100 + 19 Facts You Never Knew About Human Brain! (Updated)
Have you ever stopped and asked yourself: “how does my brain work?” This is quite a fascinating concept that you would want to wrap your head around. You see throughout history, the human brain has been explicit in remarkably dismissing itself. Aristotle ruled out the idea of mysterious stuff in the ears, and then Gelen picked up to explain that the brain is the commander-in-chief of movement and speech. But even he didn’t agree to the existent of white and gray matter, explaining that the ventricles were responsible for most tasks. Today we know that the human brain is the body’s central processing unit, providing cognitive and physical abilities.
Here are the 119 facts you never knew about the human brain:
#1: The brain is the body’s Central Processing Unit
Just like the computer’s CPU, the brain is in control of all the body functions. It deals with an enormous amount of information including storage, comparison and various desirable actions. It receives signals from different body organs and then sends instructions of what action should take place at the source of the signal.
#2: The Human Brains are Big
In more than 8 to 6 million years since humans and the chimps took separate paths, the size of the human brain increased at a tremendous rate. If the earliest humans had a brain size equal to an orange size, the brain of today’s humans is akin to cantaloupes or even more!
#3: However… our brains are getting smaller
Studies have made it clear that the modern man is smarter compared to the old age era. However, the same studies have also found that our brains have shrunk when compared to the brain size of the first man. This leaves many wondering why such a trend. According to the Natural History Museum in London, that may be because our body size has reduced over the past 10,000 years. A large body would definitely need a large nervous system to service it.
#4: The brain is home to billions of neurons
The human brain is enriched with about 100 billion neurons. Individual neurons have the capability to link to almost 10,000 within their group. It is these many connections taking place in your brain that allows you to have a personality, develop ideas and remember memories.
#5: The Brain is an energy hog
Despite accounting for only 2% of the body weight, the organ consumes 25% of the sugars and 20% of Oxygen in the bloodstream. The American College of Neuropsychopharmacology says that these high energy requirements are the reason for the brains becoming so big. Different researchers conclude that due to human meat hunting evidence and reliance on veggies, we were able to get a reliable food supply to help the brains grow.
#6: Your dreams are still a mystery
Scientists are still fascinated by the actual reasons for us dreaming. Some say that we dream in order to keep the brain active even as we sleep while others believe it’s because the brain utilizes the thoughts and memories absorbed during the day. One thing though remains unchanged: we dream with our brains, meaning the organ is active whether you sleep or not.
#7: Your Cerebellum cannot allow you to tickle yourself
Have you ever tried to tickle yourself? You can even try it now. Let me guess, you didn’t laugh, right? But ask a friend to touch your ticklish area and you break into laughter. Why is it so? The answer lies in a part of your brain known as the cerebellum. This section controls physical movement. It is able to detect and prevent sensation.
#8: The Brain Lacks Pain Receptors
If someone was to poke your brain tissue, you would feel no pain. This explains why surgeons are able to perform a brain surgery on you while you stay awake. The organ plays the role of detecting and processing pain from any other part of the body except in itself. Please note that the scalp that protects your brain tissue do have the pain receptors.
#9: They lied to you – you do use over 10% of your brain
Movies and theorists have been persistent in making us believe that we use less than ten percent of our brains. Well, guess what? That notion is out rightly deceptive. There is sufficient evidence to approve that even though the brain is mysterious, we still use a bigger chunk of it for our daily tasks.
#10: Babe Ruth recorded the highest brain efficiency
Some students from Colombia tested Babe Ruth and concluded that his brain has a working efficacy of 90 percent. This is an impressive score considering that most people have an efficiency of about 60%. This explains why history acknowledges him as one of the astounding baseball players.
#11: Water makes up a bigger part of the brain
The brain tissue is jelly like, consisting of 75% water. Besides water being the biggest component of your brain, the organ is under constant lubrication from the circulatory system. It is estimated that for every 4 minutes, there is a gallon of blood passing through the brain. That is why every time you get dehydrated, you feel light-headed and dizzy and sometimes may not recall much.
#12: A damaged brain can heal
The brain can completely recover from mild injury like a concussion. But even individuals who undergo more detailed damage such as bleeds, strokes or physical injuries are able to recover either partially or fully. There are countless cases of people who went into a coma, only to wake up years later. The brain upholds amazing capabilities of healing itself.
#13: Has a Remarkable Storage
The brain is able to preserve about five times the amount of information the encyclopedia can. Scientists are yet to agree on a specific amount but the brain’s storage ability is deemed to be thousands of terabytes. Britain’s National Archives of more than 900 years of history only takes up 70 terabytes. Aren’t you impressed by the storage ability of your brain?
#14: The brain weighs about 3 lbs
Besides the human head containing a brain that weighs roughly 3 pounds, it also has the skull, eyes, teeth, the skin and facial muscles. This makes it to weigh an average of 10 to 11 pounds. As you can see, the brain alone accounts for about a quarter of the head’s total weight.
#15: Cerebellum makes up the biggest part of the brain
The cerebellum is a section of the brain found at the base of the cerebrum. It is composed of two hemispheres that individually control a side of the body. Some of the roles that the cerebellum plays include finely coordinated movement, balance and muscle tone maintenance. It is also a receptor for information from other parts of the brain, the body and the spinal cord.
#16: The skin weighs more than twice the brain
If you were asked the heaviest part of the body, you would have probably guessed the brain or any other internal organ. However, the heaviest part is actually what not what many would expect to be so heavy. Whereas the brain weighs 3 pounds, the skin of an adult weighs averagely 20 pounds.
#17: 40% gray matter, 60% white matter
The gray matter is named after its gray-like color. It houses all nerve synapses, dendrites, axon terminals and neural cell bodies. It makes part of the butterfly shape of the central spinal cord. The brain’s white matter plays the role of conducting, processing, and sending nerve signals in the spinal cord.
#18: The brain has as much as 10,000 synapses
The brain, and more specifically, the nerve cell or neuron is the biggest component of the nervous system. As opposed to the cells, the neurons do not divide. Each neuron has the ability to link up with 10,000 other neurons, exchanging signals through more than 1,000 trillion synaptic connections.
#19: There are about 400 miles of capillaries in the brain
Capillaries are the smallest blood vessels in the body and make up the microcirculation. They are part of the whole blood vessel network that nourishes your brain. If stretched, they extend up to about 400 miles. Besides these, there are also arteries that carry 20 – 25 percent of blood to the brain and veins that carry away deoxygenated blood.
#20: Is Fat Haven
The brain is the fattest body organ, consisting of about 60% fat. This type of fat is referred to as “myelin” whose duty is to protect the axons of neurons. It is important to understand that the fat talked about here is not the same kind that you are used to – the adipose tissue. When the body is starving, it breaks down adipose tissue to generate energy.
#21: More neurons develop during pregnancy
The development of a baby’s brain generally begins at the 3rd of week of pregnancy. This is a time when cells rapidly multiply top form what is referred to as the neural plate. As you approach your 7th month of the pregnancy, almost 70% of the brain neurons are developed.
#22: Infant brain is almost equal to adult brain
Humans, just like most other mammals, give birth to young ones whose brain size is about 90% that of the adults. These young ones’ brains at birth do not have the survival instincts. That is why you have to take care of your baby, teaching it how to behave as it grows.
#23: Child abuse inhibits brain development
Most people who were molested as children have a certain kind of development that even they themselves are not able to explain how the consequences manifest themselves. The effects are mostly emotional, physiological and social. Since abuse leads to brain stress, individuals abused as babies end up responding to stimuli at an exaggerated level.
#24: Bilingual children under 5 years alter brain structure
The age at which you teach your child a second language has a significant impact on their brain structure. Scientific studies show that there is a brain pattern drawn by people who learn one language as children and that depicted by those who learn two or more. This is as a result of stimulation of neural growth and connections.
#25: Baby rapidly develops senses at birth
When a baby is born, the mind begins to absorb sounds, sights and the five senses. These are the senses that it needs to connect with you. Several senses such as taste and smell are their strongest at birth. Hearing on the other hand is developed at first month.
#26: The brain develops emotions at birth
Just like the senses, a baby’s emotions such as joy, happiness, sadness, fear and shyness are developed at birth. How these emotions develop is guided by the way the baby is brought up. Healthy brain development paves the way for an infant to have the right social skills and emotions.
#27: The brain can develop by reading aloud
Have you always wondered why kindergarten kids are asked to read out loud? The answer is simple: it helps them gain a deeper understanding of the concept and also facilitates brain development. You are also encouraged to read aloud to your children during their infancy for them to develop literacy, key language and social skills.
#28: Neurons develop throughout one’s lifetime
Majority of the neurons in your brain were developed while you were still in the womb. But there are sections of your brain that continue to create new neurons in a process referred to as postnatal neurogenesis. The adult’s brain evidence of neurogenesis is best provided by the hippocampus.
#29: The brain develops faster in a stimulating environment
The brain relies on a stimulating environment for its development. The more you interact with books and educational stuff, the faster your brain develops from childhood. In children, most of this stimulation is experienced from the age of four years.
#30: The more you learn, the thicker the cerebral cortex becomes
We’ve already seen that learning is a key ingredient in stimulating the brain. But again, as you continue to learn, your brain’s cortex is also impacted. This section of the brain is normally thin and typically measures some few millimeters in thickness. As you consume more lessons, its thickness also increases.
#31: Brain development reaches maturity at about 25
You may have heard that the brain stops developing at 18 years. That is not true. Your brain continues to develop even after you reach the peak of your teen years. Its maximum maturity is obtained when you turn 25 years.
#32: Despite slowing down at 25, it picks specific cognitive skills at different ages
You get better at certain things and worse at others in different stages of your life. Scientists believe that it is mainly not because of age but rather the brain letting go of some cognitive skills and allowing new ones to manifest themselves.
#33: The brain cannot form memories while you are drunk
The night party was a great success with lots of alcohol flow. But why can’t you remember anything that you did? The reason is that when alcohol content increases in your body, the brain’s memory functions starts to impair. The hippocampus that moves information from being short-term to long-term is made unable to do so.
#34: Rapid brain growth in newborns
Right from their infancy, the brains of babies have a rapid growth of 1% per day in the first three months. This extraordinary growth rate starts to decline in the fourth month to about 0.4% per day.
#35: Seafood helps kick out dementia
Seafood such as fish has tremendous benefits to the brain, and particularly with regard to dementia. Research indicates that the seafood increases mental functionality by increasing the flow of blood to the brain.
#36: Preservatives and artificial flavors impact intelligence
Have you ever heard the saying that you are what you eat? Take that saying to literally mean that what you eat impacts the status of your brain. It’s true. Artificial sweeteners, foods containing sugars, junk food, fried foods as well processed and convenience foods have been found to reduce our intelligence.
#37: Multitasking decreases your productivity
The modern world is extremely demanding and that leaves us with no choice but to try and accomplish more tasks within a minute. But this kind of multitasking is detrimental to the brain and even your career! Doing more tasks at a time yields into reduced productivity, research shows.
#38: Baby boomers exercise to boost memory
The baby boomers partake in physical exercises with aim of boosting their remembrance capability and fight off memory loss. Some of the things they do include walking for about two to three hours. These exercises increase the level of brain chemicals that in turn facilitate the growth of nerve cells.
#39: Brain cells eat themselves during starvation
Just like most other parts of the body, brain cells normally start to eat themselves as a last attempt to fight starvation. This is a concept that dieters tend to rely on. that is, by denying themselves nutrition, they force the brain cells to eat themselves thereby feeling hungry and stronger.
#40: Human brain has a shorter attention span compared to goldfish
Scientists explain that the emergence of smartphones has led to humans declining in their attention span, much shorter than goldfish. A study concluded that our brain’s concentration capability went down from 12 seconds by 2000, almost the same time smartphones emerged.
#41: We aren’t getting any smarter
Albert Einstein expressed mind-bogglingly smartness, but why are we not getting smarter? According to research, our brains are evolving to doing just two main things – cost minimization and balancing between minimizing costs and intelligence.
#42: Sperm whales have bigger brains compared to human brain
The size of the brain is important but it does not account for everything. The sperm whales have the largest brains on earth, rated at an average of 8,000 cubic metres compared to ours which is 1,300 cubic metres.
#43: Generally, men have bigger brains than women
Erasmus University, Rotterdam researchers conducted a study and found out that men have brain larger that of the women by 14 percent. The female gender also recorded lower results in terms of intelligence (about 3.75) although their memory scores were higher. Previous studies have shown that women brains are better organized than the men’s.
#44: The brain has averagely 100,000 chemical reactions per second
Every time you think, feel or get a foreign sensation, always remember that such an occurrence is triggered by a chemical reaction in the brain. The brain has some important chemicals referred to as neurotransmitters which impact us in different ways such as making us feel happy, sad, awake, asleep, low, high, etc.
#45: The brain needs about 10 watts to function
If you program a robot with the same processor that has a level of smartness equivalent to a human brain, it would require 10 watts to operate. This energy is same as one released by one small hydroelectric plant.
#46: Information travels in the brain at a speed of about 1mph to 268 miles/hour
The speed of signals in the brain is dependent on the rate of exchange between charged ions inside and outside the cell membrane. The major ions that take part in this exchange are calcium, chloride, potassium and sodium. Averagely, messages travel in the brain at a speed of 268 miles per hour.
#47: Babies have bigger brains to house the fast developing brains
Have you ever looked at your new born baby and wondered why its head is bigger in the first few months. Well, their brains develop at a faster rate during this time and thus their heads must grow big to hold the rapidly increasing brains.
#48: Not all brain cells are similar
Scientists are still conducting studies in their most recent discoveries of brain cells that do not resemble any brain cell seen in the past. Our body cells have a similar genome, thus their differences are triggered by expression during development.
#49: It’s estimated that a human has about 100 billion brain cells (not exact figure)
Scientists have always struggled with the question of how many neurons are contained in the brain. Several reputable scientific groups put that number to be about 100 billion. However, different neuroscience literatures have differing figures. Some set that figure to approximately 86 billion. Whichever the case, the reality that remains is that we have billions and billions of neurons.
#50: There’s nothing like left-brained or right brained
One of the most popular theories touching on the brain has always been that one being left-brained or right-brained determines your personality and skills. The theory goes on to explain that the “right-brained” are more creative, subjective and spontaneous while the “left-brained” are analytical, detail-oriented and logical. However, these claims are false.
#51: The right side of the brain interacts largely with the left side of the body
The fact that we’ve debunked the “right-brained” and “left-brained” theory doesn’t mean the two halves don’t exist. They do. Further studies show that the left part of the brain mainly interacts with the right side of the body and whiles the right part of the brain interacts with the left part of the brain.
#52: Approximately 2.5% people suffer from face blindness
. You brain has an important part referred to as the temporal lobes. This part is vital for facial recognition. It is through this that you are able to see people and remember something about them even before they speak.
#53: Alcohol does not kill brain cells. It destroys connective tissues
The truth of the matter is that even for the heavy drinkers, alcohol does not kill their brain cells. On the contrary, it makes it impossible for neurons to relay messages by damaging their ends, also referred to as dendrites. However, alcohol has substantial damage to many other organs of our bodies.
#54: Alcohol takes 6 minutes to reach the brain
The average amount of time required by alcohol to get to your head from the point of consumption is 6 minutes. We have already seen that alcohol affects the brain by destroying the dendrites to hinder the transfer communication. These harmful effects may be short lived but the cells end up consuming a lot of time before they can repair.
#55: The brain begins to die after 4 to 6 minutes of Oxygen deprivation
In just four to five minutes of not breathing, the brain is endangered to experience worse and probably irreversible damage. However, there are exceptions for the young people in which a baby stops breathing and becomes cold at the same time. Children with this condition have been found to go for as long as 30 minutes.
#56: Humans have a larger neocortex than animals
The neocortex is a part of your brain responsible for language and consciousness. It is a subsection of the cerebral cortex. Besides playing the role of language development in humans, it is essential for creating motor commands and sensory perception. Its advanced nature in humans probably explains why we have an advanced language.
#57: Chronic stress alters brain structure
It is hard to keep off stress from your life but at least you should make the effort to minimize it. Anyway, refusing to do so only affects the functioning of your brain by adjusting its structure. This places you at the risk of incurring several brain-related complications including mood disorders and some other mental issues.
#58: The brain has love hormones
Biology has always explained that the three major factors that drive one into love are sex, partner preference and attachment. The brain is responsible for triggering the neurochemicals (sex hormones, neuropeptides and neurotransmitters) needed to drive the three factors of love. Oxytocin is that “love hormone” which controls bonding in humans and animals.
#59: Diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease limit brain functions
One of the biggest threats to our brains is Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This is an incurable disease that over time kills the nerve cells to severely damage the brain and its functions as a whole. Patients suffering from it become unable to learn new things as the brain operates on the basis of short-term memory.
#60: Loss of consciousness
It is paramount that you carefully handle children and any adult who loses consciousness with utmost consideration. When you experience a temporary decrease in blood flow, you enter into what is referred to as “black out” episode or lightheadedness, better described as becoming unconscious. In this state, the brain is no longer aware of what’s going on around it.
#61: Trauma causes memory loss
If you’ve ever been in a situation of memory loss, then you must appreciate that it is one of the scariest and frustrating situations, especially if it’s due to a traumatic incident. But did you that memory loss is one of the ways in which the brain helps you handle the trauma? However, the memory loss may be permanent if the brain is severely injured.
#62: Prescription sleeping pills put the brain into a coma-like state
Insomnia is a condition in which you are unable to find sleep. In order to help you go into sleep, your doctor may prescribe to you a sleeping pill. But did you know how these pills work? Well, now you know. They make your brain assume a coma-like state so that you can doze off.
#63: Humans have a second brain in the intestines
Just like the head brains, our stomachs may be a mystery that we are yet to fully uncover. Research has now discovered that you have in your guts some kind of “brains” that control our mood and appetite. Different researchers have arrived at a conclusive figure that you have an average of 100 million guts in the gut, just as many as they are in the cat’s head.
#64: The subconscious mind influences 95% of our decisions
If you thought you are in control of your life, then you better think again. Over 95 percent of the decisions you make are said to be secretly influenced by your subconscious mind. That’s to say that if your subconscious mind tells you to sleep, you will, even if you don’t want to.
#65: Half brain is sometimes as good as whole brain
The public attention has always been fascinated by the concept of left and right sections of the brain, some claiming that each half is responsible for specific tasks. But there are some instances when only one of the two brain hemispheres are as good as the two combined.
#66: The brain is very fragile
The fragility of the brain is so high that even a single pinch is enough to cause a permanent impairment. Despite being cushioned in the spinal fluid, some considerable amount of force is all that it takes to cause an injury. Thus, a fall on the stair case, a good hit on the pitch or even a fall from your bicycle generates this considerable amount of force.
#67: Silence is good for your brain
Sometimes, just remaining quiet and doing nothing without any distraction from near you benefit the brain more than you can imagine. When you are silent, you are in a perfect position to relieve your brain of stress and tension. Silence also replenishes the brain’s mental resources. Finally, when you are silent, you have a higher possibility of setting the brain into its default mode of operation (the perfect one!)
#68: Eat healthy for your brain
Research shows that our concentration capability as human beings is on the decline. One of the ways you can make your brain to stand out is by eating the right foods. Instead of considering nutrition as just a weight management strategy, look at it as a way to boost your brain’s power. Ensure you take foods rich in omega-3, vitamins B, zinc, iron and amino acids.
#69: Physical exercise benefits the brain too
Constantly exercising is healthy for your brain. The different physical exercises help to up your thinking and memory skills. You have all kinds of encouragement to remain fit physically. Among the top include the likelihood of kicking out stroke, heart disease and diabetes. It may also be all that you need for relieving the brain of unnecessary depression.
#70: Can you reverse memory loss?
Alzheimer’s disease can be frustrating but scientists are ever working out ways to fix the situation. In a study to attempt reverse memory loss, 10 patients recorded some improvement after some months of being placed under s treatment program. Some of these patients had been struggling at their jobs. They have since resumed their work and are recording improved performance.
#71: Denying the brain sleep affects memory and response
As much as scientists are yet to settle on the purpose of sleep, one thing that remains unquestioned is that failing to sleep badly affects the brain. 1896 is the year when the first negative impacts of sleep deprivation were published. Brains that didn’t get enough sleep have been found to show signs of reduced blood flow and metabolism as well as declined cognitive function and behavior.
#72: Do I get 70,000 thoughts per day?
One brain myth that has always dominated conversations online is the belief that humans experience about 70,000 thoughts per day. That is such a big number – about 3000 thoughts for every 60 minutes or better still, 50 thoughts per minute. Even though you may want to dispute this figure, most reputable researchers estimate the number to be around 20,000 thoughts a day. That’s still a commendable number of thoughts!
#73: Continued mobile phone use can cause brain tumor
Mobile phone produce emissions referred to as radio frequency (RF) but in minimal amounts. That is why each phone manufacturer is required by law to report the RF rate for each gadget to the regulator. These RFs are responsible for heating and increase the risk of cancer for long-term users.
#74: Everyone, including the blind, dream
If you thought you dream just because of what you saw during the day, then how about this, the blind dream too! Yet they haven’t seen anything with their physical eyes. In fact, they dream with a wide variety of sensory information.
#75: Does the hippocampus grow?
Yes. Research has proven that it is possible to trigger the growth of your hippocampus. There are some things such as memorizing that have been found to cause its growth. Similarly, as you walk, your hippocampus also grows and the larger it is, the better your memory.
#76: Feelings of sadness can make you spend more
Here’s some warning – do not make the mistake of going for shopping while you are sad. Sad people are vulnerable to spend more all in an attempt to feel better. Your brain tricks you into believing that doing so will kick out the sadness.
#77: You forget most of your dreams
I know you had life dreams of what or who you would like to be. Years down the line you have already forgotten them. This is just how your night dreams behave. You get at least 2 hours of dreams at night but by morning, you have very little to tell of them.
#78: Blinking helps your brain
For every blink, there is an accompanying brain kick. The processes involved in blinking are actually beneficial to your brain. Our brains are able to process information much better as a result of the quick break.
#79: Yawns are contagious
Have you ever noticed that when you watch someone yawn, you end up yawning almost immediately or some few moments later on? That’s because yawning has been found to be a contagious activity. Since yawning draws brain-soothing air, your mind makes you believe that’s what you should do to also feel better.
#80: Laughter and the brain
Gelotology is the study of laughter. Right now, scientists are aware that different parts of the brain are involved in laughing, in fact, five parts. These parts of the brain needed for laughter are the motor sections, occipital lobe, frontal lobe, and the right and left hemisphere of the cortex. So you see making someone laugh isn’t that easy. All these parts have to synchronize for laughter to be produced!
#81: The oldest brain unearthed dates 2000 years old
The currently known oldest brain is housed in Britain. It dates 2000 years ago and was located in a skull found in a muddy pit.
#82: Learning new skills rewires your brain
“Learning makes perfect,” you’ve been told countless times. But this perfect affects your brain by rewiring it so that you can perfect on your perfection. Children record the highest rewiring instances as they go about learning a new language and how to do such and such stuff. The new skill activates different portions of your brain and rewiring has to take place for accommodative purposes.
#83: Presence of insulin in the brain boosts memory
As much as the brain is regarded as a brain-insensitive organ, the hormone and its receptors have some important positive impacts on the brain. The hormone can either be produced in the brain or occur in it as a peripheral origin.
#84: Smells Trigger memories
Complex memory and emotions can be triggered by a simple scent such as the winter air. These smells are able to ring a bell due to mainly your brain’s anatomy. The processing of incoming smells begins in the olfactory bulb that is directly connected to two main parts of the brain responsible for memory and emotion.
#85: Primitive brain surgery involved drilling your way through the skull
The old age technique for conducting brain surgery was referred to as trepanning. A surgical hole was made into the skull in order to treat health complications. This kind of hole, referred to as burr hole, used to relieve the underneath pressure.
#86: Creating associations helps with memory
By creating associations, we are able to remember more about a concept. Remember all your brain’s messages are a series of interconnections. For instance, when you talk of an “apple” you will probably see red, green, etc. It’s very unlikely that you will talk of “apple” but have an image of “cat”.
#87: Repeated jet lag negatively impacts memory
Some signs of jet lag include falling asleep during a presentation, waking up late into the night and feeling dizzy as a whole. Research shows that it has the potential to hurt your memory. It increases the rate at which your cognitive skills fade away.
#88: Your brains make you a picky eater
Some people don’t like the fact that they can’t eat everything at the dinner table like their family members. Unfortunately, they are unable to help it. This is because their brains drive them away from certain foods. Other factors such as genes and breast milk also come into play.
#89: Your brain can help you read someone else’s face
Women are said to be the best face readers. They are able to look at this man proposing to them and tell whether he is genuine or just another fraud. But it’s not just them; all people under different circumstance can scan someone’s face and allow their brains make an analysis.
#90: The brain may create imaginary playmates
If you’ve ever taken time to interact with children, you will realize there are some occasions they do things which to you would be scary. They talk to some strange figures, play pretend games and also move up and down with toys as though they were living. This is because their brains trick them into believing that these are actually their friends.
#91: Regular meditation preserves the brain
A study by UCLA concluded that persons whom meditate for long had well-preserved brains compared to those who didn’t. It is also helpful at instigating a change in volume on some important areas of the brain.
#92: Your brain remains functional even while napping
Do you know why you fall deep asleep but still manage to wake up at the sound of your alarm? It’s because the brain doesn’t sleep even as you take a nap. Some parts of it remain sensitive to the environment and wake you up whenever something that desires your attention happens.
#93: The brain reproduces new cells when necessary
It was earlier thought that the brain is the only organ that doesn’t reproduce new cells. However, different studies have proven otherwise.
#94: Mirror neurons allow you ‘feel pain’ when someone else is in pain
. The existence of this part of the brain lay unknown in the 1990’s. But recent studies have shown that it is indeed the mirror neurons that make you feel empathy for others.
#95: Just like cocaine, donating triggers the pleasure center
People get addicted to cocaine particularly due to its ability to touch on their brain’s pleasure center. A more interesting twist to this is that if you extend a helping hand to the needy, the same pleasure centers also get excited. How about you tell this to that person addicted to drugs!
#96: The brain does not record events like a video does
. Assuming this would be easy but in reality that’s not what happens when you are viewing an event. What the brain does is that it takes snapshots of the relevant details. As you recall occurrences, you are able to guess what happened based on a prior experience.
#97: It’s easy to create false memories in the brain
Your brain is one of the most deceptive organs… in fact; it’s such a big liar. It constantly generates false memories by adapting itself to fit in the world.
#98: The brain is a dumb
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It can rarely differentiate between what is happening and what you are imagining. This is why horror movies leave you scared and porn films get you, err… ahem, you know that!
#99: Learners’ brains need a break
There are so many people who could as well describe their brains to be a washing machine that tosses and tumbles all the requests coming to it from all angles. We feel overwhelmed by the lots of knowledge hitting our brains. This can make the brain experience downtimes. That’s why experts advise that you should have breaks between classes.
#100: The brain is more active at night than during the day
. Logically speaking, you may have the impression that the more you travel, make tough calculations and interact with people during the day, the more active your brain gets. But that’s not it. Scientists found in a research that the moment you turn off, your brain turns. The reason for this is yet to be known but some speculate that it’s due to the horror and pleasant dreams.
#101: Just like Blood Banks, We have Brain Banks
The Red Cross and many other NGO’s have done a great job publicizing blood banks. The brain banks, on the other hand, have remained a mystery to many people, prompting many to even doubt their existence. There are institutions such as Harvard that maintain brain banks for the purpose of neurological and psychiatric research.
#102: Aristotle used to wrongly think that the brain activities happened in the heart
He made huge benefits to the field of science but still had his own down falls. One such downfall that Aristotle is normally ridiculed for is the fact that he believed the functions the brain does take place in the heart. He argued that heart was responsible for sensation and movement!
#103: Music assists in brain organization
The manner in which the brain processes words is different from the way it processes music and its tones. Music has been found to stimulate different sections of the brain responsible for emotion, memory, perception, and performance. Due to this, music has a special way of re-organizing the brain.
#104: People with high I.Q dream the most
. Whereas this may be supported by scientific studies, do not feel that you are mentally lacking every time you don’t get dreams. In fact, very few of us recall the dreams we had at night.
#105: Brain cells need cholesterol to remain alive
. I know your doctor or nutritionist asked you to check on your cholesterol intake. But did you know that 25% of the body’s cholesterol resides in the brain? Without this, the brain cells die immediately.
#106: Do Brain cells resemble the universe?
You probably have seen in your WhatsApp groups and social media platforms photos comparing the brain cells and the universe. The thought that the universe and the brain look alike is quite fascinating. But is it true? Yes, from a superficial look, these two resemble but as you focus on the details, the universe and the brain cells are different.
#107: More than half of the thoughts your brain generates are negative
The brain gets so many thoughts per day. These are estimated to be in terms of thousands. There is a worrying trend though. Many of these thoughts have been found to be negative. Negative thoughts are unfortunately more impactful than the positive ones.
#108: Men and women have differing reactions to pain
New studies indicate that different sections of the brain have a differing reaction to pain depending on one’s gender. This finding can help in the development of better treatments for the men and women.
#109: Your mind affects your health
There is a strong connection between your general body health and the state of your mind in terms of feelings, thoughts, and behaviors. By maintaining a stress-free life, you are more likely to be fit body-wise. People who are generally healthy tend to be individuals who feel good about themselves and are happy about their relationships.
#110: Finding it hard to remember a word? Blame Anomia
Have you ever found it hard to recall a word but the harder you try to find it the more you forget it? This state of the mind is referred to as anomia. The words can be anything including common verbs, nouns, proper nouns, etc.
#111: Albert Einstein’s brain weighed 1,230 grams
Genius Albert Einstein is remembered for his extraordinary smart brains. The weight of his brain was equal to that of an average man but made unprecedented analysis between time and space until he came up with the space-time theory.
#112: Ben Pridmore is the world champion memorizer
. In less than 5 minutes, his brain managed to memorize 96 historical events. He was also able to shuffle a deck of cards in just 26.28 seconds.
#113: There are people who dream in just black and white
In this era field with HD screens, it may sound far-fetched that there are some people dreaming purely in black and white. It seems the main reason for this is childhood exposure to the black and white TV. In a study, it was found that people aged 25 and below almost didn’t experience and black and white dreams. Those aged 55 and above, who never accessed the color TV as children, said they dreamt mostly in B&W.
#114: Absence of gravity in the outer space affects the brain
The space enthusiasts may have had aspirations of going to Mars and outer parts of space. You may want to reconsider. These space missions have been found to negatively impact the human brain. The microgravity environment c causes a change in one’s brain structure and may even hinder your ability to think.
#115: Blood clot in the brain is responsible for most strokes
Whenever a blood clot forms in your brain, the most likely immediate effect is the occurrence of a stroke if not a heart attack. This is the same effect if the same clots were to be formed in the heart.
#116: The brain is protected by a skull referred to as cranium
The skull bones play the crucial role of keeping the brain safe through three membranes referred to as membranes. 8 bones fuse together on suture lines to form the skull. The face also comprises of 14 paired bones.
#117: The brain floats in a liquid called Cerebrospinal fluid
Besides the skull, there is also the cerebrospinal fluid which cushions the brain. There are special cells in the brain’s ventricles tasked with producing this watery fluid. This clear and colorless fluid also exists in the spinal cord. It offers both mechanical and immunological protection.
#118: The gray matter is composed of neutrons
The gray matter takes up the biggest percentage of your central nervous system, comprising of glial cells, neuropil, synapses, capillaries and the neuronal cell bodies for collecting and transmitting messages.
#119: The brain remains the only object that can contemplate itself
The brain is the only organ that is actively questioning itself. It is amazed by how it works and is ever trying to find the hidden elements within it. That’s why you read these 119 Facts You Never Knew About Human Brain! Think about that!