Well, today is 27 of the ‘National Health Blog Post Month’ – so we’re almost at the end of this month-long writing challenge.  Today’s prompt are really nondescript’ so we really can choose how we interpret it!  The prompt I have chosen simply says ‘Be you didn’t know that…’

In this instance, I have chosen to share some facts that I have learnt about the brain!

1. The brain is more active at night when you are resting
2. There are over 100,000 miles of blood vessels running through the brain
3. The brain’s activity during the waking hours is enough to light a lightbulb.  The brain is said to produce up to 23 watts of power
4. The brain has no pain receptors; so the brain can feel no pain
5. The human brain is the fattest organ that makes up the human body and is said to consist of approximately 60 per cent fat
6. The first sense that develops while in utero.  The lips and cheek can experience touch as early as 8 weeks and the rest of the body around 12 weeks
7. The brain uses approximately 20% of the total oxygen in your body
8. It is said that yawning sends more of the oxygen to the brain, therefore working to cool it down or waking it up
9. Interestingly, I often suffer with tinnitus which for years medical professionals was as a result of a dysfunction within the mechanics of the ear; however, newer evidence suggests that it is actually a function of the brain
10. A living brain is so soft that it can be cut with a table knife!
11. The brain is approximately 70% water
12. You can continue to grow more neurons throughout your life by exercising the brain with puzzles, by reading and playing memory games
13. Approximately 30% of the brain’s function is given up to vision, such as spatial awareness, depth perception and recognition
14. We are unable to tickle ourselves because as a part of the brain called the cerebellum knows that we are doing the tickling and therefore sends a message to the rest of the brain to ignore the sensation
15. The human brain is approximately 2% of our body weight, around 3 pounds, however it still uses 20 to 30 per cent of the calories we consume

There are some fun facts about the brain!  Did you already know some of these facts?