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Fatigue Is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates to Ensure Protection (2012)

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

11–20 of 99 posts

Re: Fatigue Is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates to Ensure Protection (2012)

#11

In light of this article, wonder what type of psychological training could be used to complement the typical physical training to improve athletic performance?

Maybe something that copies military basic training. It has been decades, but I can still hear my drill instructor yelling, "You aren't tired until I tell you you're tired!" He was right.

Re: Fatigue Is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates to Ensure Protection (2012)

#12
post #10

'Protection' might be the goal of physical fatigue, but it doesn't work for intellectual effort - what are you being 'protected from breaking' by not being able to write another line of code? Carpal tunnel? In that case, it looks more like it's about conserving energy or rotating to another task after having spent so much time on one task: "A Meta-Analysis of Blood Glucose Effects on Human Decision Making" http://www…

Well, maybe for the same reason we need to sleep every day. The brain also experiences fatigue.

Re: Fatigue Is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates to Ensure Protection (2012)

#13
post #10

'Protection' might be the goal of physical fatigue, but it doesn't work for intellectual effort - what are you being 'protected from breaking' by not being able to write another line of code? Carpal tunnel? In that case, it looks more like it's about conserving energy or rotating to another task after having spent so much time on one task: "A Meta-Analysis of Blood Glucose Effects on Human Decision Making" http://www…

Perhaps from bad decisions? As I stay awake, the quality of my code drops pretty fast, social decisions get worse, I say the wrong thing to people, et cetera.

Re: Fatigue Is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates to Ensure Protection (2012)

#14

In light of this article, wonder what type of psychological training could be used to complement the typical physical training to improve athletic performance?

Maybe something that copies military basic training. It has been decades, but I can still hear my drill instructor yelling, "You aren't tired until I tell you you're tired!" He was right.

I think cadence marching/running is pretty helpful too. You just focus on left foot, right foot, and the words.

Re: Fatigue Is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates to Ensure Protection (2012)

#15

If the claim is that muscles don't fatigue, then I am skeptical. In college, I took a weightlifting class with a bunch of athletes in it. One day, we did lunges (no weight) around and around, in a line like ants. Nearing the end, my brain thought I was totally fine. I cannot stress that enough. Bam, like a light switch, my legs went from 60% strength to 2% three quarters of the way through the last lap. Had the instr…

No, I think you are anecdotally supporting the posted article: you worked your muscles to physical exhaustion but you did not feel "fatigue", ergo, the conventional theory that "fatigue" is caused by lactic acid or other muscle chemistry is disproved.

Re: Fatigue Is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates to Ensure Protection (2012)

#16

If the claim is that muscles don't fatigue, then I am skeptical. In college, I took a weightlifting class with a bunch of athletes in it. One day, we did lunges (no weight) around and around, in a line like ants. Nearing the end, my brain thought I was totally fine. I cannot stress that enough. Bam, like a light switch, my legs went from 60% strength to 2% three quarters of the way through the last lap. Had the instr…

I would recommend reading the article, it is fairly interesting and suggests based on the body of research that the brain (subconsciously) creates the emotion of fatigue prior to muscle "exhaustion" to prevent injury.

"These sensations of fatigue are unique to each individual and are illusionary since their generation is largely independent of the real biological state of the athlete at the time they develop."

Re: Fatigue Is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates to Ensure Protection (2012)

#18

If the claim is that muscles don't fatigue, then I am skeptical. In college, I took a weightlifting class with a bunch of athletes in it. One day, we did lunges (no weight) around and around, in a line like ants. Nearing the end, my brain thought I was totally fine. I cannot stress that enough. Bam, like a light switch, my legs went from 60% strength to 2% three quarters of the way through the last lap. Had the instr…

Why do you suppose your legs went from 60% to 2% so rapidly? Do you think your muscle really depleted in function that quickly, or did your brain cut off the electrical signals to the leg in order to protect it from permanent damage?

But you're correct in that there is more to it. Adrenaline masks fatigue. It allows you to temporarily exceed what your brain would normally allow you to do in order to save your life. You pay for it later, though.

Re: Fatigue Is a Brain-Derived Emotion that Regulates to Ensure Protection (2012)

#20
post #10

'Protection' might be the goal of physical fatigue, but it doesn't work for intellectual effort - what are you being 'protected from breaking' by not being able to write another line of code? Carpal tunnel? In that case, it looks more like it's about conserving energy or rotating to another task after having spent so much time on one task: "A Meta-Analysis of Blood Glucose Effects on Human Decision Making" http://www…

There could be another, simpler explanation: the _mechanism_ used to enforce protection has side effects that inhibit intellectual effort.
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