According to recent research by scientists, some types of professional activity are not aimed at developing the brain at all. They, on the contrary, reduce it or change the structure. It was also revealed which particular professions threaten our gray matter.
Abilities of our brain
The functioning of the brain is like muscle. When a certain load appears, the activity of the brain involved in complex processes increases. In the absence of any activity, the opposite phenomenon occurs: neurons simplify and, as a result, become smaller.
Our brain has another interesting feature: if you are engaged in some specific activity, then the specific brain structures included in the process will increase and constantly improve, while others that are not involved in the work will gradually decrease.
Thanks to these facts and some experiments, scientists were able to find out which professions reduce brain activity.
Identify dangerous professions for the brain
Belgian researchers conducted several experiments with the participation of astronauts. Using MRI, they examined their brain. The results of the pre-flight procedure were taken as a basis, which were then compared with the images obtained after being sent to space. The results showed that the level of white matter in the brain became lower, as well as gray, located in the temporal lobes. After some time, the gray matter returned to normal, but the amount of white remained at the same level.
Scientists did not stop there: they analyzed the brain activity of other people specializing in different professional fields in order to identify the relationship between the type of their activity and its effect on the brain. It turned out that other people are also subject to changes similar to those that occur in astronauts. Doing one thing leads to the fact that in general the structure of the brain remains the same, however, the amount of white matter in it becomes less. And it does not return to its previous level when carried away by other activities.
So what are the professions at risk?
The most dangerous professions for our brain are those that include the processing of various information, as well as aimed at the use of intelligence and logic. These include cleaners, taxi drivers, salesmen, linguists and chess players.
It would seem that the latest activities related to intellectual abilities should comprehensively develop brain activity. However, in the process of research it turned out that in this case the occipital lobes of the brain responsible for the spatial perception of objects are practically not involved, which ultimately leads to their reduction.
Such people also include musicians who have enlarged those lobes of the brain that are responsible for fine motor skills.