Is It True That We Only Use 10% Of Our Brain?
We are already very used to hearing that human beings are unable to use more than 100% of their potential, centuries and centuries of human evolution and we have only managed to develop a minimal part of our brain potentialities. Is this true? Just thinking about it, endless doubts assail us by exposing questions about what we would be able to do if we used it in its entirety, or how we could deploy the operation of all those apparently sleeping areas …
ORIGINS OF THE 10% MYTH
Yes, indeed, it is a great myth and therefore a completely wrong idea. This concept originated at the end of the 19th century after some first tests in which the brain activity of people could be seen, a rudimentary method by which only the functionality of certain structures remained visible, which, came to be a total of 10% of our brain.
But there is still more, already in these times this number was associated with the total number of neurons that make up our brain mass, when it is not true: 10% are neurons, yes, but the other 90% are glial cells, directly involved in the learning and mediating their activity with neurons.
Another aspect to take into account is the figure of Albert Einstein. Someone said at the time that the famous scientist used 90% of his brain capacities, as a genius and as an eminent figure in science, the rest of the people compared to his intellectual potential we were in a ratio of 9/1. A wrong idea, without a doubt, because it is not at all about who uses their brain potential to a greater degree, it is about efficiency, gifted individuals for example use brain circuits in a more intense or efficient way, it is not about turning on a switch in a single part of our brain, not at all, is turned on equally but with greater or less intensity.
WE USE MUCH MORE THAN 10% OF OUR CAPACITY
Indeed, and we can give many, many proofs of it. Let’s start with a few simple samples:
-Let’s think of all those people who have suffered some type of brain accident, a traumatic injury, a disease … If we used only 10% that would mean that the other 90% would be completely empty and without any use, therefore suffering an injury in any of these inert parts would not affect our performance. Is this so? Of course not. When we suffer an accident we lose skills, wherever it may be, in the temporal, occipital, parietal area … it does not matter. Sometimes a simple blow can make us lose our sense of smell, or lose a part of our memory. The 10% idea is completely invalid.
– Our brain needs 20% of our energy to stay in good condition. It is the organ that requires the most energy expenditure. If we used only 10% of our capacity it would not make sense to offer so much power to such a “poor machine”.
-Technologies such as CT scans or MRIs, allow us to see our brain activity. And it is something amazing. The brain is always in action, even when we sleep, all areas are in constant motion, there are none that are switched off or unused.
-When doctors perform autopsies and analyze the brain, they can perfectly see the activity of each of its areas. If we used only 10%, there would be a clear degeneration of the rest of the areas, which, being useless, would simply be inert matter. But that has never happened.
So, the myth of 10% is just that, a false story that often appears in our society as a nineteenth-century loophole that has no basis whatsoever. Our brain is a great machine that is always active, empowering it even more only depends on us, our curiosity, our desire to learn and innovate … in this way more intense connections are created. There is the real secret.
