Why does the brain constantly think?

Question

well mine does, unless i force myself not to. basically if you can send me an article i'd greatly appreciate it =)

Answer 1

Well, because that's how we survive. Brain activity can be a defensive weapon - if we're always thinking, then that means we're always perceiving our surroundings, looking for dangers and opportunities. If our thinking just shut off, then we wouldn't be able to think about and respond to our surroundings.

Answer 2

It's like that line from a Dave Matthews song - "My head won't leave my head alone."  And not only is the brain constantly "on" but it also is on at multiple levels.  

Of course the brain has to be constantly functioning in order for us to live.  But the "thinking" part can be modulated.  Here's a website which talks about this:

http://www.successconsciousness.com/blog...

Answer 3

Neurons must fire on a regular basis in order to stay alive.  If they are prevented from firing, they die.  Obviously, what I just said being true, we are not aware of all that firing.  The firing must be synchronous and recruit a certain number of neurons in synchrony for us to be "conscious" of the firing, it then being a possible "thought".  However, we are not conscious of all synchronous firings because we can act without thinking, such as in reflex actions.

Given the above, the question arises, how do we define "thought"?  In what sense are we always "thinking"?  Are you asking, Why are neurons constantly firing?  I am not sure what you are asking, since the question can be interpreted in many ways.

Answer 4

The neuron answer was true and very informative but I think it may have been a little too deep than what you were asking. If you are like me, you are constantly thinking about past, present and future events. Remembering conversations that went good or bad and thinking of how I could have said it better. Remembering something funny or ignorant or gross.

I heard that the way our brains get peace, in a way, is to solve problems or questions that you don't understand. I also heard that the more you think about those kind of things it shows the level of intelligence you have. I'm not talking about thinking about the same one thing over and over again. That's being obsessed about something you obviously can't change. This will keep you from focusing on things that you can do something about and the things you should be spending time on.