Your Brain is like a Battery

I was recently working with someone who had neck pain after a mountain biking accident. During the evaluation, he reported hitting his head on the ground and experiencing a concussion during the accident. He stated "I am having difficulty remembering recent events and multi-tasking is near impossible! It's extremely frustrating!." Performing higher level tasks was easier in the morning and became progressively more challenging throughout each day. Additionally, he reported the desire to take naps throughout the day. When he questioned why his brain felt exhausted, I told him "It is because your brain operates much like a battery." 

(This text is adapted from "Sticks & Stones," a book by Jarod Hall PT, DPT, OCS and Jim Heafner PT, DPT, OCS. "Sticks and Stones" is in the final stages of development. Final versions of the text to be released to public in May 2018. Please reach out if you are interested in learning more information!)

If you have persistent pain, recently had a surgery, or an injury (such as a concussion), your brain may be working in overdrive!  In each of these scenarios it's not uncommon for patients to report that their brains feel tired early in the day, that they have trouble doing complex thinking tasks such as math, and even mix up their left from their right! Why does this happen? In situations like this you can liken your brain to a battery. This idea can be thought of in two separate ways.

1)    You start each day at 100%, but quickly drain the battery each day
2)    You start each day at 50% or 75%, unable to fully charge the battery

When you are experiencing persistent pain, your brain isn't receiving adequate rest or recharge each day while at the same time it’s burning through battery life at a faster rate. It could be likened to plugging in your Iphone, but removing it from the charger at 50% or constantly having apps running in the background using up all of your battery charge. Your ability to complete all tasks is limited because you are starting at a lower energy threshold. Factors that can affect battery levels are stress, sleep, diet, exercise, nutrition, and performing complex or high stimulation tasks.

To reverse this process, you must understand that your brain is very adaptable and needs to be charged up just like a battery. To break the cycle and charge your brain battery and get out of pain you must focus on getting good sleep, spending time doing meaningful activities, gradually introducing and progressing exercise, eating well, and finding ways of managing stress. The human brain will continue to remold and remodel to gradually get stronger. However, it is a sensitive structure. As your brain is getting stronger, you must respect the healing process.

Think about the battery on your phone or computer. Certain programs use more energy and cause the battery to operate slower. Similarly, your brain uses more energy to perform certain tasks and process complex scenarios. 

By Jim Heafner PT, DPT, OCS
Heafner Health Physical Therapy & Movement Specialists
Boulder, CO

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