Studies have shown that when the body is at rest, it does not participate in any activities except basic breathing, digestion and warmth. At this time, our brain will consume 20% to 25% of the total energy of the body. In other words, for ordinary women and men, the average daily energy consumed by the brain is 350 and 450 calories respectively.
At the same time, the study also shows that the brain consumption in childhood is even more terrible. Doug Boier, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, said that it is surprising that children aged five to six can consume more than 60% of their body energy in their brains. Severe fatigue makes the brain the most energy-consuming organ in the human body, but interestingly, it only accounts for 2% of its total weight.
Whether the brain will be "hungry" is actually not difficult to understand. Neurons in the brain communicate through chemical signals transmitted by synapses. This process involves a large number of ions passing through the cell membrane, and a large amount of energy will be used to activate synapses, which is why the brain consumes a lot of energy.
It can be said that the brain has never really rested. When we sleep, we still need fuel to maintain the signals between cells to maintain the function of the body. Although it consumes most of the human body's energy, it may still starve to death, and the brain may be depleted by technical thinking.