Amazing Brain Facts You Probably Didn’t Know

We often hear that the human brain is an amazing organ. How amazing is it? Here are a few things you probably did not know about the human brain:

1. The brain does not contain any pain receptors, so the brain does not ‘feel’ pain.
2. During early pregnancy, a baby in the womb has a brain developing at 250,000 neurons per minute. Once you become an adult, you can still develop new neurons, but only in response to stimulating activities.
3. There are 100,000 miles of blood vessels in the brain.
4. The human brain has the most fat of any of the organs. Doctors estimate that the average brain is 60% fatty tissue.
5. The brain uses 20% of all of the blood and oxygen within your body. If your brain goes more than 10 seconds without adequate blood supply, you will lose consciousness. The brain can survive intact without oxygen for 4-6 minutes.
6. Your brain can process information at speeds that convert to 268 miles per hour in vehicles.
7. When awake, the average brain generates between 10 and 25 watts of electricity, which is enough to power one light bulb.
8. Researchers now believe that yawning is a reflex intended to supply the brain with an extra boost of oxygen to keep it alert (which may be why we yawn when we’re starting to get bored or sleepy).
9. Brain research now shows that those who are left-handed or have equal dominance in both hands have a part of the brain called the corpus callosum than is larger than that of a right-handed person.
10. Sleep studies show that that brain wave activity is higher when dreaming than when awake.
11. The latest diabetes research shows that stable insulin levels also help the brain’s memory banks.
12. Researchers now believe that ringing in the ears is not a condition of the ear at all, but of the brain.
13. The ability to read others’ facial expressions comes from a part of the brain called the amygdala. Those who are not as good at facial expressions as others may not have an amygdala that is as developed as in others.
14. The average person has an estimated 70,000 thoughts per day while awake.
15. An estimated 6% of the population gets headaches from flying in airplanes. The occupations with the greatest rates of reported workplace headaches are accountants, librarians, and bus drivers.
16. Harvard University has a bank of 7,000 brains that it maintains for research purposes (not including its students, of course).

Img c/o Pixabay.