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Unexpected ways to wake up your brain

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Re: Unexpected ways to wake up your brain

#61

Post by beagle3 »

IgorPartola wrote: post #2

Here's a trick I've been using: if you are driving and start feeling tired, hold your breath. Your brain will go into a bit of a panic mode: "Where's all the O2?!", and you will feel more awake for a short period of time. Do note, that this is a great trick to get you to the rest area 3 miles down the road, not a good way to drive all night long.

The trick probably works, but the body doesn't actually have a "low-O2" detector, but rather a "high-CO2" detector. Most of the time, they are equivalent; however, if you have e.g. CO poisoning (thus, no CO2 buildup), you don't feel suffocating even though you're out of oxygen.

Re: Unexpected ways to wake up your brain

#62

Post by hyperion2010 »

tyoung wrote: post #60
hyperion2010 wrote: post #38

I've been off caffeine for 2+ years now, I always feel like I've been poisoned when I use it, jittery and completely unable to concentrate. Also interesting that they didn't mention any of the longer acting transporter blockers like methylphenidate or other "performance enhancing" drugs that have been widely reported to improve attention (the button pressing test is actually diagnostic for the action of these drugs).

reminds me of spiders on caffeine: http://www.trinity.edu/jdunn/spiderdrugs.htm

Yep, that exact page is one of the reasons I stopped. I like to joke that I am an insect since caffeine is also a poison for many of them.

Re: Unexpected ways to wake up your brain

#63

Post by AlexandrB »

bbcbasic wrote: post #48
hyperion2010 wrote: post #38

I've been off caffeine for 2+ years now, I always feel like I've been poisoned when I use it, jittery and completely unable to concentrate. Also interesting that they didn't mention any of the longer acting transporter blockers like methylphenidate or other "performance enhancing" drugs that have been widely reported to improve attention (the button pressing test is actually diagnostic for the action of these drugs).

Yes anyone else reading this who consumes any caffeine. Seriously ... give it up. Completely. It is a drug. I did it and I now sleep better, need less sleep, feel more awake in the morning, and save money. This is one of the best 'life hacks'

I find I quickly become tolerant to the awakening and focusing effects of caffeine but not to the anxiety-inducing effects leading to increasingly anxious thought patterns.

Every time I start in on caffeine again because of a crunch I end up regretting it later.

Re: Unexpected ways to wake up your brain

#64

Post by pbhjpbhj »

eru wrote: post #56
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yawning is designed to wake you up. Yawn's apparently provide a boost of O2. We yawn when we're tired because we're trying to stay awake/alert and yawning enables that; if someone yawns when you're talking then they're actually trying to concentrate - that's a good thing. I'm pretty good at fighting the panic response when holding my breath - lots of underwater swimming bravado as a child - at what point do you breat…

No evidence for the O2 boost for yawning. Actually, we don't really know what yawning is good for.

When I mentioned it I knew I really should have looked for a citation first, it's something I heard on BBC Radio 4 (!), which is usually a good source for science/mathematics based information ... but you got me. The article I heard was primarily on empathetic aspects of yawning.

Initially I was going to write "an O2 boost to the brain" but thinking about it I couldn't readily create a mechanism for that to happen - I'm terrible at human biology mind you - and so I reduced the claim in case I'd miss heard. Presumably to boost oxygen to the brain you'd need to increase blood flow (vasodilation or heart-rate) or increase oxygenation of the blood.

Taking a very quick look at scholar.google.com there are citations supporting humans yawning when they have low blood oxygen; there's also papers saying that hypoxic patients increase blood oxygen levels through deep breathing. A yawn is like a single deep breath ... so perhaps?? But I'm not in a position to look further.

Re: Unexpected ways to wake up your brain

#65

Post by pbhjpbhj »

dllthomas wrote: post #54
bbcbasic wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes anyone else reading this who consumes any caffeine. Seriously ... give it up. Completely. It is a drug. I did it and I now sleep better, need less sleep, feel more awake in the morning, and save money. This is one of the best 'life hacks'

I've picked up and dropped a moderately sized caffeine habit at various points in my life. The biggest effect on me of being off caffeine is a reduction of my tolerance for caffeine when I have some next (smaller amount has bigger effect) and clearing out the addiction (can go days without caffeine without headache). I don't see appreciable changes in my quality of sleep (exercise does that!) or my ability to focus.…

I have chronic and severe sleep issues - they're probably psychological but I've subscribed to a theory of being "non-24" for some time.

I've sworn off caffeine twice in an effort to regulate my sleep better and neither time has it helped me in getting to sleep. What it does do is in the "morning" [ie when I wake] make me more alert, I'm not in caffeine withdrawal, I feel better.

If you're going to try it then my advice is to ensure you still drink enough: substitute caffeine drinks with water for example.

For me going cold-turkey it takes about 1 week for the severely painful headaches to stop and for me to be able to think clearly again.

So far as I can determine caffeine has potential long term positive effects, doesn't have lasting negative effects. I slip back in to it because it's in the house and at times I have to use something to wake me up when I'm sleep deprived. It's pathological.

Re: Unexpected ways to wake up your brain

#66

Post by pbhjpbhj »

anotherevan wrote: post #40
gadders wrote: post #31

Strange - doesn't mention Nicotine. I believe in patch or lozenge this has as much affect as caffeine [1]. Note that I'm not advocating smoking, just the nicotine itself. [1] http://discovermagazine.com/2014/march/13-nicotine-fix

Recently listened to a Freakonomics podcast[1] about how to make people quit smoking. There were two related points that stuck with me. 1. Nicotine can have a lot of positive benefits. As one of their experts stated, “Good drug, bad delivery system.” 2. One of those benefits is a possible anti-depressant effect. So smoking may inadvertently be treating a person’s undiagnosed mental health issue[2], an additional diff…

If it's just about nicotine though one can use gum, patches, vaporisers - in fact I can't really see why anyone would smoke now, you can get the drug in a cleaner way more cheaply by vaping.

It seems like choosing to chug anti-freeze when you've got high-class liquor available.

Re: Unexpected ways to wake up your brain

#67

Post by anotherevan »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #66
anotherevan wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recently listened to a Freakonomics podcast[1] about how to make people quit smoking. There were two related points that stuck with me. 1. Nicotine can have a lot of positive benefits. As one of their experts stated, “Good drug, bad delivery system.” 2. One of those benefits is a possible anti-depressant effect. So smoking may inadvertently be treating a person’s undiagnosed mental health issue[2], an additional diff…

If it's just about nicotine though one can use gum, patches, vaporisers - in fact I can't really see why anyone would smoke now, you can get the drug in a cleaner way more cheaply by vaping. It seems like choosing to chug anti-freeze when you've got high-class liquor available.

I don't think smoking, and trying to quit smoking, it just about the nicotine. That's just one aspect of the issue.

Re: Unexpected ways to wake up your brain

#68

Post by eru »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #64
eru wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No evidence for the O2 boost for yawning. Actually, we don't really know what yawning is good for.

When I mentioned it I knew I really should have looked for a citation first, it's something I heard on BBC Radio 4 (!), which is usually a good source for science/mathematics based information ... but you got me. The article I heard was primarily on empathetic aspects of yawning. Initially I was going to write "an O2 boost to the brain" but thinking about it I couldn't readily create a mechanism for that to happen -…

People also yawn when they see other people (or even animals or pictures) yawn. It's complicated.
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