Human Brain Facts by the Numbers
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)
2. Your brain is 73% water. It takes only 2% dehydration to affect your attention, memory and other cognitive skills. (3, 4)
3. Ninety minutes of sweating can temporarily shrink the brain as much as one year of aging. (5)
✓OptiMind Brain Supplement For better mental energy, clarity, focus and mood
4. Your brain weighs about 3 pounds. Of that, the dry weight is 60% fat, making your brain the fattiest organ. (6)
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. (7)
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. (9)
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. (10)
9. All brain cells are not alike. There are as many as 10,000 specific types of neurons in the brain. (11)
10. Only 5 minutes without oxygen can cause brain damage. (12)
11. Babies have big heads to hold rapidly growing brains. A 2-year-old’s brain is 80% of adult size. (13)
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. (14)
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. (15, 16)
14. Your brain generates about 12-25 watts of electricity. This is enough to power a low wattage LED light. (17, 18)
