The Newly Discovered Energy Miser in Your Brain

Fun Fact: Your brain accounts for roughly 2% of your body weight, but it consumes about 20% of the oxygen you breathe and the calories you burn.

Given the proportionally large percentage of resources that are dedicated to your brain, it makes sense that it would economize its use of energy for optimal performance. From how it's wired to how it acts, researchers have found dozens of ways your brain conserves energy. Here's a recent discovery that may surprise you.

Researchers using an MRI have found a specific place in your brain that lights up when you have an intuitive thought or feeling. Call it a hunch, a gut feeling, or intuitive hit. When you have it, your brain activates.

This finding provides a concrete, physical link between the esoteric and scientific worlds. Intuition isn't woo-woo any more; it's a fact. And it begs the question, what does your brain use intuition for?

Let's begin by defining the term. The definition of intuition is: the direct perception of truth or fact independent of any reasoning process.

Using the energy economizing theory, your brain will use the quickest method it can find to figure out what's happening and respond in a powerful way. In this context, intuition makes sense as a tool for: 1) perceiving the intentions of others, and 2) the best course of action to get what you want.

I've heard dozens of Fortune 500 CEOs proudly say they trust their intuition more than facts. And this is a group that values facts!

So it makes logical sense that your intuition would act as a primary filter of your experience. It enables you to conserve mental energy, thus enabling you get more done in a more efficient manner.

Another Fun Fact: Recent research has discovered that your gut is your second brain. Just as you have neurons in your brain, you also have neurons in your gut. They transmit information directly to your brain via the vagus nerve.

Quite simply, your gut and brain are hard wired. This connection wouldn't exist if it served no purpose.This means that those gut feelings you're having aren't burrito-related, they're actually a very sophisticated part of your thinking process.

Today's Coaching Question: In which situations are you comfortable trusting your intuition, and under what conditions don't you trust it?