30 Scientifically Proven Facts About The Human Brain That Will Blow Your Mind

The study of the human brain has been called the last frontier in science.

The field of neuroscience is still in its infancy, but is rapidly exploding — turning yesterday’s brain “facts” into today’s brain “myths.”

Experts agree there is more we don’t know about the brain than we currently know.

Here are some of the most interesting brain facts backed by science.

Some will fill you with awe.

Some will make you pause and think.

Others will make you realize what an imperfect “machine” we’ve got running the show.

We think at least a few of these will blow your Mind.

It may interest you to know that the most complex entity known resides between your ears.

Here are some of the fascinating facts and figures about the human brain.



1. The typical brain is about 2% of a body’s weight but uses 20% of its total energy and oxygen intake.

2. Your brain is 73% water. It takes only 2% dehydration to affect your attention, memory and other cognitive skills.

3. Ninety minutes of sweating can temporarily shrink the brain as much as one year of aging.

4. Your brain weighs about 3 pounds. Of that, the dry weight is 60% fat, making your brain the fattiest organ.

5. Twenty-five percent of the body’s cholesterol resides within the brain. Cholesterol is an integral part of every brain cell. Without adequate cholesterol, brain cells die.

6. No one knows for sure, but the latest estimate is that our brains contain roughly 86 billion brain cells.

7. Each neuron connects with, on average, 40,000 synapses.

8. A piece of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 neurons and 1 billion synapses all communicating with each other.

9. All brain cells are not alike. There are as many as 10,000 specific types of neurons in the brain.

10. Only 5 minutes without oxygen can cause brain damage.

11. Babies have big heads to hold rapidly growing brains. A 2-year-old’s brain is 80% of adult size.

12. As any parent can attest, teen brains are not fully formed. It isn’t until about the age of 25 that the human brain reaches full maturity.

13. Brain information moves anywhere between 1 mph and an impressive 268 miles per hour. This is faster than Formula 1 race cars which top out at 240 mph.

14. Your brain generates about 12-25 watts of electricity. This is enough to power a low wattage LED light.

15. The average brain is believed to generate around 50,000 thoughts per day. Disturbingly, it’s estimated that in most people 70% of these thoughts are negative.

16. More than 100,000 chemicals reactions take place in your brain every second.

Does Brain Size Matter?
With some things size matters, but with the brain, bigger doesn’t always mean better or smarter.

17. In general, men’s brains are 10% bigger than women’s, even after taking into account larger body size.

18. Albert Einstein’s brain weighed 2.71 pounds (1,230 grams) — 10% smaller than the average of 3 pounds (1,400 grams). However, the neuron density of his brain was greater than average.

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19. Neanderthal brains were 10% larger than our homo sapiens brains.

20. Humans don’t have the biggest brains. That honor belongs to sperm whales with 17 pound brains.

The Effects of Modern Lifestyle on Our Brains
Our modern lifestyle is changing our brains. There’s some evidence it’s not all for the better.

21. Our brains are getting smaller. Over the past 10-20,000 years, the size of the average human brain has shrunk by the size of a tennis ball.

22. We are not getting smarter. Since the Victorian era, average IQs have gone down 1.6 points per decade for a total of 13.35 points.


23. Multitasking makes you less productive. When you multitask, your brain simply rapidly toggles back and forth between tasks. This results in decreases in attention span, learning, performance, and short-term memory.

24. Surprisingly, millennials (aged 18 to 34) are more forgetful than baby boomers. They are more likely to forget what day it is or where they put their keys than their parents!

25. The human brain is usually compared to the most advanced technology of the day. It’s been compared to a clock, a switchboard, a computer, and most recently to the internet.

26. Our attention spans are getting shorter. In 2000, the average attention span was 12 seconds. Now it’s 8 seconds. That’s shorter than the 9-second attention span of the average goldfish.

27. Brain cells cannibalize themselves as a last ditch source of energy to ward off starvation. So in very real ways dieting can force your brain to eat itself.

28. Your brain’s storage capacity is considered virtually unlimited. It doesn’t get “used up” like RAM in your computer.

29. The popular myth that we use only 10% of our brains is flat-out wrong. Brain scans clearly show that we use most of our brain most of the time, even when we’re sleeping.

30. There is no such thing as a left-brain or right-brain personality type. We are not left-brained or right-brained; we are “whole brained.”

Source: Bebrainfit