Performance of Our Brain in Different Environments
While we have mechanisms to regulate the internal environment of our body, and thus our brain, the performance of our brain varies in different environments.
Body temperature
Our brain has a higher energy efficiency in a warmer temperature.
Rise of temperature in our brain leads to a higher energy efficiency of neural transmission by increasing the rate of ion exchange in our neural network.
Details can be found on this research article:
Warm Body Temperature Facilitates Energy Efficient Cortical Action Potentials
Sunlight exposure
Mental performance varies with the circadian rhythms, which arrives at different peaks for different individuals, but it is generally positively correlated with sunlight exposure, which stimulates the production of serotonin, the chemical that supports neurological activities.
Below are related contents from a research article:
Recently, mental performance has been found to be greatly affected by circadian rhythms, variations in physiological rhythms based on an approximate 24-hour period. Circadian rhythms control the daily cycle of biological activity, affecting not only sleep and waking, but also corticosteroid secretion, body temperature, pulse, blood pressure, urine volume, eosinophil count, etc. Human evolution, starting with chemical, cellular, and biological evolution, took place within the rhythms of sunlight and the constant alternations of morning, afternoon, and night. Perhaps as a result, we can say that circadian rhythms became embedded in the hypothalamus as a biological clock, and not surprisingly, the mental performance is dependent on them.
Mental performance and circadian rhythms are deeply interconnected in a number of ways. For example, afternoon types perform well during the day, but show poor mental performance in the early morning or late afternoon. In general, mental performance declines after noon, but more complicated tasks show greater deterioration than simpler tasks, which may be due to fatigue.
The research article can be found here:
Mental Performance and Circadian Rhythm — Projects
Conclusion
Our brain is environment-dependent, so its performance varies in different body temperature and sunlight exposure.
