brain – Top Health Today

How Much Memory Does the Brain Have?

Does my brain have more memory than my smart phone?

Well, maybe not. Several gigabytes is about the amount of space in both cases. This means that our brains can only store several hours of music, including a few songs we would own up to, tons of pictures from our last vacation, and a dozen or so apps we never use, right?

Well, no. Because our brains have something that our smart phones do not. Neurons. These neurons, which number in the billions, form connections with other neurons which results in trillions of connections. Yet, even if the neurons themselves were where our memories were stored, that wouldn’t be much space and we might run out of space. Instead, it’s believed that the memories are stored in these connections, which again, number in the trillions.

So how many gigs?

In effect, your brain will never run out of memory despite it feeling that way at times. However, actually measuring the amount of space in our brains for memory is difficult. Most scientists agree that we don’t have a method of measuring it but if we did, it would likely be in the several petabyte range. A single petabyte is a million gigabytes, to put into smart phone numbers.

However, that number is really just an estimate based on an estimated number of neurons in our brains. Science might reveal that the actual amount of space is much more. It’s happened before.

How long does the battery last?

Well, there is not a battery but the brain does require surprisingly little power to accomplish storing, or while having the capability to store, this vast and possibly immeasurable amount information. Requiring about the same amount of power that would keep a dim light bulb lit, the brain is able to accomplish this feat.

Though, there are some things we can do to ensure that our memories are working optimally. These are of course things like sleeping well, exercising, and using our brain so that it gets plenty of practice and experience.

Can I upgrade?

You’re stuck with the brain you have but we’re sure it’s quite capable. However, there does seem to be ways to get more out of it. There are people who have experienced head trauma and afterwards could remember things from their past or remember complex pieces of information that they were previously unaware they even knew. It would seem that the information was stored but not forgotten and after the trauma, the information was recollected with surprising ease.

Additionally, in a perhaps more controversial topic, there is a growing number of people who believe that there is a such thing as memory or cognition enhancers. These drugs are referred to as nootropics. The effectiveness of nootropics is an ongoing study but there does seem to be some evidence that they can improve memory, creativity and motivation. However, because it is such a new concept, though one for which there is an existing market, there is little known about possible side effects.

Why Does The Brain Shrink Overtime?

Shrinking brains sounds excruciating and extremely terrifying since it has to do with the organ that is responsible for who we are, what we do and how we do it. The brain is irreplaceable, once it’s gone, you are gone; unlike some of the other organs of the body that can be transplanted, you can only use one brain throughout your life and when it shrinks, there is no way you can get it back to the way it was. There is no cure for shrinking brains but there are some things you can do to reduce the risk of your brain from shrinking in the first place, in order to beat this natural abomination, you need to know how it occurs and what happens when it does.

The brain

Human brain is the main organ of the central nervous system which is protected by the skull.

All human brain has the same structure with that of other mammals, but with a more developed cerebral cortex. Human brain has approximately15 to 33 billion neurons in the cerebral cortex, with each neuronconnected by synapses to several thousand other neurons. These neurons communicate through what is called axons.

The cerebral cortex plays a key role in language, memory, consciousness, awareness, thought, attention and perception. It composed of gray matter, consisting mainly of cell bodies and capillaries which contrast with the underlying white matter, consisting mainly of the white myelinated sheaths of neuronal axons.

What is brain shrinkage?

The shrinking of the brain is referred to as cerebral atrophy. Atrophy means a decrement in the size of the cell of a tissue; in the brain, atrophy describes a loss of neurons and the connections between them. The shrinking of the brain can affect the whole brain or may be limited to a particular section of the brain which results in a decrease in the function of that area the brain controls.

Why it occurs

Some brain shrinkage occurs naturally while others are due to diseases, injuries or infections. Naturally, the brain starts to reduce around the age of 25 years which is when the brain as reaches its maximum mass and stop growing, although no significant mass reduction take place until the age of 60 years when about 0.5 to 1 percent of the brain volume is lost per year; the human brain shrinks to about 15 percent of its maximum mass by the age of 75 years. This is because of the progressive loss of cytoplasmic proteins in the brain.

The injuries and diseases that lead to brain shrinkage includes traumatic brain injury, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, cerebral palsy, Pick’s disease, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, leukodystrophies, mitrochondrialencephalomyopathies, type II diabetes, eating disorders and even malnutrition; many diseases that cause cerebral atrophy are associated with seizures, dementia, and aphasias (group of language disorders). The infections that can affect the brain are encephalitis, neurosyphilis and also AIDS.

How to prevent it

Unfortunately, you cannot prevent it from occurring; you can only reduce the risk of having it. This can be done by changing some part of your life: firstly, try to get enough sleep; taking 6 to 8 hours of sleep is not only good for your body but also your brain, it helps to maintain your gray matter. Another way is by eating healthy balanced diet, which must contain antioxidants and omega-3 which makes up the central building blocks of the brain tissue. You can also reduce the risk by staying active physically, mentally and socially.

Is The Brain A Muscle?

Although there are plenty of muscles in your face, scalp, and inside your head, the brain itself is not a muscle. Instead, the brain is one of the largest organs in the body and is essential for life itself and most of the voluntary and involuntary actions your body can do. It is also the center for thought, memory, and understanding.

Some people may consider the brain to be similar to a muscle because, like this other type of tissue, it can be worked out, trained, and get stronger. Just like an athlete will exercise the muscle so it performs better when he or she is participating in a sport, individuals can exercise their brain so it can remember more, think better, and figure out more complicated problems.

What Is The Brain Really?

This large organ that sits inside your skull is a complicated bundle with multiple parts and a very complex network of nerves that carry, transmit, and figure out impulses from the rest of the body. It includes glands that create hormones such as the pituitary and also room for storage of memories.

How Does The Brain Operate like a Muscle?

Most muscles do just two things: contract and relax. You contract the big muscle in your arm and your hand moves upward. You relax it again and your hand drops down. Most body parts are operated by a system of multiple muscles that work automatically in conjunction with each other to deliver the motion or action that you desire.

The brain operates differently. Many processes are completely automatic, such as breathing and your heart beating. Your brain takes care of these things as long as you are alive. If you want the brain to take some action, such as figuring out a puzzle or remembering something from long ago, you need to tell it to do so. In this way, brain functions much as a muscle would.

Also, your brain can be trained and exercised to get stronger. With muscular exercise, the cells are damaged and repair and you grow new ones as you bulk up. Too many damaged cells in your brain and you become disabled. Also, of course, your brain can never bulk up or grow in size. However, the neurons can get stronger and actually grow new ones.

What is really changing when you exercise your brain is its ability to make connections and to forge associations between the information stored in your memory banks, current input, and experiences.

As people get older, cognitive function often declines. They find it more difficult to remember things from long ago or just a few minutes past. Reasoning ability, puzzle solving ability, and other thought processes become more of a challenge. If the brain was like a muscle, they could exercise it and regain total control. Unfortunately, has body parts and organs age, a full range of ability is seldom regained again.

If you ask if the brain is a muscle, you may have to use your brain power to figure out the answer. While it is not made up of muscle tissue and does much more than contract and relax, your brain can get stronger if you work at.

Notice: Undefined variable: category_posts in /home2/a957752/top-health-today/wp-content/themes/top-health-today/archive.php on line 28

Notice: Trying to get property 'max_num_pages' of non-object in /home2/a957752/top-health-today/wp-content/themes/top-health-today/archive.php on line 28