What Your Brain Is Really Doing When You’re Doing “Nothing”

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Unless we are dead, our brain is never truly inactive. And it’s not just a matter of regulating autonomic functions, either…

Default Mode Network

When the brain is at rest but not necessarily asleep, the Default Mode Network (DMN) engages. This makes up for around 20% of the brain’s overall activity, and contributes to complex cognitive processes.

What constitutes “at rest”: the DMN activates when external tasks stop and is engaged during self-reflection, mind-wandering, and relaxed memory recall (i.e. reminiscing, rather than answering questions in a difficult test, for example).

As for its neurophysiology, the DMN is connected to the hippocampus and plays a key role in episodic, prospective, and semantic memory (memories of experiences, future plans, and general knowledge), as well as being involved in self-reflection, social cognition, and understanding others’ thoughts (theory of mind). The DMN thus also helps integrate memories and thoughts to create a cohesive internal narrative and sense of self.

However, it doesn’t work alone: the DMN interacts with other networks like the salience network, which switches attention to external stimuli. Disruptions between these networks are linked to psychiatric disorders (e.g., schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, depression), in various different ways depending on the nature of the disruption.

Sometimes, for some people in some circumstances, the option to disrupt the DMN is useful. For example, research shows that psilocybin disrupts the DMN, leading to changes in brain activity and potential therapeutic benefits for depression* and other psychiatric disorders by enhancing neuroplasticity.

*Essentially, kicking the brain out of the idling gear it got stuck in, and into action

For more on all of this, enjoy:

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  • Oats vs Pearl Barley – Which is Healthier?

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    Our Verdict

    When comparing oats to pearl barley, we picked the oats.

    Why?

    In terms of macronutrients first, pearl barley has about three times the carbs for only the same amount of protein and fiber—if it had been regular barley rather than pearl parley, it’d have about twice the fiber, but pearl barley has had the fibrous husk removed.

    Vitamins really set the two part, though: oats have a lot more (60x more) vitamin A, and notably more of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, and B9, as well as 6x more vitamin E. In contrast, pearl barley has a little more vitamin K and choline. An easy win for oats in this section.

    In the category of minerals, oats have over 6x more calcium, 3x more iron, and a little more magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus. Meanwhile, pearl barley boats a little more copper, potassium, selenium, and zinc. So, a more moderate win for oats in this category.

    They are both very good for the gut, unless you have a gluten intolerance/allergy, in which case, oats are the only answer here since pearl barley, as per barley in general, has gluten as its main protein (oats, meanwhile, do not contain gluten, unless by cross-contamination).

    Adding up all the sections, this one’s a clear win for oats.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

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  • Crispy Tofu Pad Thai

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    Easy to make, delicious to enjoy, and packed with phytonutrients, this dish is a great one to add to your repertoire:

    You will need

    • 10 oz ready-to-wok rice noodles, or 6 oz dry
    • 5 oz silken tofu
    • 5 oz firm or extra firm tofu, cut into small cubes
    • 1 oz arrowroot (or cornstarch if you don’t have arrowroot)
    • 4 scallions, sliced
    • ¼ bulb garlic, finely chopped
    • 1″ piece fresh ginger, grated
    • 1 red chili, chopped (multiply per your heat preferences)
    • 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
    • 4 oz bok choi, thinly sliced
    • 4 oz mung bean sprouts
    • 1 tbsp tamari (or other, but tamari is traditional) soy sauce
    • 1 tbsp sweet chili sauce
    • Juice of ½ lime
    • ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
    • Avocado oil, or your preferred oil for stir-frying
    • To serve: lime wedges
    • Optional garnish: crushed roasted peanuts (if allergic, substitute sesame seeds; peanuts are simply traditional, that’s all)

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Scramble the silken tofu. For guidance and also additional seasoning pointers, see our Tasty Tofu Scramble recipe, but omit the thyme.

    2) Cook the noodles if necessary (i.e. if they are the dry type and need boiling, as opposed to “ready-to-wok” noodles that don’t), drain, and set aside.

    4) Prepare the tofu cubes: if the tofu cubes are dry to the touch, toss them gently in a little oil to coat. If they’re wet to the touch, no need. Dust the tofu cubes with the arrowroot and MSG/salt; you can do this in a bowl, tossing gently to distribute the coating evenly.

    4) Heat some oil in a wok over a high heat, and fry the tofu on each side until golden and crispy all over, and set aside.

    5) Stir-fry the scallions, garlic, ginger, chili, and bell pepper for about 2 minutes.

    6) Add the bean sprouts and bok choi, and keep stir-frying for another 2 minutes.

    7) Add everything that’s not already in the pan except the lime wedges and peanuts (i.e., add the things you set aside, plus the remaining as-yet-untouched ingredients) and stir-fry for a further 2 minutes.

    8) Serve hot, garnished with the crushed peanuts if using, and with the lime wedges on the side:

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • How To Reduce Chronic Stress

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    Sunday Stress-Buster

    First, an important distinction:

    • Acute stress (for example, when stepping out of your comfort zone, engaging in competition, or otherwise focusing on something that requires your full attention for best performance) is generally a good thing. It helps you do you your best. It’s sometimes been called “eustress”, “good stress”.
    • Chronic stress (for example, when snowed under at work and you do not love it, when dealing with a serious illness, and/or faced with financial problems) is unequivocally a bad thing. Our body is simply not made to handle that much cortisol (the stress hormone) all the time.

    Know the dangers of too much cortisol

    We covered this as a main feature last month: Lower Your Cortisol! (Here’s Why & How)

    …but it bears mentioning again and for those who’ve joined us since then:

    A little spike of cortisol now and again can be helpful. Having it spiking all the time, or even a perpetual background low-to-moderate level, can be ruinous to the health in so many ways.

    The good news is, the physiological impact of stress on the body (which ranges from face-and-stomach fat deposits, to rapid aging), can be reversed—even the biological aging!

    Read: Biological age is increased by stress and restored upon recovery ← this study is so hot-of-the-press that it was published literally two days ago

    Focus on what you can control

    A lot of things that cause you stress may be outside of your control. Focus on what is within your control. Oftentimes, we are so preoccupied with the stress, that we employ coping strategies that don’t actually deal with the problem.

    That’s a maladaptive response to an evolutionary quirk—our bodies haven’t caught up with modern life, and on an evolutionary scale, are still priming us to deal with sabre-toothed tigers, not financial disputes, for example.

    But, how to deal with the body’s “wrong” response?

    First, deal with the tiger. There isn’t one, but your body doesn’t know that. Do some vigorous exercise, or if that’s not your thing, tense up your muscles strongly for a few seconds and then relax them, doing each part of your body. This is called progressive relaxation, and how it works is basically tricking your body into thinking you successfully fled the tiger, or fought the tiger and won.

    Next, examine what the actual problem is, that’s causing you stress. You’re probably heavily emotionally attached to the problem, or else it wouldn’t be stressing you. So, imagine what advice you would give to help a friend deal with the same problem, and then do that.

    Better yet: enlist an actual friend (or partner, family member, etc) to help you. We are evolved to live in a community, engaged in mutual support. That’s how we do well; that’s how we thrive best.

    By dealing with the problem—or sometimes even just having support and/or something like a plan—your stress will evaporate soon enough.

    The power of “…and then what?”

    Sometimes, things are entirely out of your control. Sometimes, bad things are entirely possible; perhaps even probable. Sometimes, they’re so bad, that it’s difficult to avoid stressing about the possible outcomes.

    If something seems entirely out of your control and/or inevitable, ask yourself:

    “…and then what?”

    Writer’s storytime: when I was a teenager, sometimes I would go out without a coat, and my mother would ask, pointedly, “But what will you do if it rains?!”

    I’d reply “I’ll get wet, of course”

    This attitude can go just the same for much more serious outcomes, up to and including death.

    So when you find yourself stressing about some possible bad outcome, ask yourself, “…and then what?”.

    • What if this is cancer? Well, it might be. And then what? You might seek cancer treatment.
    • What if I can’t get treatment, or it doesn’t work? Well, you might die. And then what?

    In Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT), this is called “radical acceptance” and acknowledges bad possible/probable/known outcomes, allows one to explore the feelings, and come up with a plan for managing the situation, or even just coming to terms with the fact that sometimes, suffering is inevitable and is part of the human condition.

    It’ll still be bad—but you won’t have added extra suffering in the form of stress.

    Breathe.

    Don’t underestimate the power of relaxed deep breathing to calm the rest of your body, including your brain.

    Also: we’ve shared this before, a few months ago, but this 8 minute soundscape was developed by sound technicians working with a team of psychologists and neurologists. It’s been clinically tested, and found to have a much more relaxing effect(in objective measures of lowering heart rate and lowering cortisol levels, as well as in subjective self-reports) than merely “relaxing music”.

    Try it and see for yourself:

    !

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  • The Other Significant Others – by Rhaina Cohen

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    As we get older, it’s a function of statistics that increasingly many of us are divorced or widowed. While some will—after whatever time seems right to them—get back into dating, what about those of us who decide that we won’t?

    Rhaina Cohen explores the importance of friendship, mutual support, and (Platonic!) closeness and yes, even kinds of intimacy (for that too can be Platonic!) as we go on.

    Even from a purely evolutionary approach, we are fundamentally social creatures, and while as individuals we may exist on a spectrum from reclusive to extroverted, we all thrive better when we at least have access to community and friends.

    The style of the book is easy-reading and exploratory, and is very compelling as a call-to-arms for those who may wish to give/receive support to/from those with whom we are not necessarily sleeping.

    Because at the end of the day, why should sex and/or romance be a required feature for legal protections? Aren’t we adults who can make our own decisions about whom we trust to care for us?

    Bottom line: if you’re happily partnered and expect to pre-decease your partner, this book might not be directly important for you (it might for your partner, though). Everyone else? This book may be important at some point. That point might even be now already; only you know.

    Click here to check out The Other Significant Others, and make your own choices in life!

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  • Wakefulness, Cognitive Enhancement, AND Improved Mood?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Old Drug, New Tricks?

    Modafinil (also known by brand names including Modalert and Provigil) is a dopamine uptake inhibitor.

    What does that mean? It means it won’t put any extra dopamine in your brain, but it will slow down the rate at which your brain removes naturally-occuring dopamine.

    The result is that your brain will get to make more use of the dopamine it does have.

    (dopamine is a neutrotransmitter that allows you to feel wakeful and happy, and perform complex cognitive tasks)

    Modafinil is prescribed for treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness. Often that’s caused by shift work sleep disorder, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, or narcolepsy.

    Read: Overview of the Clinical Uses, Pharmacology, and Safety of Modafinil

    Many studies done on humans (rather than rats) have been military experiments to reduce the effects of sleep deprivation:

    Click Here To See A Military Study On Modafinil!

    They’ve found modafinil to be helpful, and more effective and more long-lasting than caffeine, without the same “crash” later. This is for two reasons:

    1) while caffeine works by blocking adenosine (so you don’t feel how tired you are) and by constricting blood vessels (so you feel more ready-for-action), modafinil works by allowing your brain to accumulate more dopamine (so you’re genuinely more wakeful, and you get to keep the dopamine)

    2) the biological half-life of modafinil is 12–15 hours, as opposed to 4–8 hours* for caffeine.

    *Note: a lot of sources quote 5–6 hours for caffeine, but this average is misleading. In reality, we are each genetically predetermined to be either a fast caffeine metabolizer (nearer 4 hours) or a slow caffeine metabolizer (nearer 8 hours).

    What’s a biological half-life (also called: elimination half-life)?

    A substance’s biological half-life is the time it takes for the amount in the body to be reduced by exactly half.

    For example: Let’s say you’re a fast caffeine metabolizer and you have a double-espresso (containing 100mg caffeine) at 8am.

    By midday, you’ll have 50mg of caffeine left in your body. So far, so simple.

    By 4pm you might expect it to be gone, but instead you have 25mg remaining (because the amount halves every four hours).

    By 8pm, you have 12.5mg remaining.

    When midnight comes and you’re tucking yourself into bed, you still have 6.25mg of caffeine remaining from your morning coffee!

    Use as a nootropic

    Many healthy people who are not sleep-deprived use modafinil “off-label” as a nootropic (i.e., a cognitive enhancer).

    Read: Modafinil for cognitive neuroenhancement in healthy non-sleep-deprived subjects: A systematic review

    Important Note: modafinil is prescription-controlled, and only FDA-approved for sleep disorders.

    To get around this, a lot of perfectly healthy biohackers describe the symptoms of sleep pattern disorder to their doctor, to get a prescription.

    We do not recommend lying to your healthcare provider, and nor do we recommend turning to the online “grey market”.

    Such websites often use anonymized private doctors to prescribe on an “informed consent” basis, rather than making a full examination. Those websites then dispense the prescribed medicines directly to the patient with no further questions asked (i.e. very questionable practices).

    Caveat emptor!

    A new mood-brightener?

    Modafinil was recently tested head-to-head against Citalapram for the treatment of depression, and scored well:

    See its head-to-head scores here!

    How does it work? Modafinil does for dopamine what a lot of anti-depressants do for serotonin. Both dopamine and serotonin promote happiness and wakefulness.

    This is very promising, especially as modafinil (in most people, at least) has fewer unwanted side-effects than a lot of common anti-depressant medications.

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  • Body Image Dissatisfaction/Appreciation Across The Ages

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Every second news article about body image issues is talking about teens and social media use, but science tells a different story.

    A large (n=1,327) study of people of mixed genders aged 16–88 examined matters relating to people’s body image, expecting…

    ❝We hypothesized that body dissatisfaction and importance of appearance would be higher in women than in men, that body dissatisfaction would remain stable across age in women, and that importance of appearance would be lower in older women compared to younger women. Body appreciation was predicted to be higher in men than in women.❞

    As they discovered, only half of that turned out to be true:

    ❝In line with our hypotheses, body dissatisfaction was higher in women than in men and was unaffected by age in women, and importance of appearance was higher in women than in men.

    However, only in men did age predict a lower level of the importance of appearance. Compared to men, women stated that they would invest more hours of their lives to achieve their ideal appearance.

    Contrary to our assumption, body appreciation improved and was higher in women across all ages than in men.❞

    You can read the study in full here:

    Body Dissatisfaction, Importance of Appearance, and Body Appreciation in Men and Women Over the Lifespan

    That’s a lot of information, and we don’t have the space to go into all parts of it here, fascinating as that would be. So we’re going to put two pieces of information (from the above) next to each other:

    • body dissatisfaction was higher in women than in men and was unaffected by age in women
    • body appreciation improved and was higher in women across all ages than in men

    …and resolve this apparent paradox.

    Dissatisfied appreciation

    How is it that women are both more dissatisfied with, and yet also more appreciative of, their bodies?

    The answer is that we can have positive and negative feelings about the same thing, without them cancelling each other out. In short, simply, feeling more feelings about it.

    Whether the gender-related disparity in this case comes more from hormones or society could be vigorously debated, but chances are, it’s both. And, for our gentleman-readers, note that the principle still applies to you, even if scaled down on average.

    Call to action:

    • be aware of the negative feelings of body dissatisfaction
    • focus on the positive feelings of body appreciation

    While in theory both could motivate us to action, in reality, the former will tend to inform us (about what we might wish to change), while the latter will actually motivate us in a useful way (to do something positive about it).

    This is because the negative feelings about body image tend to be largely based in shame, and shame is a useless motivator (i.e., it simply doesn’t work) when it comes to taking positive actions:

    Why Shame Only Works Negatively

    You can’t hate yourself into a body you love

    That may sound like a wishy-washy platitude, but given the evidence on how shame works (and doesn’t), it’s true.

    Instead, once you’ve identified the things about your body with which you’re dissatisfied, you can then assess:

    • what can reasonably be changed
    • whether it is important enough to you to change it
    • how to go about usefully changing it

    While weight issues are perhaps the most commonly-discussed body image consideration, to the point that often all others get forgotten, let’s look at something that’s generally more specific to adults, and also a very common cause of distress for women and men alike: hair loss/thinning.

    If your hair is just starting to thin and fall, then if this bothers you, there’s a lot that can be done about it quite easily, but (and this is important) you have to love yourself enough to actually do it. Merely feeling miserable about it, and perhaps like you don’t deserve better, or that it is somehow a personal failing on your part, will not help.

    If your hair has been gone for years, then chances are you’ve made your peace with this by now, and might not even take it back if a fairy godmother came along and offered to restore it magically. On the other hand, let’s say that you’re just coming out the other end of a 10-year-long depression, and perhaps you let a lot of things go that you now wish you hadn’t, and maybe your hair is one of them. In this case, now you need to decide whether getting implants (likely the only solution at this late stage) is worth it.

    Note that in both cases, whatever the starting point and whether the path ahead is easy or hard, the person who has dissatisfaction and/but still values themself and their body will get what they need.

    In contrast, the person who has dissatisfaction and does not value themself and their body, will languish.

    The person without dissatisfaction, of course, probably already has what they need.

    In short: identification of dissatisfaction + love and appreciation of oneself and one’s body → motivation to usefully take action (out of love, not hate)

    Now, dear reader, apply the same thinking to whatever body image issues you may have, and take it from there!

    Embodiment

    A quick note in closing: if you are a person with no body dissatisfactions, there are two main possible reasons:

    • You are genuinely happy with your body in all respects. Congratulations!
    • You have disassociated from your body to such an extent that it’s become a mere vehicle to you and you don’t care about it.

    This latter may seem like a Zen-level win, but in fact it’s a warning sign for depression, so please do examine that even if you don’t “feel” depressed (depression is often characterized by a lack of feelings), perhaps by taking the (very quick) free PHQ9 Test ← under 2 minutes; immediate results; industry-standard diagnostic tool

    Take care!

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