Listen to Story Until now, what exactly goes on in our brains when we have to make a decision, has been a mystery for scientists. But researchers from ETH Zurich, a public research university in Switzerland, have found a particular brain chemical that mediates this decision. They found that a messenger substance called orexin and the neurons that produce it are responsible for decision-making when it comes to exercising and having a high-calorie snack .
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 80% of adolescents and 27% of adults don't get enough exercise. With obesity rates increasing worldwide, this study could help create strategies to combat this public health crisis, the researchers said. In their experiments with mice, the researchers demonstrated that orexin is crucial to this process.
Orexin is one of more than a hundred messenger substances active in the brain. While other chemical messengers like serotonin and dopamine were identified long ago and their roles are well understood, orexin remains less explored. It was discovered relatively recently, about 25 years ago, and scientists are still uncovering its functions gradually.
Denis Burdakov, Professor of Neuroscience at ETH Zurich is among the researchers dedicated to studying orexin. "Dopamine is often cited as the reason we choose certain activities over others," said Burdakov, highlighting its role in motivation. However, he pointed out that since dopamine is released during both eating and exercising ,.