Physical exercise loads not only muscles, but also brain

Scientists from France and the UK found that not only muscles get tired during physical training, but also the area of ​​the human brain that is responsible for making decisions.

According to the researchers, this is because a person constantly controls himself so as not to overwork and not get injured, TASS reported referring to Current Biology.

The physical fatigue of athletes can consist not only of purely physical fatigue, but mental stress also makes a significant contribution. Scientists believe that this effect is especially pronounced when an athlete overloads himself.

The authors of the new study investigated 37 people involved in eventing - a sport that includes running, swimming and cycling. For three weeks, half of the subjects trained according to a moderately enhanced program, during which scientists increased their standard load by 40%. The second half trained as usual.

Scientists learned about how the participants in the experiment feel from special questionnaires, analysis of their behavior, and also using magnetic resonance imaging. The latter method allowed scientists to find out which areas of the brain of athletes were involved during training.

It turned out that the subjects from the first group during these three weeks felt tired - all the indicators spoke about this. MRI readings revealed that athletes have activated an area that is usually responsible for monitoring and decision making.

Based on this, scientists conclude that during training - especially strengthened ones - not only the muscles that do the direct work get tired. At the same time, the brain is also tired, which controls all the processes that occur in our body. He makes sure that the muscles are not overworked more than necessary, so that no damage appears.

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