the group of people who took a break in the learning gap for a while learned more content than those who did not sleep.

This is because sleep is particularly important for consolidating people's memory. It is precisely when sleeping, all kinds of memories of facts can form and consolidate. It can be said that when learning is driving a night car, it becomes a falling car if it is not good. You must allocate kung fu to usual, and do not temporarily "hold the Buddha's feet".

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Scientists at the University of Boston published a paper in the magazine of Science [5]. They found that when sleeping, the brain must complete an important job, that is, "cleaning itself".

We use the brain to produce a variety of chemicals every day, and accumulate in the brain will affect the brain function. When we sleep, the brain will start a complex cleaning mechanism to prepare for the next day's life and study. Staying up late and lack of sleep not only feel tired, but also interrupt the self -cleaning of the brain. Keep regular and sufficient sleep to protect the brain.

04

pressure

In the life of modern people, it is full of various pressures. Because of work and family, it is common to feel "stress mountains".

Too much pressure, or living in a state of pressure for a long time, will also damage the brain. Many people know that when studying is too stressful, the exams will not play well. Scientists have found that stress not only affects emotions, hinders people's cognitive ability to play normally, but also damage the brain.

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Scientists cannot directly make pressure on ordinary people, so they use mice to observe the brain under pressure.

Scientists at Ohio State University did an experiment [6], who trained two groups of mice to walk away. One group of normal feeding, but the other lives near an aggressive rats. It is conceivable that although the second group of mice did not really be injured, they always lived in stress.

After a period of time, I tested these mice, and found that stressful mice always could not remember the labyrinth. It can be seen that stress can affect the formation of mice's memory.

Scientists not only observed these mice, they also checked the mice's brain, and found that the mice in the pressure group had inflammation symptoms. This is because stress will activate the immune system of animals, and the excited immune system begins to attack the brain, causing mice to cause brain damage.

Even if the pressure group mouse moved, the source of the pressure was eliminated, and their brain damage did not disappear immediately. Scientists point out that pressure on the stage is short -term pressure and may not cause damage to the brain. However, chronic stress may cause brain damage.

Smoking, drinking and sleeping are bad habits. You can also avoid yourself. It is not easy to avoid chronic pressure. Psychologists suggested that they focus on rest, there are one or two hobbies, facing the source of their own pressure, and asking for help from the people and psychologists around them if necessary, helping to relieve chronic pressure.

In short, protecting the brain does not require special supplements, good living habits, and a healthy psychological state, which is the psychic medicine for protecting the brain.

references:

[1] Lin, F., Wu, G., Zhu, L., & Lei, H. (2015). Altered Brain Functional Networks in Heavy Smokers. AdDiction Biology, 20 (4), 809–819.

[2] Neiman, J. (1998). Alcohol as a Risk Factor for Brain Damage: Neurologic Aspects. Alcoholism, Clinical and Experimental Research, 22 (7 SUPPL), 346S-351S.

[3] Topiwala, A., Ebmeier, K. P., Maullin-Sapey, T., & Nichols, T. E. (2021). No safe level of alcohol consumption for brain health: Observational cohort study of 25,378 UK Biobank participants (p. 2021.05. 10.21256931). MEDRXIV.

[4] Saletin, J. M., & Walker, M. P. (2012). Nocturnal Mnemonics: Sleep and Hippocampal Memory Processing. Frontiers in neurology, 3, 59.

[5]Fultz, N. E., Bonmassar, G., Setsompop, K., Stickgold, R. A., Rosen, B. R., Polimeni, J. R., & Lewis, L. D. (2019). Coupled electrophysiological, hemodynamic, and cerebrospinal fluid oscillations in human sleep. Science, 366 (6465), 628–631.

of the social for neuroscience, 36 (9), 2590–2604.

Audit ｜ Director of the Science Popularization Department of Tangqin Chinese Medical Association

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