Do We Only Use 10 Percent of Our Brains?

Posted on January 23, 2017

Photo: flickr

One of the most complex and mysterious entities mankind have yet to completely grasp an understanding on is the human brain. The brain is the engine behind people's every thought, behavior and emotion. Over the years, there has been a rumor that people only use up about 10% of their brain's capacity. This has a lot of implications. Imagine all of humanity's successes over the years. If that is just 10% of what we could possibly achieve, what would the world look like when we hit 50% capacity? What about 100%? Would we crack down the code of time travel? Be able to read minds?

Not so fast! Before you go off imagining the vast possibilities, neurologists and researchers have shown proven that the 10% contention is not true! Neurologist Barry Gordon from John Hopkins University claims that we use almost every part of our brain and that our brain is almost consistently active in a 24-hour time period. From controlling our breathing to processing how to make dinner to saying hello to your neighbor, a storm of neural activity is going on.

Of course, not all parts of the brain are firing at the same time, but the rumor that only 10% of the brain's capacity are tapped is simply not true. Even when we sleep our brain is actively at work. Gordon says the brain is like a muscle that weights only 3% of our body yet uses 20% of our energy!


Source material from Scientific American