Just take a moment to think about this statement — Your brain studies itself. A little unnerving, isn’t it? The brain is the most powerful organ in the human body, and also the most important. Did you know that it stops you from chewing off your fingers even when it’s as easy as eating a carrot stick? It’s true! Read on to know more about how the brain works day and night to keep us alive and thriving:
- There are more than 100,000 chemical reactions happening in the human brain every second. And you? You get tired after completing one job on today’s to-do list. Get a grip!
- More about why the brain is literally fantastic— The world’s fastest supercomputer requires 24 million Watts of power to operate, but our brains need only 20 Watts and operate about 100,000 times faster!!
- The brain does not have any pain receptors and, consequently, cannot feel pain. Someone should teach this to our heart.
- When you sleep in a new environment for the first time, the brain processes danger and remains half-awake in order to be more aware. Now you know why sleeping in hotels and guesthouses is so difficult.
- Your brain has its favourite song. When you listen to it, the anticipation from a peak moment in the song triggers dopamine (the happy hormone) release.
- Even though the brain is highly intelligent, it is not necessarily the fastest. Turns out that it isn’t fully formed until age 25.
- Do you know who is the biggest hindrance when you’re dieting? That’s right, it’s your own brain. When a person diets or deprives himself of food, the neurons that induce hunger start eating themselves, which sparks a hunger signal to prompt eating.
- Instead of dieting, try exercising. Exercise slows our brain’s aging by a good 10 years.
- Experts estimate that in a lifetime, a human brain may retain one quadrillion separate bits of information. That’s a LOT of memories.
- But if brain cells were replaced, like skin or liver cells, scientists hypothesize we would lose our memories. Now would that be good or bad?
- Another reason to thank the brain: During sleep, your body produces a hormone that prevents you from getting up and acting out your dreams.
- A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons and 1 billion synapses. Literally…mind-blowing.
- Déjà vu hasn’t been fully explained. Scientists think that it’s actually a neurological glitch caused by something being registered in memory before conscious thought.
Stay tuned with us for more facts like these!
References:
1. 77 Fascinating Facts about the Human Brain. Available from: https://www.factretriever.com/human-brain-facts. Accessed on 28 April 2020.
2. 49 Interesting Facts and Stories About the Human Brain. Available from: https://interestingengineering.com/49-interesting-facts-and-stories-about-the-human-brain. Accessed on 28 April 2020.
3. 11 Fun Facts About Your Brain. Available from: https://www.nm.org/healthbeat/healthy-tips/11-fun-facts-about-your-brain. Accessed on 28 April 2020.