Brain Facts

written by Mollyrose Wilson and Maedy Colenso 2016

The brain leads the body in everything it does, it is our thinking, our movement, our decision making, our storage of memories and much more. It has confused yet amazed people throughout different ages because of its evolutionary changes. What people have thought were the facts of the brain, are now the myths of the brain today. In this article, you will find a few interesting facts about the brain and some other facts about some smaller parts of the organ such as the hippocampus and amygdala.  I hope after you have read this you realise what an amazing part of the body it is and why my mum and I love learning about it so much.

 

General  Brain Facts

• The brain is an organ
• The brain is made up of approximately 60-70% fat
• The brain needs good quality lipids (fats) to function
• The brain is 10% EPA, 25% DHA and 13% amino acids
• The brain can regenerate and revive new cells
• New brain connections are created every time you form a memory
• Sometimes forgetting is good for the brain and deleting unnecessary information helps the nervous system retain it's plasticity
• Dehydration can affect the brain in a major way. Your brain is made up of 73percent water and it only takes a 2 % dehydration to effect memory and cognitive skills
• The brain is affected by body chemistry and dietary intake
• The brain uses 20% of our glucose, oxygen and nutrients. The brain is affected by what we eat and consume
• The brain is affected by chemical exposure
• Brains crave mental stimulation
• The average brain has about 50,000 thoughts  per day
• The brain is made up of neurons and the neurons communicate via neurotransmitters
• It only takes 6 minutes for the brain to react to alcohol
• Blood flow to the brain is important . There are over 16,000 km of blood vessels in the brain
• Contrary to medical belief because the brain is made of fats having a high cholesterol can be protective of the brain and can in fact reduce a risk of dementia
• A part of the brain the size of a grain of sand contains approximately 100,000 neurons (brain cells)
• The main parts of the brain are the parietal lobe, the frontal lobe, the occipital lobe, the cerebellum, the temporal lobe and the brain stem, yet in each of these main parts there also consists many smaller organs which each have different roles
• Thinking and talking a lot about information soon after we in counter it helps commit it to memory
• Once our senses take in information it is routed to the appropriate region of the brain
• Vision, hearing, touch, taste and smell all have separate specialised places for processing - the region called the thalamus supervises most of the shuttling of the information in the brain

 

Hippocampus

• The hippocampus is a small organ located within the brains medial temporal lobe
• The hippocampus forms a an important part of the limbic system
• The hippocampus is associated mainly with memory, in particular consolidating short term memory into long term memory
• The hippocampus also plays an important role in spatial navigation
• Stress and stress hormones over time shrink the hippocampus, however exercise and meditation builds it back up again

 

Amygdala

• The amygdala is located in the frontal portion of the temporal lobe
• The amygdala is essential in your ability to  feel certain emotions and to perceive them in other people
• The amygdala changes the way your body feels after feeling a certain emotion
• The amygdala memorises how you felt during an experience
• Smell can stimulates the amygdala, smell can now also stimulate emotions

B-BDNF

• (Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor) There is a substance in the brain that is call Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor or BDNF. The simplest way to describe it is that it is like the compost that feeds the brain nutrients promoting growth of new cells, improving memory learning and enhancing survival of existing neurons (brain cells) It influences the neuroplasticity. Low levels of BDNF are found in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Depression and Anxiety

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Read more on the brain under our article called Reversing Cognitive Decline

ref - Brain Rules  John Medina

       Metagenic Health Congress 2016