Brain, posture and brain growth questions
I had a couple questions to do with the brain, so I first wanted to know if bad posture could somehow damage the brain, affect brain activity or anything or of the sort, say you have your neck bent when against a wall and you looking down, as I do this often so I’m worried about this. Secondly, it is often said that growth only happens when you are asleep, so does this mean that I am missing out on crucial time for brain development or anything like that as I sleep quite late and get around 6-7 hrs of sleep only.
In: Biology
1 – Posture.
Posture can impact how your entire nervous system works, which includes your brain. Axons are a part of your Neurons that are like long telephone wires. They deliver messages throughout your entire body. They send electrical signals to your fingers, toes, and everything in between. Kinks in your neck and spine can influence how they operate, similar to how bends or frays in wires can impact how electricity runs through a cable. Posture is important, but it’s unlikely you would notice any changes in your Nervous system, before you notice muscle pain. If you begin developing regular muscle pain in your neck, upper back, or shoulders, see a doctor or physical therapist.
2 – Sleep and growth.
Brain “growth” from a neuroscience perspective really means lobe, pathway, and cell development. The brain has 4 cortical, meaning outer, lobes which grow with us as we age, and inrcease our abilities.:
* Temporal – Responsible for hearing and communication, among other things
* Occipital – Responsible for vision and imagery, among other things.
* Parietal – Responsible for turning senses like vision and audio into thoughts and concepts, among other things.
* Frontal – Responsible for active thought, decision making, and all of the things we describe as “control.”
The frontal, and prefrontal (Very front part of the brain) are the last parts of the brain to grow, usually finishing total growth around 25 years old. The other major parts of the brain are the Cerebellum, which is the first part to grow, and a bunch of internal pieces that are each responsible for different things, like memory, communication.
Sleep can influence every part of the brain’s ability to do their job. Severe lack of sleep can lead to both positive (adding) and negative (removing) hallucinations of any sense, inability to concentrate or communicate, and a number of other terrible things.
The amount of sleep that someone needs changes throughout their life. During your formative years (birth-25), an individual needs the most sleep, going from 12-16 hours a day to 10-12 to 8-10 to 7-8. If you’re in your teenage years, sleeping only 6 hours a night can hurt your entire body and brain development for life. The longer you go with limited sleep, the less information you retain, the poorer the quality of your neuronal pathways, and most importantly, the less neurotransmitters you create. Neurotransmitters are small chemicals in the brain, and too little or too many of them causes what many people like to call “a chemical imbalance.”
This imbalance can cause you to have mood swings, be unhappy, lack motivation, lack desire, be depressed, be anxious, and unfortunately, can cause insomnia. Serotonin and Melatonin are neurotransmitters that work together to determine your sleep patterns and quality, as well as your general mood, but are also influenced by your sleep.
In short, a lack of sleep won’t impact the “growth” of your brain the same way it might impact the growth of your body (lack of sleep has been shown to influence height), as in making your brain smaller; but, it will influence the way you think and feel, as well as how you see the world around you.
Get at least 7 hours every night if at all possible (more would be better), and take naps if you don’t get enough.
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