What gives us the heavy feeling of “tiredness” in our brain/head when we’re tired?
In: Biology
Brain does stuff throughout the day. Doing stuff makes waste. Waste builds up. Light goes down. Eyes send message to brain day’s over. Alert goes out to cleaning crew. Chemicals and fluids start moving in to pressure wash the brain to make it nice and clean for the next day. If cleaning crew is trying to do its job while we’re still working, it’s like everyone still being in the office while the janitors are trying to work.
A chemical called Adenosine is formed in the brain when we are awake and as we exert energy. It then binds to the parts of our brain that control alertness and wakefulness. It is an inhibitory transmitter, meaning it slows down the activity in these areas. It also tells other parts of our brain to produce chemicals that make us feel sleepy. These effects of Adenosine lead to what we call “sleep pressure”, or the need to sleep.
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