There are some bad habits that we would like to get rid of as quickly as possible. But why is this often so difficult? Why is our brain so attached to recurring behaviors and what can we do about it?
WoW
At night, while we sleep, we process sensory stimuli that we have absorbed and stored during the day. But can our brain also store new knowledge during our night’s sleep?
A survey conducted by Harvard University in the United States found that 44 percent of working adults say that their work affects their health. In Germany, Techniker Krankenkasse conducted a survey which revealed that 64 percent of Germans suffer from stress at least occasionally and 26 percent report that they suffer from stress frequently.
Anyone who has ever been tickled for longer than a few seconds knows that it can be real torture – our body compels us to laugh as a reflex. However, anyone who tries to tickle themselves will invariably fail. Why is that?
A pack of potato chips instead of a bowl of salad – a few hours on the couch instead of at the gym: we constantly break our resolutions and surrender to the commands of a very selfish brain. Yet, anyone can beat laziness. What slows us down, what keeps us going? How can we overcome the motivation killers in our heads?
Just ten minutes of acute oxygen deficiency can cause irreparable damage to our brain. If it lasts longer, we become unconscious and fall into a coma.
Some pills consist only of sugar and starch – and can still make you healthy. How can the placebo effect be explained? Researchers suspect that the body heals itself in many cases of illness.
Some people can memorize hundreds of faces or phone numbers in a matter of minutes. Everyone is capable of such feats of memory.
Almost everyone has encountered déjà vu – the sudden feeling of having experienced a similar situation before. But where does it come from?
Neuroscientists can peer into our brains and read what we are thinking. There are also less chilling possibilities, such as prosthetics that can be controlled by the power of thought.
