Chronic fatigue

Concentration

Through experience, everyone knows that concentration and brain fatigue are inversely correlated. Contrary to this, the efficiency of working or studying is proportional to concentration. Many people blame themselves, saying, “I have a terrible attention span…” but humans innately avoid concentration for survival.

Concentrating on one thing delays noticing dangerous animals or cars approaching from a blind spot. To prepare for sudden danger, we must simultaneously process and respond to different information given.

Thus, the brain has adapted and evolved to disperse attention into different things simultaneously naturally. Therefore, to concentrate on work or studying, the brain must block unnecessary information and only process necessary information, an activity against its natural state; hence, the brain feels tired after concentrating. Therefore, it is difficult for humans to focus on one task and simultaneously perform other tasks. Each part of the brain must be evenly activated. Still, after concentrating for an extended period and only activating certain aspects, this destroys the balance, and the brain gets quickly tired.

Memory

To acquire tasks, we must establish the obtained information into memory. There is “short-term” memory and a “long-term” memory. When something gets memorized, it is first stored in the hippocampus as “short-term” memory. The short-term memory only lasts for a couple of seconds, and around seven memories are maintained.

After that, once material that is determined to be kept for a long time, it is sent and preserved in the cerebral neocortex's temporal lobe. The hippocampus stores short-term memory and distinguishes whether the information needs to be sent in the long-term or not. However, when the brain gets tired, the function of the hippocampus weakens. Then. It cannot transform “short-term memory” to “long-term memory,” which results in the loss of memory.

Sports Ability

To succeed in sports, a well-trained body, muscle strength, and skills are needed, but these factors would not automatically lead to significant results. The body can perform well only when the brain properly operates it. Therefore, fatigue in the brain significantly reduces motor performance.

For example, when the response rate from instruction to response is delayed, so-called reflexes become dull.

The Fatigue Association in Osaka conducted an experiment called “ATMT,” in which twenty-five numbers appearing on the monitor were pressed in order from one to the next. Through this experiment, brain activity and fatigue were measured between one number and the following number. Also, they found out that the brain got confused, and the reaction rate slowed down as the experiment progressed. In particular, these phenomena appear more in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, and the relationship between brain fatigue and muscle movement was confirmed.

Field of Vision and Balance

The state of the brain strongly influences the individual’s field of vision. When the brain is in its tension state, the field of vision becomes narrower. The perspective becomes narrowed because of tension, even though it is not concentrating on anything. This increases the risk of colliding with something because the restricted field of vision makes it hard for the individual to recognize the surrounding information.

Also, when the brain's tension state continues, it becomes difficult to maintain its balance and increases the risk of falling. If you stumble out of nowhere, ask yourself if your brain is tired.