The noise inside your head
Have you ever felt that your head was full and you couldn't think more? To my surprise, that was not just a metaphor, it was quite literally true! For an ever-growing, learning brain, and to keep in-taking information, there is a big price humans have to pay!
Not delving into the biology of our brain, I'll try explaining things in a computer scientist friendly way; every-time our brain intakes new information/data, we make stronger synapses (connections) between nerve cells. The strength of these synapses determines how easily we can retrieve information from our brain, and consequently, some synapses become stronger/larger when we repeatedly intake the same information (thus when we want to memorize something, we find revision helpful for later retrieval.)
In a single waking day, synapses continuously strengthen/enlarge as we absorb all kinds of experiences, but this process can't happen indefinitely as synapses reach a saturation point - hence 'our head becomes full' , thus, after this point we start finding it hard to understand things or think in a new direction. "It is a costly process, because stronger synapses increase the demand for energy and cellular supplies, lead to decreases in signal-to-noise ratios (because neurons would start responding less selectively to stimuli), and saturate the ability to learn." [1] It is akin to higher noise(and lower S/N) as we increase a channel bandwidth. After we reach the saturation point, the plasticity of the synapses and brain reduces, when we reach this stage our brain has to ensure getting back to optimal neural pathways, our synapses have to shrink back to take in more information efficiently and discard the less important ones.
Sleep is the price we pay for such memories we keep creating. It is found that even 10 minutes of sleep makes a difference when your head feels full and helps you relax. While we sleep, the less important information, the ones with weaker synapses is tagged by a protein and later eaten away/pruned in a process called synaptic homeostasis. This is done to maintain optimal circuitry in our brains and delete the unimportant stuff to free up space.*
*Note : The information is not deleted, it's shrunk away thereby reducing the synaptic strength. Because if it were deleted, one would remember new people but forget old friends, something known as plasticity-stability dilemma (Abraham and Robins, 2005; Grossberg, 1987).
As the synaptic strength increases, the bombarding of random neurons also increases, which is nothing but noise, and the sound to noise ratio, SNR can be defined as :
\[ SNR = 20 log \frac{Vs}{Vn} \] (Shannon-Hartley theorum)
where Vs and Vn are action potentials of signal and noise across a synapse. Our brain has evolved to make this process of information transfer optimal and tries to maximize the ratio of SNR and Energy required (energy is in ATP nos.).
As the synapse strength increases during our wakefulness, the energy provided for both signal and noise also increases, and after a certain point the noise bypasses the signal causing a greater decline in SNR, thereby causing our head to feel full.
Stuck with a problem and a creative rut? Sleep on it.
Not delving into the biology of our brain, I'll try explaining things in a computer scientist friendly way; every-time our brain intakes new information/data, we make stronger synapses (connections) between nerve cells. The strength of these synapses determines how easily we can retrieve information from our brain, and consequently, some synapses become stronger/larger when we repeatedly intake the same information (thus when we want to memorize something, we find revision helpful for later retrieval.)
In a single waking day, synapses continuously strengthen/enlarge as we absorb all kinds of experiences, but this process can't happen indefinitely as synapses reach a saturation point - hence 'our head becomes full' , thus, after this point we start finding it hard to understand things or think in a new direction. "It is a costly process, because stronger synapses increase the demand for energy and cellular supplies, lead to decreases in signal-to-noise ratios (because neurons would start responding less selectively to stimuli), and saturate the ability to learn." [1] It is akin to higher noise(and lower S/N) as we increase a channel bandwidth. After we reach the saturation point, the plasticity of the synapses and brain reduces, when we reach this stage our brain has to ensure getting back to optimal neural pathways, our synapses have to shrink back to take in more information efficiently and discard the less important ones.
Sleep is the price we pay for such memories we keep creating. It is found that even 10 minutes of sleep makes a difference when your head feels full and helps you relax. While we sleep, the less important information, the ones with weaker synapses is tagged by a protein and later eaten away/pruned in a process called synaptic homeostasis. This is done to maintain optimal circuitry in our brains and delete the unimportant stuff to free up space.*
*Note : The information is not deleted, it's shrunk away thereby reducing the synaptic strength. Because if it were deleted, one would remember new people but forget old friends, something known as plasticity-stability dilemma (Abraham and Robins, 2005; Grossberg, 1987).
As the synaptic strength increases, the bombarding of random neurons also increases, which is nothing but noise, and the sound to noise ratio, SNR can be defined as :
\[ SNR = 20 log \frac{Vs}{Vn} \] (Shannon-Hartley theorum)
where Vs and Vn are action potentials of signal and noise across a synapse. Our brain has evolved to make this process of information transfer optimal and tries to maximize the ratio of SNR and Energy required (energy is in ATP nos.).
As the synapse strength increases during our wakefulness, the energy provided for both signal and noise also increases, and after a certain point the noise bypasses the signal causing a greater decline in SNR, thereby causing our head to feel full.
Stuck with a problem and a creative rut? Sleep on it.
Some interesting facts about the brain :
1. Magnesium-L-threonate : This chemical helps increase synaptic density and consequently helps with your memory, especially as you age. It can be found in sprouts, fish, avacados, spinach and more.
2. Genetic memory : Memory is passed on to our DNA and inherited by our progeny.
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