I don’t think any of you need a doctor to tell you just how important the brain is. It’s our complete command centre, controlling everything in the body without us knowing and without us even thinking about it. Of all the organs of the body it is without doubt the most fascinating. Here are just a few amazing facts about our brains...
Humans do not use only 10% or less of their brain. This is a common misconception. Nobody actually knows but it's certainly more than 10%.
Your brain generates 25 watts of power while you’re awake which is enough to illuminate a lightbulb.
750ml of blood pumps through your brain every minute which is 15-20% of blood flow from the heart.
Your brain is the most energy-consuming part of your body. The brain represents only 2% of the body weight, but it uses up to 20 percent of the body’s energy production.
The average sized brain has around 100 billion neurons. The brain loses 200,000 neurons a day. So by the age of 50 we have lost up to 5% of the brains total mass.
It is estimated that the human brain has a raw computational power between 1013 and 1016 operations per second. Thats 10,000,000,000,000 or 10,000,000,000,000,000 operations per second!!!
You btteer bleivee it yuor biarn is clveer, jsut try and see if you can raed tihs, msot lkiely you can. This is bcuseae the mnid deos not raed all lteters, olny the wrod as a wlhoe aoccdring to rscheearch at Cmabridge Uinvresity.
I DIDN’T REALISE HOW AMAZING THE BRAIN WAS UNTIL I BECAME A FATHER.
I remember very well as a young medical student attending many neurology classes. It was fascinating and exciting, but I don’t think I fully appreciated the brain in all its wonderment and glory until I became a father.
Watching my children grow up and seeing how they absorbed new information, sometimes literally minute by minute was the most beautiful thing to behold.
I watched as they built mental bridges of information, curiosity, coordination, humour and emotion as the synapses in their brains laid foundations of cognitive routes that would be used and further developed for the rest of their lives.
Even now, at my age, I find it incredible how a smell, a piece of music or a name can instantly produce a perfect mental picture of something that happened maybe 40 years ago – as if it was only yesterday. The brain truly is a remarkable organ
However, being such a complicated organ this can lead to a whole range of potential problems and I plan to tackle many of these problems over the next few weeks. The biggest of all ‘brain’ problems are anxiety, stress and depression. It was reported last year that a total of 13.5 million working days were lost in the UK due to stress and anxiety alone. Imagine the numbers if we were also to incorporate depression into those figures.
Fortunately, there are many things you can do to treat these problems but one that I want you to avoid if at all possible, is the prescription route. I believe doctors are far too hasty in handing out prescriptions for drugs such as Prozac and Vallium.
There are so many natural and highly effective strategies and treatments that you can employ to remedy these types of problems. Here are just a few tips you can start with but these are just the tip of the ice berg - with a little research on line you can find dozens of other great ideas
10 TIPS TO HELP WITH STRESS AND ANXIETY
• Sounds simple, but try to laugh more with friends, funny films etc.
• Control your breathing. Learn to breathe deeply from your diaphragm
• Accept mistakes. We all make them, so just learn from them rather than dwell on them
• Exercise. A great way to lower stress hormones
• Share your problems with others. It really is cathartic to share and explore your problems.
• Deal with problems one by one. If you tackle everything at the same time it will probably get on top of you and make you feel awful.
• Be flexible. Accept what you can and can’t do. Be open to changes of plans.
• Be stubborn when it’s a needed. Learn to say no.
• A good healthy diet and no stimulants (caffeine and nicotine)
• Yoga and Tai Chi – great stress busters! There is also a great book I’ve just reviewed called ‘How to Beat Anxiety, Stress and Depression’. It’s packed with some great advice, but the one thing that I find helps most is simply a good night’s sleep.
Now, that can be difficult when you suffer from stress and anxiety but the book gives you ‘12 Golden Rules’ for a good night’s sleep that I’ve found works for most people.
Once you have a good 8+ hour’s quality sleep behind you, it leaves you with a healthy mental perspective and positive energy for the day ahead. Click here to read more about this book.
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With that in mind, I think I’d better turn in myself now as it’s gone midnight and we have a very busy day planned tomorrow.
Next week, I’ll continue with the brain and I’ll be giving you some important advice about stress and depression and about how to help remedy them.
I’ll even tell you how a cat or dog can be a great antidote to stress and even in some cases reduce the risk of heart disease!
That’s all from me for this week – keep smiling and stay happy!
Dr Bruce
Hello, my name is Dr Bruce Caine, but everyone calls me Dr Bruce.
So who am I? - A sixty four year old retired GP, who is quietly losing his boyish good looks, but with dignity. I’m married to Maria, who is an ex-nurse and hails from the mountains just outside Madrid. In fact that’s where we live now, in the village of her youth, surrounded by mountains and beautiful countryside. When the opportunity of early retirement came along, there was only one place in our minds, and here we are!
Children? Just the two, but believe me that’s been expensive enough. Samantha, our thirty five year old, followed in her fathers footsteps and is currently enjoying her second year working for Medicin Sans Frontiers, travelling the world.
My thirty two year old, James, is the exact opposite. He has exhibited an incredible talent for ‘floating’ through life and was so laid back that we thought he’d get a job as a luxury sofa. Finally his genuine creative edge kicked in, and he now works in advertising.
I retired just over a year ago and the first six months were great – moving over here and doing all the things we’ve always wanted to do. But now, the truth is – I’ve started to miss being in practice and being involved with people. So, that’s why I started The People’s Doctor - a weekly newsletter all about general health matters.
Another bonus to this is that now I’m not constrained by NHS protocol and can reveal the real facts about the medical industry. Over the years I’ve grown to deeply mistrust the large drug companies and they do not always enjoy what I have to say! So, a lot of the advice I give is based on alternative and natural treatments that deal with the problem without the multitude of side effects conventional medicines often produce.
I still read all the medical journals and I subscribe to all the major medical websites and I even attend the odd conference – so I can bring you the very latest breakthroughs, treatments and information on a whole range of health problems.
As you can see, I write in plain, straightforward English – I won’t baffle you with medical jargon – just give you the straight fact’s and wherever possible, I even hope to make you laugh – which is a wonderful medicine in itself.
I very much want my experience and opinion to help you to help yourself. Time has taught me that not all ailments are best served by a trip to the doctor’s surgery.
So if you’d like to know more, and have me entertain and inform you each week, then click the subscribe button below and I’ll send my weekly e-mail to your in-box.
Take care of yourself.