Two Minds Blog

  Fatigue is one of the most common symptom experiences, both among people with chronic illnesses and among healthy adults. Unfortunately, it's one with no easy medical solution: Caffeine helps in the short term, but its effects aren't as restorative as sleep. And the same factors that cause fatigue can also interfere with getting restful sleep or true recovery. Unfortunately, this post isn't going to be about how to reduce fatigue; instead, it's about what happens in the brain when we are tired. We're all likely to be fatigued at some point, so it might be useful to understand how that affects us. A 2022 study using fMRI brain scan technology found that the amount of inter-connection between different parts of the brain tended to decrease after people completed a cognitively demanding task. That this means is that the conscious, deliberate, Narrative Mind becomes isolated from the Intuitive Mind that actually controls behavior. Similarly, a 2021 study showed that ...

  In my blog post on Nudges , I talked about why grocery stores sell higher-profit items at eye level (because people are more likely to buy those). That's an example of "design architecture," defined as environmental structures that encourage or discourage particular forms of behavior. NPR's Planet Money  podcast highlighted another form of design architecture in a recent episode : package size.  After many years of offering only a few standardized sizes for their products, manufacturers have begun selling the same products in a much wider range of packages. Coca-Cola was a pioneer in this area of marketing, launching tiny cans for health-conscious consumers and also giant bottles for families and parties. The price of the actual soda can vary along with its package size: People are actually willing to pay a higher price per ounce when the can or bottle is smaller, because of the perception of convenience or health benefits. But size can also have an effect on how m...