Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
e.g. memory is generally positive as there is evidence for cognitive and neural plas-
ticity across the adult life span
[47]
. Modern society, including the growing develop-
ment of technology and the amount of information available, can thus in some sense
be stimulating for the brain, given that the individual will be able to emotionally cope
with this situation and organize the amount of available information and stimuli. One
example of this is the use of computer game task in children with attention-deficit/
hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to train working memory which also reduces the
symptoms of hyperactivity and inattention
[48]
.
11.6 Concluding Remarks
The physiological response patterns to emotional and environmental stimuli are phy-
logenetically very old. These response patterns, including the defence and defeat
reactions are activated repeatedly, though usually in mild form, on every day basis
in modern society. This calls for an almost continuous engagement of emotional and
behavioural responses, but fortunately the highly developed neocortex is usually able
to cope with such situations.
In reality, distinguishing between the activation of the defence and defeat reactions
in modern life is difficult, as man can be faced with many situations even during the
same hour, causing shifts between defeat or defence reactions. Since the physiological
expressions differ considerably between these reactions, the net outcome can some-
times be difficult to interpret, including measurements of the biological responses to
psychosocial stress. This could partly explain the discrepancy in the literature regard-
ing measurements of biological markers of psychosocial stress and health outcome
such as immune function.
Our brain is bombarded with millions-of-bits of information each minute, though,
thanks to blissful inhibitory mechanisms, consciousness is usually not overwhelmed
by this. Modern research on brain plasticity has also revealed the brain's remark-
able ability to adapt and modify its structure, and this is probably one of the key
explanations why the brain has adapted quite well to modern society. However, due
to sustained environmental stimuli in combination with vulnerability and maybe
most importantly lack of recovery, quite-a-few individuals can develop emotional
problems, trying to cope with the stream of challenges in modern, hectic life. Such
situations invite to more or less sustained engagements of the defence and/or defeat
reactions, with consequences of both mental and somatic disturbances. To this comes,
quite often, unhealthy life style including inactivity and too high caloric intake,
which further increases the risk of cardiovascular, metabolic and/or immunological
disorders in various constellations, as outlined above.
After all, from a strictly biological point-of-view, modern hectic life is often on
collision course with how the genetic code of our species, via the tough principle of
“survival of the fittest” is organized. To paraphrase the colourful metaphor of the out-
standing exercise physiologist, P.O. Åstrand, the long history of our species can be com-
pared with a 42 195 meter long marathon run, where our own run can be considered to
start when the first primitive tools were produced. In such a perspective, agriculture is
