From Daniel Amen: Amazing Facts....
• Your brain is the most complex, mind-blowing organ in the universe.
• It is estimated to be only about 3 pounds, which is usually around 2 percent of your body’s weight.
• Unbelievably, given that it is the bedrock of your personality, some think even your soul, it is 85% water!
• It is estimated that the brain has 100 billion nerve cells and more connections in it than there are stars in the universe, which is about the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.
• There are also trillions of supportive cells in the brain called glia.
• Each neuron is connected to other neurons by up to 40,000 individual connections (called synapses) between cells. Multiplying 100 billion neurons times 40,000 synapses is equivalent to the brain having more connections in it than there are stars in the universe.
• A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons and 1 billion synapses, all "talking" to one another.
• Information in your brain travels at about 268 miles per hour, unless of course you are drunk, then things really slow down.
• Even though your brain is only about 2% of your body’s weight, about 3 pounds, it uses 20-30% of the calories you consume.
• If you don’t take care of your brain, you lose on average 85,000 brain cells a day. That is what causes aging. With appropriate forethought, however, you can reverse that trend and dramatically slow the aging process.
• On average women say 7,000 words per day. Men manage just over 2000.
• Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.
• Your brain is very soft and it is housed in a really hard skull
• Your brain is the consistency of soft butter, tofu, custard or somewhere between egg whites and jello.
• And it is housed in a really hard skull that has many sharp boney ridges.
• Brain injuries matter “¦ they can damage the brain and they can ruin your life.
• The brain uses 20% of the oxygen we breathe and about 20% of the calories we consume.
• When whole body scans are performed on people, the brain is so active, compared to the rest of the body, that it looks like a small, powerful heater, while everything else appears almost ghostlike.
• A neuron’s main job is to generate an electrical signal called an “action potential” which it does if sufficiently excited by other neurons.
• The action potential of a single neuron is like a lightning bolt that may stimulate many other neurons.
• The stimulated neurons can then generate their own signals that travel to and stimulate yet other neurons to which they are connected creating a network of neurons that perform a specific brain function.
• Action potentials travel down nerve cells at about 60 miles per hour. The signals can travel at these high speeds because a part of neurons, called axons, are wrapped and insulated by a special substance called myelin.
• Axons that are not insulated by myelin, either by design or disease, transmit signals 10 times slower.
• Many people have heard that we only use 10 percent of our brains. Nonsense! You may not use every neuron in your brain at the same time, but each is important.
• The brain never turns off or even rests through your entire life. It is very active at night, especially during dreaming.
• Brain development is a fascinating construction tale, where genes and environment collaborate to make us who we are.
• At times during pregnancy, the baby’s brain makes 250,000 new nerve cells per minute.
• Babies are born with 100 billion neurons; however, only a relatively small number of neurons are connected.
• In the first decade of life, a child’s brain forms trillions of connections.
• New research has shown that early experiences do not just create a background for early development and learning, they directly affect the way the brain is wired. In turn, the wiring profoundly affects our patterns of emotion, language, and thought.
• Experiences do not just influence a child’s development; they finish the job of molding and sculpting the brain.
• About three-quarters of the brain develops outside the womb, in response to the physical and social environment. Nature and nurture always work together.
• Brain development is especially rapid during the first year.
• Brain scans show that by twelve months, a baby’s brain resembles that of a normal young adult.
• By age three, a baby’s brain has formed about 1,000 trillion connections””about twice as many as adults have.
• Also, the areas of the brain that develop early, such as vision, are the first areas to become myelinated (wrapped in myelin), which helps that part of the brain become more efficient.
• The “years of promise” between three and 10 are a time of rapid social, intellectual, emotional and physical development. Brain activity in this age group is more than twice that of adults, and although new synapses continue to be formed throughout life, never again will the brain be able to easily master new skills or adapt to setbacks.
• At age 11, the brain begins to prune extra connections at a rapid rate. The circuits that remain are more specific and efficient.
• The brain is one of the best examples of the “use it or lose it” principle. Connections that are used repeatedly in the early years become permanent; while those that are not used are pruned.
• During late adolescence and into the mid 20s, the front third of the brain, called the prefrontal cortex (PFC) or executive brain, continues to develop.
• Even though we think of 18 year olds as adults, their brains are far from finished.
• Myelin continues to be deposited in the PFC until age 25 or 26, making the executive part of the brain work at a higher and more efficient level.
• Were you more mature at 25 than 18? I sure was. It is ironic that the car insurance industry knew about maturity and brain development long before society. Typically, car insurance rates change at 25 because drivers are more thoughtful and get into significantly less accidents.
• The knowledge of brain development into adulthood is critical to disseminate. Early smoking, drug or alcohol abuse, and brain injuries from risky sports all have the potential to disrupt brain development, in some cases permanently.
• After about 25, just as we reach peak development the brain starts slowly shrinking. Some research has suggested that the male brain shrinks faster than the female one. I think it is because men do more stupid things to their brains, such as they have more problems with alcohol, play tackle football and hit soccer balls with their heads.
• In college, 70% of football players and 62% of soccer players get at least one concussion per year.
• There are three distinct areas of the brain, controlling our instincts (brain stem), our emotions (limbic system), and our thoughts (cortex).
• The brain is also divided into the left and right hemispheres, or halves. The left side is often known as the detail oriented, get to the point, speech and happiness center; while the right side is known as being more fretful, more creative, and holistic processing center.
• When it comes to the brain SIZE MATTERS. The stegosaurus brain was about the size of a walnut. The adult human brain weighs about 1,300 to 1,400 grams. The average cat brain weighs only about 30 grams. This is why human curiosity helps invent space travel and cures for cancer, while curiosity requires cats to have nine lives.
• The highly convoluted folds of grey matter on the outside surface of the brain is known as the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is about 2 millimeters thick and has a surface area of about two and a half square feet. This is about the size of three and a half sheets of 8.5 x 11 inch paper.
• In order to wok properly, the brain needs fuel, oxygen, and stimulation. Just like any other living thing, a brain needs fuel to grow, function and repair itself.
• Glucose and oxygen run the engine powered by your brain cells. Unlike other cells in your body, glucose is the only fuel your brain knows how to use. Anything that impairs glucose delivery to brain cells is life threatening.
• Oxygen is required to produce energy, without it the energy powerhouses of neurons called mitochondria will not produce enough energy to keep your brain alive. Because blood delivers glucose and oxygen to your brain, nothing must get in the way of blood flow if the brain is to stay healthy. Unconsciousness will occur after 8-10 seconds after loss of blood supply to the brain.
• The human brain is dependent on proper stimulation to grow and develop in healthy ways throughout childhood and to maintain its functioning into old age.
• When you stimulate neurons in the right way, you make them more efficient; they function better, and you are more likely to have an active, learning brain throughout your life.
• The best sources of stimulation for the brain are physical exercise, mental exercise, and social bonding, which will be discussed in greater detail later on.
