- Myth: humans only use 10% of their brains
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The notion that humans utilize only 10% of their brains is rooted in years of rumors and assumptions created by popular culture. For example, some movies, like Lucy (2014), illustrate characters gaining superhuman abilities when they are able to “unlock” higher percentages of their brains. However, this could not be farther from the truth. There is currently a plethora of evidence, research and imaging by neuroscientists that debunks this common myth. New imaging technologies like PET scans and fMRIs show that virtually all parts of the brain are active almost all of the time. While it is true that some parts of the brain are more active during different tasks (visual, cognitive, auditory, etc), it would be incorrect to say that 90% of the human brain is simply not in use.
- Fact: your brain is greedy
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The average brain weighs around 3 pounds, which is approximately 2% of the total weight of an average person. Still, the brain receives around 30% of the blood pumped by the heart, 20% of the glucose consumed by the body and 20% of the oxygen taken in by the body. Selfish right? Well, not quite. For such a small organ, the brain has maybe the most important role in the body. The brain regulates every other organ system, perceives what you feel, makes your body parts move, monitors homeostasis, thinks and much more. The brain needs all that fuel to keep you alive.
- Fact: “brain freezes” are your brain telling you to stop what you’re doing
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Whenever you chug that really cold Slurpee from 7/11, the brain instinctively increases your blood pressure resulting in that painful headache we all know as the brain freeze. It does this in an effort of telling you to stop what you are doing and prevent unwanted changes in temperature. The scientific term for this phenomenon is sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia. Try saying that fast five times.
- Fact: your brain has unlimited storage
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Believe it or not, you brain storage doesn’t get used up like the data on your iPhone. There is no such thing as learning too much and running out of space to store anymore information. In fact, there is endless brain power! There are, however, several factors that can make the retention of new information more difficult for the brain, including but not limited to lack of sleep. So go hit the books and then hit the sheets and impress people with your endless knowledge!
- Fact: the brain is always changing, even throughout adulthood
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Synaptic plasticity is the characteristic that allows the brain to change, adapt and grow as the person does. As I am sure we have all heard, the brain doesn’t reach full maturation until early adulthood, so throughout childhood and adolescence the brain is constantly adding and pruning neural connections to lead you to the person you will become. Mostly in childhood, and even sometimes in adulthood, a part of the brain can take on the role of another should the other part be damaged. So although functional parts of the brain follow a pattern, they are not set in stone. Lastly, and contrary to popular belief, the brain (specifically the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus) continues birthing new neurons into late adulthood to replace degenerated neurons. In fact, at the end of your life you will have almost all new and completely different neurons than the ones you were born with! A factor that aids this process and the retainment of new cells is exercise, so keep this in mind when you go for a run. You are exercising your body AND your brain.
- Fact: your brain is processing a lot more information than you’re aware of
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The subconscious mind habitually processes 20 million bits of information from your surroundings every second. Some estimates are lower, and some are higher; regardless, it is a pretty high number. However, the conscious mind only perceives about 40 bits of information every second. That’s right, your brain is actually processing and filtering 500,000 times more information than you are aware of! In some conditions, such as ADHD and schizophrenia, this information buffer is fractured, which accounts of the lack of focus, attention, and/or confusion that may accompany these conditions.
- Fact: your brain does not sleep
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Ironically, while you are in a deep slumber, your brain is actually still very active—if not more active than when you are awake, eating, walking and talking! During sleep, the brain has to work to process information, consolidate memories, clean up debris and increase creativity among other functions. Consequently, sleep deprivation can have numerous adverse effects on a person such as daytime grogginess, mood changes and worsened reaction time and memory. The moral of the story is: don’t stay awake all night cramming for an exam! Not only will you fail to retain the information as well, but you will drool on your paper. Yikes!
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