See Also:
Intro to the Brain and the Power of the Mind
Intro to the Brain and the Power of the Mind
- Structure and Composition of Your Brain
- Strange & Interesting Facts on the Brain
- Hormones and Neurotransmitters
- The Role of Dopamine
- The Power of Thought - Neuroplasticity
- The Brain and Emotion
- Neuroscience Glossary
THOUGHTS AND COMMENTARY
Commentaries and essays on a variety of topics including parenting, the capacity for love, emotions, mindfulness and social issues.
A Book Excerpt From
The Road to Neuroplasticity and Change to Heal Trauma, Improve Cognitive Capacity and Maximize Performance
ABOUT THE BOOK
The Structure and Composition of Your Brain
See Also:
Intro to the Brain and the Power of the Mind
Intro to the Brain and the Power of the Mind
- Structure and Composition of Your Brain
- Strange & Interesting Facts on the Brain
- Hormones and Neurotransmitters
- The Role of Dopamine
- The Power of Thought - Neuroplasticity
- Neuroscience Glossary
THE BRAIN is the central command center of the central nervous system.
Composition
Growth and Development
- It controls most of the activities in the systems that make up the body. These activities include processing, integrating, and coordinating the information received from the sensory systems.
- It takes the information to make decisions and then sends instructions to to the rest of the body to carry them out.
- The brain consists of the cerebrum, the brain stem and the cerebellum.
Composition
- The skull (cranium) is a protective case covering the brain. It is made up of 22 bones.
- The average human brain is 140 mm wide, 167 mm long and 93 mm high. The human brain weighs 3 pounds and is comprised of 60% fat.
- Forty percent of your brain consists of gray matter located on the surface of the brain, which serves to process information in the brain.
- The other 60 percent is white matter, buried in the inner layer of the brain’s cortex, which transmits signals to the gray matter.
- The cerebrum makes up 85 percent of the brain's weight.
- Human brain tissue is not dense. It’s very fragile. It is composed of a soft and squishy consistency that is similar to soft tofu or gelatin.
- The wrinkles in our brain, called gyri, increase surface area, letting us pack in more memory-storing, thought-producing neurons. (The folds between the gyri are called sulci.)
- The brain is is fueled by 20% of the body’s total blood and oxygen production.
- Every minute, 750-1,000 milliliters of blood flows through the brain.
- The blood vessels that are contained within the brain are almost 100,000 miles in length.
- The harder you think, the more oxygen and fuel your brain will use from your blood – up to 50 percent.
- Oxygen is vital to maintaining life. As little as five minutes without oxygen can cause some brain cells to die, leading to severe brain damage.
- Scientists estimate that our brains contain roughly 86 billion brain cells.
- More than 100,000 chemical reactions happen in the human brain every second.
- Over 100 billion neurons are at work sending and receiving vital information essential for the functionality of all major systems.
- There are as many as 10,000 specific types of neurons in the brain.
- A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons and 1 billion synapses.
- Each neuron has somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 synapses, equaling about 1 quadrillion synapses.
- These neurons move information at different speeds but the fastest known speed for information transfer is about 250 mph.
- Each neuron can transmit 1,000 nerve impulses per second and make as many as tens of thousands of synaptic contacts with other neurons.
- Neurons branch out to 100 trillion-plus trigger points, forming what experts call a “neuron forest.”
- Signals traveling through the neuron forest form the basis of memories, thoughts, and feelings.
- If all the neurons in the human brain were lined up, they would stretch 600 miles.
- Your brain requires a lot of energy to function. It actually uses more energy than any other organin the body and studies suggest that as much as 20% of the body's energy resources are used to power the brain. The energy helps the neurons fire signals and maintain healthy brain cells.
- When the energy source fueling the brain is inadequate brain cells will cannibalize themselves to ward off starvation.
- Low-fat dieting can actually force your brain to eat itself.
- The brain requires essential fatty acids from our diets in order to function. By ingesting lower levels of fatty acids from foods we can impair the brain's ability to perform effectively and it may even lead to certain brain diseases.
- Your brain generates about 12-25 watts of electricity which is enough to power a low-wattage LED light. It's scientifically proven that even a small dose of power changes how a person's brain operates and diminishes empathy.
- When the energy source fueling the brain is inadequate brain cells will cannibalize themselves to ward off starvation.
- 75 percent of the brain is made up of water and the negative effects of dehydration threatens its functionality and performance. It takes only 2% dehydration to affect your attention, memory and other cognitive skills.
- Twenty-five percent of the body’s cholesterol resides within the brain. Without adequate cholesterol, brain cells die.
- Cholesterol aids in membrane function, acts as an antioxidant, and helps make progesterone, estrogen, cortisol, testosterone and vitamin D.
- Research suggests that older people with higher cholesterol levels have better overall memory function.
- It is a myth that humans only use 10 percent of our brain. We actually use all parts of the brain.
- Brain scans clearly show that we use most of our brain most of the time, even when we’re sleeping.
- Size doesn’t matter. There is no evidence that a larger brain is smarter than a smaller brain.
- In general, men’s brains are 10% bigger than women’s.
- The hippocampus, (responsible for memory) is typically larger in women.
- Men have 6.5 times more gray matter in the brain than women; however, women have about 10 times more white matter than men.
- During pregnancy, a woman’s brain shrinks. It takes 6 months to regain its full size.
- The brain is capable of 1,016 processes per second, which makes it far more powerful than any existing computer. There is 2,500,000 gigabytes of storage space in your brain.
- There are two sides in human brain. Each side of the brain (hemisphere) interacts with the opposite side of the body. The left side of the brain interacts with the right side of the body, and vice versa.
- The left hemisphere packs in almost 200 million more neuronsthan the right side.
- Many believe that a person is either left-brained or right-brained.
- The right-brained people are visual thinkers, have artistic ability and are more instinctive or creative
- The left-brained people more logical, calculating and fact oriented.
- Evidence does not necessarily support this. Research now suggeststhat this is a myth — people are not dominated by one brain hemisphere or the other. A healthy person is constantly using both hemispheres.
- It is true that the hemispheres have different tasks. The left hemisphere is involved in processing language and the right in processing emotions.
- Sleep deprivation can affect the brain in multiple ways including diminishing memory, slowing down of your reactions and the impairment of judgment.
Growth and Development
- During early pregnancy, approximately 250,000 neurons develop in the fetus brain per minute.
- In the womb, a fetus grows 8,000 new brain cells every second.
- The size of the brain of a newborn baby increases 3 times the size during birth. This explains which babies have large heads compared to remaining body.
- Children have more brain cells at the age of two than at any other time of their lives.
- A child’s brain is already 80% of adult size by the age of 2 but it doesn’t reach its full size until the age of 18 and it won’t be fully mature until 25.
- The ability to recognize faces and find one’s car has already begun to decrease during the 20s. You begin to lose some memory abilities and cognitive skills by the late 20s.
- Memory for names begins to decline as early as age 35.
- Around middle age the brain starts to decrease in size.
- The ability to understand complex emotions actually improves up until your 50s
- Your grasp of vocabulary will likely be its best in your 70s.
See Also:
Intro to the Brain and the Power of the Mind
The Neuroscience of Creativity
Intro to the Brain and the Power of the Mind
- Structure and Composition of Your Brain
- Strange & Interesting Facts on the Brain
- The Power of Thought - Neuroplasticity
The Neuroscience of Creativity
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View Me on Twitter @kairosoflife
See Creativity Chaos - a Creativity Blog by Kai
About | Reprints & Copyrights | Home
© 2019-2020 Copyright Starlight Poetry
VIEW FULL SITE DIRECTORY