In school we’re taught that neurons “fire” signals in pulses through difference in substance concentration, but what happens when I’m sitting and my ass neurons need to fire the pressure signal continuously for hours? Does it consume a lot of energy to do so?
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These pulses can happen very rapidly, keeping a muscle contracted. After the signal is sent to tense the muscle, the signal will stop, but another will be sent and re-activate the muscle before it has a chance to relax.
Think of spinning a wheel. It takes one “pulse” to get it spinning, and you can give it another pulse to keep it spinning before the wheel has a chance to slow down on its own.
I believe your muscles use on average about 20% of your energy, but this amount will increase significantly with exercise.
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