It happened that the smartest joke I ever heard was so clever, I didn’t get it. It had to be explained to me three times before I sort of got it. By the fourth explanation, I said, “Oh, now I get it,” just to shut the guy up. And to think some people often referred to him as being brain-dead.
One day while picking berries at Hugli’s Blueberry Ranch, I had a conversation with a high school student who had a summer job there. After some chit chat about whatnot, I asked him, “What do you like most about going to school?”
He said, “Playing football,” and then continued to give an intense account of the past year’s games from his perspective as a defensive end, even though the school lost every game.
“Yes, we lost every one but I still enjoyed the tackling and blocking that was part of playing my position.” I brought the subject of concussions up to see if it was talked about by the coach. He apparently got a concussion during the season and had to sit out the next game until he recovered. He did say the school and coaches were well-versed on head injuries.
Was he worried about ever getting another one I inquired. “I don’t worry about it at all. I just enjoy all the excitement of being part of football” he said. He must have a real fetish for the sport: He was a winless team and endured a concussion, all for the sake of being one of the football players. Next year he hopes to move over to offense and nail down a position as a running back.
The idea of concussions especially playing football, is finally being recognized by teams and coaches as a real possibility for long-term injuries. A concussion is a traumatic brain injury caused by the brain being violently bounced around inside the skull. This type of injury can be caused by too many hits to the head or a sudden whipping back and forth of the neck.
I thought about all the former NFL players suffering in their retirement years from memory loss, depression or dementia, for openers. Likely these health problems are due to the aftermath of multiple concussions.
I would hazard a bet that if a player was suspected of getting a concussion, he would be benched only as long as he wasn’t needed back on the field, at least not that many years ago. Being sent back into the game too early just to win at all costs would be at the cost of the player’s own well-being. Fortunately for me, I participated in less rugged sports like picking berries.
And I went picking blueberries again last week. I met the same student I talked with before. This time he was interested in careers. I told him a bit about myself, then he mentioned he had one in mind that involved arc welding and asked what I thought. I figured he faced that usual dilemma of a Trade versus continuing studies. Cautiously I answered, “Go with what your brain is telling you for now but keep your options open.” Many a brainy person has forewarned anyone that listens, “We will become as we think.”
If the human brain weighs about three pounds on average, would a lighter person like myself at 160 pounds have an intelligence advantage over someone weighing 220 pounds because of my more brain per body capita?
Surprisingly, a study found, that the taste of beer may be enough to trigger the release of the pleasure chemical, dopamine, in the brain. I have been predominantly a wine drinker but from now on I will double-down down on the Bud Light.
The human brain is the same basic structure as other mammal brains, but is larger in relation to body size than theirs. Maybe we are cleverer than say a black bear but we sure can’t outrun or outfight it.
In a brain’s anatomy, the largest part is the cerebrum which is divided into two hemispheres, the right and left brain. Since the left brain controls all the muscles on the right-hand side of the body, and the right brain the muscles on the left side, no wonder I often get lost when driving out of this area or sometimes go upstairs instead of down. Or maybe I only had the one side working when things went really haywire on a given day. A few times someone has said to me, “Grylls, if you had a brain it would be lonesome.” Definitely not nice but said jokingly, I hope!
There is another aspect to the left or right side of the brain that isn’t as well known. If you are standing before a person on the left side of that person, then that person will be more agreeable and courteous with you. I make it a point when I am confronted by those with authority or an aggressive nature, to always be on their left side. I believe in going with the odds.
The brain of physicist Albert Einstein has been a subject of much research. Einstein’s brain was removed within seven-and-a-half hours before his death, attracting much attention because of his reputation as one of the foremost geniuses of the 20th century. Apparent regularities or irregularities in his brain have been used to support various correlations in neuroanatomy and mathematical intelligence. Studies have shown that regions of his brain involved in language and speech were smaller than regions involved with numerical processing. It might explain why politicians are considered more brainless than engineers, accountants, tradespeople, etc.
A woman the other day was saying how interested her teenage son was in the mysteries of the brain, even reading texts that he didn’t have too. He may not realize yet that he is escalating his own brain power to its full potential.
