8 surprising facts you probably didn’t know about your brain
The brain is one of, if not, the most vital part of our bodies yet it’s also one of the most mysterious. Here are 8 amazing facts about that grey matter in between our ears that will make you appreciate it a whole lot more.
1. The brain is a hog
The brain accounts for only two per cent of your weight but it uses 20 per cent of the oxygen you breathe and 25 per cent of the glucose circulating in your bloodstream. A continuous supply of oxygen is essential for the brain’s survival with just 10 minutes of lost oxygen causing significant neutral damage.
2. Brain tissue feels like tofu
According to neurosurgeon Katrina Firlik, the texture and consistency of the brain is similar to “tofu – the soft variety,” she writes in her memoir Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside.
3. Night vision is different to day vision
When it is dark outside your peripheral vision actually works better than your front-on vision. This is because our rod cells – the photoreceptors that respond best to dim light – are located in the periphery. Take a page from pilots who look for traffic out the side of their eyes next time you’re driving at night.
4. Your brain doesn’t feel pain
If you like watching your medical dramas on TV you might have wondered why patients undergo open brain surgery without being sedated. Surprisingly, it’s not because the medical dramas are wrong, it’s because the brain itself doesn’t feel pain. This allows doctors to probe areas of the brain while the patient is conscious.
5. You use more than 10 per cent of your brain
Thanks to Hollywood, there is a common myth that humans only use 10 percent of their brains. However, there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support this. It is true that scientist still do not completely understand how the brain functions but brain mapping suggests all areas of the brain have a function and are used.
6. The brain is big
The average adult brain weighs around 1.3 to 1.4 kilograms and has 100,000 miles worth of blood vessels (enough to circle the Earth four times) and 100 billion neurons.
7. Size doesn’t matter
Having a bigger brain doesn’t necessarily mean you are smarter. In fact, Albert Einstein had a relatively small brain. His weighed 1,230 grams whereas the average male brain weighs 1,360 grams.
8. There is no left brain/right brain divide
Another common myth that says logical, methodical and analytical people are left-brain dominant while the creative and artistic types are right-brain dominant. Scientists at the University of Utah have disproved this with their analysis of 1,000 brains. They found no evidence that people use their left or right brain more but that participants used their entire brain.
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