The drain by the brain!

Many times you would have heard someone say, “Do not think so much!”

Well, that is an issue since we all (at least most!) have this WHITE ELEPHANT which keeps us going!

You spend a major part of your energy and resources to keep it going! It is like a zombie which makes you do its bidding!

Why do your hand get cold when you are not well!? The CHIEF directs all the major resources to itself and the extremities suffer!

Then again you cannot complain since you have to complain to the chief only!

Now that CHIEF is your BRAIN!

The human brain is a Metabolic “Energy Hog” or the ENERGY PIG! Even though it accounts for only 2%–2.5% of body weight, it consumes roughly 20%–25% of the body’s total resting metabolic energy!

If you thought that this is its only luxury; well it is like a king!

The shape and size of the brain is the reason why you are born so immature! (Some still remain like that!). In fact the proper maturity and growth of the brain is completed only at around age 12! But you cannot keep a child in the womb for so long! So  to fit a large-brained baby through a narrow pelvis, humans have to give birth prematurely compared to other primates!

Which is why human infants are helpless for a long period requiring massive social and parental investment for survival, which in turn forced the evolution of complex social behaviors!

Then again its increased metabolic activity makes its more susceptibility to Neurodegeneration! The same complexity and high activity that allow for advanced cognition and plasticity also make the human brain vulnerable.
The long-lived human brain is susceptible to unique neurodegenerative diseases (like Alzheimer’s) that are rarely seen in other species, partly because the brain is highly active over an extended lifespan, leading to more “wear and tear”!

So you have a priceless costly high maintenance equipment which is literally draining you! Then again if you have one you would keep doing the same!


Big brains also would be required to make movies like Shankarabharanam by Kasinadhuni Viswanath!

Now give some well deserved rest to the power hungry brain!

Shubh ratri!