Health
What is ‘brain rot’? The science behind what too much scrolling does to our brains
Oxford University Press has chosen “brain rot” as its word of the year.
The word is defined as “supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as a result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration.”
Some experts believe that constant, endless scrolling of social media and other online content is doing exactly that – rotting our brains.
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Behavioral neuroscientist Dr. Kyra Bobinet, author of “Unstoppable Brain,” told Fox News Digital that there is a growing awareness of brain rot and its consequences.
Oxford University Press choosing “brain rot” as the word of the year is “pinpointing the issues,” according to one expert. (iStock)
“It’s in the zeitgeist that people have difficulty with their attention span. They feel brain foggy, they [have] less concentration … They can’t do deep work,” said California-based Bobinet.
“And then there’s also this epidemic of loneliness that has been kind of sitting on the heels of this, because we can’t really focus on anything, including relationship-building.”
Stuck in a scroll
A certain part of the brain, called the habenula, is responsible for getting stuck in endless scrolling, according to Bobinet.
The habenula is a central part of the brain that’s involved in various important functions, including motivation and decision-making. But when activated, this area can also “kill our motivation to try,” she noted.
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“It’s the heart of when you know you should be doing something, and you do this other thing instead, like ‘doom-scrolling,’” she said.
“This is the area of our brain that when it’s on, we feel depressed. We feel out of control, we feel impulsive, we feel addicted,” one neurologist said about the habenula. (iStock)
Scrolling on social media is also a way to “disassociate” and give the brain a rest after a long day, Bobinet said. This is an “avoidance behavior,” which the habenula controls.
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“Anytime you’re avoiding something, you know this area of the brain is on,” she said.
This is how social media addictions can form, Bobinet warned, as this part of the brain can make it “very painful” to stop scrolling.
“There’s this epidemic of loneliness that has been kind of sitting on the heels of this, because we can’t really focus on anything, including relationship-building,” one expert said. (iStock)
This can result in a “dangerous” loss of motivation, the neuroscientist warned.
“We all need motivation to live our lives and to feel proud of ourselves and to feel confident and to get what we want,” she told Fox News Digital.
How to avoid brain rot
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for avoiding brain rot, according to Bobinet.
The key is learning what works best for the individual, she said, which involves “tweaking and tinkering and adjusting as you go,” she said.
“Humans are very resilient,” she added. “Once we know the truth about our bodies, then we can do something about it.”
Scrolling on social media is a way to “disassociate” and give the brain a rest after a long day, which is an “avoidance behavior,” one neuroscientist said. (iStock)
Dr. Don Grant, national adviser of healthy device management at Newport Healthcare in Los Angeles, called out device makers and content producers for keeping users hooked to their devices.
“They’re very clever, these creators who created these algorithms and also leverage our limbic system – the same [way] the people who created slot machines did,” he told Fox News Digital. “Pull the handle … You never know what you’re going to get.”
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Grant said he’s concerned about “the death of some things,” including imagination.
“We don’t have to imagine anything anymore,” he said. “We pick up our devices every time. I’m worried about memory. I’m worried about education.”
Grant said he often hears from kids that they spend eight hours on any given night scrolling and watching videos, which “disrupts their sleep hygiene.”
One expert said he often hears from kids that they spend eight hours on any given night scrolling and watching videos, which “disrupts their sleep hygiene.” (iStock)
“And I say, ‘OK, can you tell me one video you remember?’ I have yet to have one kid really be able to remember anything they saw.”
“Our brain matter is diminishing, our memories are diminishing [and] our attention spans are diminishing,” Grant warned.
“I’m worried about memory. I’m worried about education.”
The expert offered some tips to avoid getting stuck in a “doom scroll” of “endless, bottomless” content, especially for children.
Since the internet is “archived forever,” Grant noted that “FOMO,” or fear of missing out, is not a valid reason to stay online.
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“Maybe phone a friend or FaceTime your grandma for the holidays,” he suggested.
Grant also urges people to be more strategic about spending time online, splitting it up into 80% “meaningful, legitimate” content and 20% entertainment.
One expert urges people to be more strategic about spending time online, splitting it up into 80% “meaningful, legitimate” content and 20% entertainment. (iStock)
“For digital hygiene and well-being, you can set limits, you can block access,” said Grant. “Set tech-free times and zones in your home, especially for families.”
“Get outside, move a muscle … play memory games, intellectually challenging or educational games.”
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The expert also encourages people to ask themselves a few questions after scrolling to help gauge the quality of time spent.
These might include: “Could you tell me how much time you were online? Did you spend more time than you wanted to? Did you feel better?”
Grant added, “There’s a perceived danger of virtual life and how we’re using our free time – at the end of it, are you really feeling good about yourself?”
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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.
The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.
More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.
The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.
As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)
Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.
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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”
“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)
Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”
The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.
The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.
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“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”
Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.
Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)
Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.
The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.
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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”
“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”
The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.
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“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.
“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”
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Nearsightedness (myopia) is skyrocketing globally, with nearly half of the world’s population expected to be myopic by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
Heavy use of smartphones and other devices is associated with an 80% higher risk of myopia when combined with excessive computer use, but a new study suggests that dim indoor lighting could also be a factor.
For years, scientists have been puzzled by the different ways myopia is triggered. In lab settings, it can be induced by blurring vision or using different lenses. Conversely, it can be slowed by something as simple as spending time outdoors, research suggests.
Nearsightedness occurs when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA). This physical elongation causes light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it, making distant objects appear blurry.
The study suggests that myopia isn’t caused by the digital devices themselves, but by the low-light environments where they are typically used. (iStock)
Researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry identified a potential specific trigger for this growth. When someone looks at a phone or a book up close, the pupil naturally constricts.
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“In bright outdoor light, the pupil constricts to protect the eye while still allowing ample light to reach the retina,” Urusha Maharjan, a SUNY Optometry doctoral student who conducted the study, said in a press release.
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“When people focus on close objects indoors, such as phones, tablets or books, the pupil can also constrict — not because of brightness, but to sharpen the image,” she went on. “In dim lighting, this combination may significantly reduce retinal illumination.”
High-intensity natural light prevents myopia because it provides enough retinal stimulation to override the “stop growing” signal, even when pupils are constricted. (iStock)
The hypothesis suggests that when the retina is deprived of light during extended close-up work, it sends a signal for the eye to grow.
In a dim environment, the narrowed pupil allows so little light through that the retinal activity isn’t strong enough to signal the eye to stop growing, the researchers found.
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In contrast, being outdoors provides light levels much brighter than indoors. This ensures that even when the pupil narrows to focus on a nearby object, the retina still receives a strong signal, maintaining healthy eye development.
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The team noted some limitations of the study, including the small subject group and the inability to directly measure internal lens changes, as the bright backgrounds used to mimic the outdoors made pupils too small for standard equipment.
Researchers believe that increasing indoor brightness during close-up work could be a simple, testable way to slow the global nearsightedness epidemic. (iStock)
“This is not a final answer,” Jose-Manuel Alonso, MD, PhD, SUNY distinguished professor and senior author of the study, said in the release.
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“But the study offers a testable hypothesis that reframes how visual habits, lighting and eye focusing interact.”
The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.
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