🧗🏻‍♀️ How autonomous are we really?

Lessons from climbing

Why we’re not so autonomous sometimes

Isn’t it so telling that I’m writing about the predictive nature of the brain, right after hitting the Order Now button on Deliveroo to get my (almost) weekly dose of pad thai?

Having just finished reading Seven and A Half Lessons About the Brain by the great Lisa Feldman Barrett, I was determined to write about the brain. The problem was, being on the tail end of my ear infection journey (knock on wood), my mind had been predominantly preoccupied by one thing: how to distract myself from it (you can read more about that and why you feel sicker in the evening by clicking on this link).

So I was stuck. I wanted to write about all the cool things I learned about the brain but wasn’t sure how to connect it to my experience, because all I’d been doing was climbing and trying not to think about my ear pain. After all, it works — when I go climbing I get distracted and I don’t think about the pain.

Climbing is a fun way to work out, because it doesn’t feel like a workout. There’s a problem-solving component to it that hooks a lot of people in, including myself. But what’s more interesting about climbing is that I find it to be such a great social activity. There’s always such a positive energy at the gym and you just cheer each other on, even strangers. And I think there’s more to it than that — yes, this is where I segue into the main event: the brain. So in the name of science, let me indulge myself in a bit of an ego massage. The thing is, having recently made new climbing friends, I’ve noticed that I’ve gotten a bit better. Not by much, but still — improvement! But part of me wonders if what’s happening is somewhat beyond my control, and the brain has some explaining to do.

Your brain predicts almost everything you do

Contrary to popular belief (and how we might feel), your brain is a predicting organ which can sense moment-to-moment changes before those data hit your brain. This is also true internally — your brain can sense these changes before it actually receives data from the relevant organs in your body. One of the example Lisa uses in her book is drinking water to quench your thirst — I’m sure you will have had this experience before. When you’re thirsty and you drink a glass of water to its very last drop, within seconds you’ll find yourself feeling less thirsty. But this given the fact that water actually takes 20 minutes to reach your bloodstream, water can’t possibly quench your thirst within seconds. So who’s responsible? Your brain and the prediction it makes. As well as executing the action of drinking, it also anticipates the sensory effect you’ll experience from drinking water, way before it takes actual effect.

Interestingly, your brain also constructs what you feel inside your body and adds information from your past experiences. So if you’re tired, you may feel hungry because you’ve been hungry before when your energy was low. So you think a piece of chocolate can make you feel better, when really, you just need some sleep.

And how does this relate to climbing? As someone who is still relatively new to climbing, my past experiences tell my brain to be cautious. And because my brain is wired to initiate actions before I’m even aware of them, my brain is going to decide that based on my past experiences, it’s way safer to not engage in any risky move. I have never had enough strength to go above level 2 or even 3 in climbing, and plus I have never been the sporty or athletic type before (I hated PE) — so of course I’m better off staying where I am?! Right?

Your brain can rewire with the help of other brains

Obviously practice helps make you better at something. In this case, the more you go climbing, the more progress you’ll make and the better you’ll get. However, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll grow confidence overnight. This is where other people can come in and help our brain rewire. What do I mean by this?

Studies have shown that we regulate each other’s energy, or body budget. This means that if I raise my voice at you, I can affect what goes on inside your body. Your heart, for example, might start beating faster in anticipation of something bad happening. Interestingly, words also have a strong effect on your body budget. If I say something nice to you, or something bad, my words can have a direct effect on your brain as well as your bodily systems because the brain regions that process language also control many major organs and systems that support your body budget. To link it back to climbing, it makes sense why going climbing with friends can make the experience positive and give you extra confidence. When you have supportive people cheering you on and helping you solve puzzles, they essentially help you regulate your body budgets. You’re now carrying the weight together, as opposed to doing it on your own.

Your brain can mirror others’ behaviors and learn to make new interpretations

When you’re doing something that’s technically a stress on your body such as exercise, you might find your heart beating a bit faster, and your palms getting sweaty. These are some of the symptoms of anxiety, but they’re also symptoms of excitement. But now that you have help with your body budget regulation, I suspect it becomes easier for your brain to make new predictions. On top of that, your brain is also very good at mirroring movements and behaviors of others that we’re not even aware of. So if you’ve got confident friends doing confident stuff, then you’re likely to copy that behavior. And now, the physical symptoms that you probably thought were due to anxiety can be attributed to excitement. If whatever drives your brain’s predictions is whatever your brain is modeling at the moment, it makes sense that your climbing performance can improve if you go with friends!

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