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Brain on Sleep

By Makayla Jacobs

A common misconception among the public is our ability to convince ourselves that our brain does the best work when we are under stress. Many think that the brain is being forced to make decisions faster, resulting in more thinking at one time. In reality, stress causes a hormone called cortisol to form which increases the amount of glucose, or sugar, that goes into our bloodstream. Because of this, as a key to survival, our brain reaches its fight or flight instincts, causing us to either fight against the situation present or run away from it.

When we are under this type of decision-making, our mind is far more likely to go blank and not be able to take the time to calmly process everything occurring. Due to this lack of processing, our unconscious thoughts become locked away and it becomes very difficult to produce new conscious thoughts apart from what is needed to survive.

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Another misconception is the fact that our brain completely stops working while we sleep. Lack of brain activity would typically result from some type of damage or disability. If it were to stop functioning for any reason, it would likely cause paralysis, a coma, or even death.

Rather than lack of brain activity at night, sleep forms when we become relaxed, not when our minds become inactive. Typically, relaxation develops through a lack of stress, which leads to our brain's ability to do the most work. This is why we sometimes wake up to great ideas or have the ability in the morning to plan out our day ahead because our brain spent the night recharging, imagining, and creating with the information it has.

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