Fascinating Facts about the Brain
Most people find it intimidating to learn about how the brain works. The general assumption is that our brain is so complex that it would be difficult to understand the ins and outs of its operation. But I have come to appreciate that learning the “cool facts about the brain” makes it easier to learn about this fascinating organ inside our skull.
A substantial part of your brain is made up of blood vessels. As such, factors that improve circulation (such as exercise) are good for your brain and factors that damage your blood vessels (such as poor diet) are bad for your brain. You will learn all about these facts throughout this book.
Within the first year of life, your brain grows to three times its original size. Your brain will continue to grow until you are around 18 years old. Actually, your final brain development is not completed until you are 25 years old. The part of your brain that controls your reasoning and decision- making (frontal lobes), is the last area of the brain to mature and strengthen.
Your brain gets smaller after the age 50, depending on how well you have taken care of it throughout your life.
This shrinkage is minimal if you are healthy and strong. However, it becomes a major problem if you have poor lifestyle habits such as smoking, eating junk food, using drugs, drinking too much alcohol, or having uncontrolled diabetes and/or obesity. Patients with advanced Alzheimer’s disease also experience significant atrophy in their brain.
The myth that you only use 10 percent of your brain is wrong. In fact, you use all of your brain when you do different things. Parts of your brain are more active when you are doing math puzzles, while other parts of your brain are more active when you play basketball. You don’t, however, have any brain areas that are silent at any time.
Surprisingly, your brain can feel the pain in your arms and legs, but it itself cannot feel pain. When surgeons cut the brain open, as in when they need to remove a tumor, the brain itself does not hurt. There are no pain signals on the surface or
inside of your brain.
Every minute, your heart pumps approximately 3/4 liter of blood to your brain (almost the size of a bottle of wine).
This is a lot of blood! Your brain weighs about 2% of your body, however, it receives 15%-20% of the blood from your heart. That is why you need to have a healthy heart in order to have a healthy brain. When the blood flow to the brain is compromised (due to a heart attack or a stroke), it will not function well.
About 60% of your brain, especially the connection bundles that connect different brain regions, is made up of a healthy type of “fat” called omega-3 fatty acids.
That is why eating foods that are high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, or taking omega-3 fatty acid supplements, are great for improving communication between different brain areas. These healthy fats are shown to enhance memory, reduce symptoms of depression, and reduce risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Your brain’s capacity to learn new things has no limits. You have about 70-100 billion neurons and each one reaches thousands of other neurons. The near- contact points between neurons are called synapses. You have around 125 trillion synapses in your brain, which is about the number of stars in the milky way galaxy. Things like doing exercise and learning new skills, as well as a living a healthy lifestyle and getting proper sleep, can increase the number of synapses – and literally grow your brain. Alcohol, drugs, and obesity can shrink these synapses. The more synapses you create in your brain the sharper and smarter you will be.
The electrical signals inside brain cells can travel up to 268 miles per hour. This explains why your brain can respond to a signal (such as a light or sound) within milliseconds.
Your brain cells can generate enough power through the electrical signals they produce (to communicate with each other) to turn on a light bulb. If you sleep well, you can increase the amount of electrical power in your brain and help it work well
and remain sharp. Why? During sleep, your brain gets rid of toxic by-products that accumulate as a result of tremendous electrical activity in your neurons every millisecond of every day. If you sleep fewer than 5-6 hours a night, your brain will not be fresh in the morning and won’t be able to work as efficiently as it could if you had a good night sleep.
Some of the toxic byproducts that can accumulate in your brain after many years of poor sleep is called amyloid – the protein is associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
Recent scientific discoveries have shown that people with 10-20 years of insomnia are more likely to experience brain shrinkage and develop Alzheimer’s disease when they get older.
Believe it or not, multitasking is virtually impossible. When you think you are doing two things at once, your brain is actually context-switching, and it takes you twice as long to do both things.
You have about 6,000 thoughts a day. If you have anxiety or depression, 80% of your thoughts may be negative. Having excessive negative thoughts can literally harm and shrink your brain. Fortunately, you can learn to think differently, through a process called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
Exercise can help promote growth of new neurons in your brain (called neurogenesis) and increase your cognitive capacity. This is why working out and staying active can reverse the shrinkage in the brain (from aging or various forms of brain injury) and reduce your risk of Alzheimer's disease.
If you line up all the blood vessels in your brain, it would reach approximately 400 miles.
People who stay mentally active and challenge their brain consistently are less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. This is in part because exercising your brain makes your brain cells stronger, just like physical exercise will make your muscles stronger. Use it or lose it applies to your brain just as much as it applies to your muscles.
Artificial intelligence is a fast-growing field to help computers replicate the functions of our brain.
However, computers can only store, replicate, and follow predetermined formulas. They still cannot generate new ideas or be creative on their own.
Similar to a snowflake, no two brains are exactly alike. Your individual brain cells change throughout your life at a microscopic level and your everyday experiences can make them change for the better or for the worse.
Your brain gets bored easily. You need something new every ten minutes to spark your attention. Recent studies have shown that the attention span of people has been declining every 10-15 years. Regardless of how bored you are, your brain is always ready to react if your survival is in danger, or if you encounter something that sparks your interest.
Most people remember things that are visual, more so than auditory. This explains why you are more likely to recall someone’s face more than their name.
The fact that your brain is made up of cells, and is not just like jello or yogurt, was discovered by the famous Spanish Neuroscientist in the 18th century, Ramon Y Cajal. He had obtained permission to examine the brains of some patients after they had died. He used a simple silver stain and was able to see with his eyes, for the first time, how the brain has distinct cells which are organized in rows or clumps.