Did I just fry my brain?

Nick wrote to ask (and I have copy and pasted his email exactly as I received it - you’ll understand why later)

Hi

I’m a 16 year old boy.I’m a student.

I’ve read in an article that people can increase their inteligence by

stimulating their brain with electricity

I connected two wires with a 9 volt battery.After that i connected the other

edge of the wires on my forehead (on the area behind eyebrows).I left it

there for about 20 minutes.Then i felt a burned,on that area so dissconected

the wires.

After that,i feel very depresed.I feel like having fog in my mind.I don’t

know where that feeling comes from.Maybe it’s because i caused a serius


barin injury or because i feel very guilty of what have done.The sure thing

is that i will not do such silly thing again.

The question to you is whether a 9 volt battery,connected with wires on my

forehead can cause serius injury to my brain.

Again i feel very guilty of what i have done.I wish,you find an answer from

my question

Thanks a lot

Nick

Okay, Nick, my first impulse here is to nominate you for an honorable mention at the Darwin Awards, but I just realized that it must have worked - you had the intelligence to disconnect when you felt the burning sensation.

Joking aside, no you could not have possibly hurt yourself with a 9 volt battery attached to your forehead. What you are feeling is likely a “placebo” effect - you are feeling weird because you think maybe you ought to feel weird. In other words, you are right - it is because you feel guilty about doing something so silly.

I also cannot find any references to research regarding people becoming smarter by applying electricity to their brains. Many years ago when electroshock therapy was in use on mental patients the effects most certainly did not include making them smarter - quite the contrary. (Please do not try electroshock on yourself)

There is evidence that intelligence, or at least mental alertness, can be sharpened by doing puzzles and playing games that require mental agility. Ginko Bilboa, a herb, can also increase mental alertness and is often used by students (in reasonable moderation). Read, study, oh and learn to use the spellchecker on your emails, and I think you will see greater improvement than by using a 9 volt battery.

Take care

Summer