* The adult human brain weighs about 3 pounds (1,300 - 1,400 g).
* The adult human brain is about 2% of the total body weight, but consumes 20% of the blood's oxygen supply.
* The average human brain is about 140 mm (w) x 167 mm (l) x 93 mm (h).
* The total surface area of the cerebral cortex is about 2200 sq. cm (2.5 sq. ft.)
* The world record for time without sleep is 264 hours (11 days) bye Randy Gardner in 1965.
* Unconsciousness will occur after 8 - 10 seconds after loss of blood supply to the brain.
* Neurons multiply at a rate 250,000 neurons/minute during early pregnancy.
* The weight of an adult human cerebellum is 150 g.
* The total volume of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is produced everyday.
* Cerebrospinal fluid is normally clear and colorless.
* There are 12 pairs of cranial nerves.
* There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves.
* There are about 13,500,00 neurons in the human spinal cord.
* The human spinal cord is 45 cm long in men and 43 cm long in women.
* Humans can hear in the range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.
* The most sensitive range of human hearing is between 1,000 - 4,000 Hz.
* Pain occurs when sounds are above 130 db.
* Hearing damage can occur if people are exposed to sounds above 90db for an extended period of time.
* The total number of human taste buds (tongue, palate, cheeks) is about 10,000.
* The total number of human olfactory receptor cells is about 40 million.
* There are 1,000 to 10,000 synapses for a "typical" neuron.
* The cell bodies of neurons vary in diameter from 4 microns to 100 microns
* 85% of the brain is water.
* The brain has no pain receptors.
* Headaches are not actually in the brain, but occur in the vascular system around the brain or muscles of the skull.
* A baby's brain has its full complement of neurons by the sixth month of gestation. The brain grows at a rate of more than 13,000 neurons per seconds up to this time.
* It is estimated that there are between 100 - 200 billion neurons in the brain.
* The number of possible different combinations of synaptic connections among neurons in a single human brain is larger than the total number of atomic particles that make up the known universe.
* Cholesterol makes up 15% of the brain by dry weight.
* Peppermint makes you more alert.
* In many elderly people, brain fails before lungs or kidneys do.
* 90% of people in nursing homes suffer from moderate to serious cognitive function.
* 1/2 of 85+ have Alzheimer's disease.
* Brain begins to shrink around the age of 30 due to neuronal loss.
* Men lose brain tissues more significantly than women (approximately 3 times faster)
* From ages between the age of 40 to 50, there is an approximately 2% decrease in overall brain weight.
* Limbic system's hippocampus and amygdala shrinks about 20 - 25% by 60 years of age.
* 25 - 30 % of 80 years olds performed as well as young on cognitive tests.
* More than 6 million of 65+ will experience depression
* 50% of older Americans believe depression as part of aging.

* 156 people in ever 1000 suffer from a neurotic disorder
* Around 35,000 people die as a result of a brain-related disease.
* Diseases of the nervous system and sense organs cost the National Health Service in the UK more than 800 million a year.
* At least 10 % of the population suffer from migranes and 60% have their first attack before the age of 20. They can also affect children as young as 5 years old.
* Myalgic encephalomyelitis is thought to affect about 2% of the UK population at any one time. As many as 24,000 children in the UK are thought o have ME symptoms.
* Stroke is a leading cause of death in the western world, and in the UK affects 1 in 500 people every year.

http://www.discoverycube.org/brainfacts.htm

http://www.umds.ac.uk/physiology/daveb/brainday/stats.htm

“ Brain Facts Introduction.”  Mind Friendly Website.  <www.salt.cheshire.org.uk/mrl/brainfacts/facts.htm> (July 2001)

Chudler, Eric H.  “The Neuron, “Higher” Functions.”  Explore the Brain and Spinal Cord.  1996.  <http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/introb.html> (July 2001)

Khalsa,Dharma Singh & Cameron Stauth, Brain Longevity.  New York: Warner Books,1997.

Silverstein, Alvin & Virginia Silverstein, World of the Brain.  New York: William Morrow and Co., 1986.