The amazing human brain

The human brain is an amazingly complex system that we have been unable to duplicate, despite our incredible technological advances. And we still aren’t sure exactly how it all works.

Every movement, thought, sensation, and emotion that makes up our experience of being humans involves several thousand kilometres of interconnected nerve cells. Our brain and spinal cord contain ten thousand distinct varieties of neurons, trillions of supportive cells, a few more trillion synaptic connections, a hundred known chemical regulating agents, kilometres of minuscule blood vessels, and axons from a few microns to well over 45 cm in length.

Much of the beauty of the brain lies in its mindboggling complexity. The challenge is to transform this complexity into manageable proportions for our brains to digest. The average number of neurons in the brain is 100 billion, yet the brain only takes up 2% of our body weight. The actual weight of our brain is roughly 80% brain tissue, 10% blood and 10% cerebrospinal fluid.

If we lined up our nerve fibres they would stretch for 180 000 km while the number of synapses is around 0.15 quadrillion. When numbers like these are involved, it does not matter so much that we lose around 85000 neocortical neurons each day.

However, this complexity is why a brain injury can have such wide ranging effects on our movements, thoughts, sensations and emotions. The brain can be damaged as a result of an accident, a stroke, alcohol or drug abuse, tumours, poisoning, infection and disease, near drowning, haemorrhage, AIDS, and a number of other disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Brain injury has dramatically varied effects, and no two people can expect the same outcome or resulting difficulties. The brain controls every part of our being: physically, intellectually and emotionally. When the brain is damaged, some other part of ourselves will also be adversely affected. Even a mild injury can result in a serious disability that will interfere with a person’s daily functioning and personal activities for the rest of their life. While the outcome of the injury depends largely on the nature and severity of the injury itself, appropriate treatment will play a vital role in determining the level of recovery.

Article Via Synapse Bridge Magazine Volume 19