Reticular Activating System
reticular activating system n.
The part of the reticular formation in the brainstem that plays a central role in bodily and behavioral alertness; its ascending connections affect the function of the cerebral cortex and its descending connections affect bodily posture and reflex mechanisms.
Your reticular formation, more specifically can project to the thalamus(function of the brain for relay motor and sensory signals to the cerebral cortex) and cerebral cortex(responsible for thinking, perceiving, producing and understanding language) that allows it to exert some control over which sensory signals reach the cerebrum and come to our conscious attention. This can play a major role in states of consciousness like alertness and sleep.
So why should I learn about the power of my reticular activating system in my brain?
Well, for staters, you have probably never heard of this part of your brain because it is one of the most intricate systems. For a while it seemed to not have much control over our brains, but as we learned more about our minds, we realized the complex structure of this system and its doings. Being able to understand your mind may be the most powerful thing you can learn to help further grow yourself. Understanding how it works, and why it works that way can be your key to a better, more peaceful life. Our minds are the most powerful part of our body, using 25% of our bodies energy and only equating to 2.5% of our bodies mass. When you realize that our mind, and our mindset of how life is perceived is all controlled by us and the thoughts we let come in and out of mind. Being able to better understand the reticular activating system in your mind can help you understand and challenge yourself to be able to accomplish more in your life. Yes, simply learning what this system in your brain does, can help you in your life, each day.
The Reticular Formation Part Of The Reticular Activating System:
The reticular formation is responsible for regulating sleep-wake cycle and filtering incoming stimuli to choose which is irrelevant and relevant background stimuli.
This part of your brain is essential for the major basic function of higher organism living, and it ones of the phylogenetically(The evolutionary development of an organ or other part of an organism) oldest portions of the brain, according to Boundless.
The reticular formation can be separated into four different key areas, for which it is responsible for, we will only focus on one. The part we will focus on, and are focusing on of the reticular formation is the habituation that the formation allows. Habitation, in physiological terms, shows the diminishing response to a frequently repeated stimulus. One example of this specific part of your brain is when you can ignore certain things and allow other things into your thought process. Such as, for example, when you live in a busy city, and it is loud at night, but you get use to this noise and are only awaken to the sound of your alarm. Your mind chooses and picks what stimuli it wants to be affected by and that is why I think the things you feed your brain, in regards to information and self-talk, can drastically change your outlook on life.
This is definitely part of the brain that is not intricately studied due to its diverse functions and having a vast collection of neuron channels. Its mains functions have been studied and researched, but a more in depth look into each specific part of this system is required.
I believe that the reticular activation system plays a large role in our perception and outlook on life. When we perceive our surrounding as bad, most likely life will turn to be bad. Ever wake up in the morning and spill coffee on your shirt? You get so frustrated by this altercation, the rest of your day seems to go just as bad, if not worse. This is only because you let the first thing affect your thoughts and mental process. When you perceive such a thing as ruining your day, your day will be ruined because your mind perceives and acts only on the stimuli you want to perceive.
Next time you get frustrated as soon as you wake up or throughout your day, don’t let it truly affect you. Let the thought pass, and you won’t notice a difference in the mental state of your day. Your whole day will be perceived differently because your mind did not consciously expect to have a bad day.
Our minds are powerful weapons with endless capabilities and you must be conscious of the things you say, do and how you react. Everything is being collected in a way that can either benefit you or impair you.
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