27 Fun Facts about your Brain

Brain happens to be the most responsible yet sensitive part of your human body. It is an intelligent machine, which manages an enormous amount of overwhelming information in every split second. Certainly a human brain happens to be the most striking creation ever known. According to the top neuro physicians, the brain happens to be the most intelligent part of the human body.  To remind you about the appreciation of your brain which it truly deserves, here are 20 mind-blowing brain facts.

1.       We all know the brain has neurotransmitters as nerve impulses which are low impact electric currents. At least that’s what books used to make us believe, until studies finally confirmed how our brain generates 12-25 watts of electricity. This current is strong enough to light up a low impact LED light bulb.

2.       A typical brain percentage compromises 2% of a human body’s total weight. However the total energy and oxygen uptake is at least 20% from the total body’s energy.

3.       Your brain 73% water! A decrease in the total water percentage by 2% can lead to sudden distorted attention, memory loss and will affect cognitive skills.

4.       Brain happens to be the fattiest part of your body! Yes you have read that right. However it is no excuse to eat as many Trans fats a you could in a day. Your brain requires healthy fat to maintain its dry weight fat which is a total of 60%.

5.       Brain has 25% of the body’s total cholesterol. We may have heard about how cholesterol is more unhealthy than healthy. However, the brain requires a good adequate part of cholesterol for the brain cells to function or else they die.

6.       A single neuron transmits 1000 nerve impulses per second. Each transmission makes tens of thousands of synaptic transmission with other neurons.

7.       There are 10,000 different types of brain cells present.

8.       A human brain does not fully mature until the age of 25. Until you reach the age of 25 your brain keeps going.

9.       A baby brain grows very rapidly because of which babies usually have bigger heads.

10.   Your brain cannot hold the break in oxygen supply. It needs constant oxygen supply to keep its functioning. If your brain is not provided with oxygen for 5 minutes your brain will undergo serious brain damages, eventually leading to brain death.

11.   Your brain speed is faster than a formula car, by travelling the information at an impressive speed of 268 miles per hour.

12.   Your brain is a big thought generator. According to studies there is an average generation of 48.6 thoughts per minute. This means on average an individual has 70,000 thoughts every day.

13.   The total amount of blood which flows through your brain is sufficient enough to fill 1 liter bottle of soda.

14.   Men generally have 10% larger brain size than women despite the body masses and built. However the hippocampus (the brain part responsible for memory storage) is typically bigger in women than in men.

15.   Your brain is quicker than a computer. Our brains are able to compute 10^th to 13^th and 10^th to 16^th operations per second. The total computation of this equals to more than 1 million people on Earth.

16.   Your brain knows no pain. As strange as it may sound you can actually go through a brain surgery without any anesthesia while being awake. While your brain is responsible for stimulating pain receptors in the body. It does not have any of its own.

17.   Our brain can only store up to 7 digits. No wonder why we have seven digit phone numbers. This is why our brain is able to remember long enough to dial a number.

18.   Your brain cannot multitask. There is a common misconception that your brain can multitask, that’s not the case for your brain. What your brain does is context-switching, that is, it blocks your mind for a split second as you switch between your tasks. This can be detrimental to your overall brain health. The book Brain Rules and various other research stresses upon how your error rate goes up by 50% by making you take more time to do multiple tasks.

19.   Your brain can easily jumble your senses. For example you can hear colors, smell words or be able to see a concept in your mind. This is a perceptual condition your brain has after a trauma or injury.

20.   Your brain is the biggest storage place in the world. It can save up to 2500,000 gigabytes of information. That’s much more than supercomputers’ memory.

21.   The hippocampus of London cab drivers is much larger than the rest of the population because of the memory exercise they have to do for navigating through 25000 streets of London.

22.   Ever since the Victorian era our brain has shrunken by 13.3 IQ points.

23.   Brain cells will eat themselves to restore the energy when the body undergoes starvation.

24.   Your brain cannot make any memories when you are drunk and passed out. 

25.   Your brain matter fluctuates according to your personality type. For example if you are an introvert you are likely to have more grey matter. Similarly extroverts have more active dopamine networks.

26.   Your subconscious beats your conscious. Almost 95% of your decisions are made from your subconscious mind.

27.   You do not have 1 brain. Your Gut Bacteria is responsible for making neurotransmitters including the hormone ‘serotonin’. This is why it is safe to say that your stomach is your second brain.

Your brain is an amazing piece of work. Most of us look for external means of power, intelligence and inspiration, unable to understand how so much of it resides within