Some Amazing Brain Facts
I absolutely LOVE Brain Facts and thought I would share some of the ones I’ve learnt along the way, plus a few extras from Tim Brownson, just because they are fascinating 🙂
1. Our thoughts are pathways in our brain, the more we think that thought, the stronger the pathway gets……this is where self-fulfilling prophecy comes from. Â Remember this next time you are thinking you are an idiot, stupid, fat, not good enough etc! However, we can undo the pathway and create a new one – that’s what we do in RTT and Heart Based Transformational Coaching.
2. We have thousands of thoughts each day, often quoted at around 70,000. We often have the same thoughts going round and round, that’s why the quality of your thoughts are so important. Think great thoughts and you’re likely to have a great life! If you’re stuck with how to do this, make 2018 the year you learn how to control your thoughts.
3.Your brain is 75% water – drink lots of water if you want to keep your brain healthy. Alcohol and coffee don’t count but herbal teas do!
4. The slowest speed information passes around your brain is 260mph – phew!
5. Reading aloud to your kids under the age of 5 accelerates brain development and helps neural connections – ‘The Magic Faraway Tree’ has to be my all time favourite 🙂
6. 40 billion (There are quite a few different amounts bandied about, however, the point is it’s LOTS & LOTS) bits of information hits your brain every second, our conscious brain can only process 2,000 bits…which bits do we process? Those that fit into our belief system….. Mmmm, could this be why we stay stuck?
7. We operate from our unconscious brain 95% of the time – wow, that means out unconscious brain is the real Powerhouse. We only operate from our conscious brain 5% of the time….. now can you see why it’s important to know what beliefs you have going on in your unconscious brain, and if they are holding you back, how to change them?
8. Â Take care of your brain, we can lose up to 85,000 brain cells per day, so don’t smoke, don’t drink alcohol excessively, get rid of processed foods, eat those green veg, drink that water, exercise daily and meditate – we all want our brains to be in tip top shape and to live as healthily and long as possible.
9. The good news is that we can generate new brain cells, at one time it was thought we couldn’t, so if you do have a few too many glasses of Prosecco, all is not lost – the 80/20 rule is always the best way to go.
10. We have no pain receptors in the brain.
11. Pain is only in the brain – that seems contradictory to the above statement, so let me qualify. Â If the top of your head was removed and someone stuck their finger in your brain (Yuk!), you wouldn’t feel it. Â However, if you cut yourself or break a bone, or injure yourself, your body has lots of pain receptors that send the message to your brain to feel pain in that area. Without pain receptors you would feel no pain. Â Unfortunately, these pain receptors can get stuck on, causing chronic pain – but that’s another newsletter.
12. Your brain is plastic (neuroplasticity), that means it never loses its ability to learn, change and adapt to new situations as it’s constantly rewiring itself – good news if you are a negative Nancy 🙂
13. Your brain is as active whether you are awake or asleep.
14. Exercise has been proven to help repair damaged brain cells – Yay, Pilates here we come!
15. When you hug someone for 20 seconds or longer, the pleasure centre in your brain lights up (nucleus accumbens), dopamine and serotonin and oxytocin are released to create feelings of well-being. Go on, let’s get hugging 🙂
16. If someone stares at you for a while, your brain will see it as a threat, triggering your SNS and making you feel uncomfortable,
17. Your brain can tell the difference between a fake smile and a real one – we’ve all been on the receiving end of the odd slimy smile or two.
18. Your brain can only focus on one thing at once – you CANNOT multitask effectively – sorry girls, its not just the boys, we can’t either!
19. The brain likes everything to make sense – it basically fills in any gaps and lies to you…..mmmm, do magicians know this little trick?
20. That’s why our memories are so fallible, the brain remembers the gist of the event, not the details, and of course from your perspective only – let’s not be too certain we are right when going down memory lane, chances are you are not.
21. Your brain also finds it hard to distinguish between what is really happening and what is not – that’s why scary movies can make us jump!
22. It’s also why visualisations work so well and top athletes use this all the time – next time you want to achieve something, try visualising for a few days beforehand and see how much better it goes 🙂
23. Your brain does not like to focus for more than 90 minutes in one go – so step away from your desk, go for a walk, talk, drink and you’ll be so much more productive when you return.
24. Your brain likes familiarity – that means you are more likely to like people like you, same job, same hobbies, same outlook, same name even!
25. If you exercise your brain with crosswords, puzzles etc you can continue to grow neutrons for ever!
26. Your brain is affected by what you eat: people who ate a healthy diet compared to those who ate processed foods outperformed the others by 14%.
Look after your Brain!