The human brian is made up of more than 100 billion nerve cells called neurons. Each neuron is connected to as many as 25000 other neurons-so the brain has trillions and trillions of different pathways for nerve signals. Girls' brains weight 2.5% of their body weight, on average, while boy's brains weigh 2%. About 0.85 litres of blood shorts through your brain every minute. The brain may be as little as 2% of your body weight, but it demand 25% of your blood supply. An elephant's brain weighs four times as much as the human brain. However, our brains are far bigger in relation to our bodies than those of any other animal. The cerebral cortex is the outside of the brain, and if it was laid out flat, it would cover a bed. The left hemisphere (half) of the brain is usually the word side, where the speech centres are. The right half is the picture side. Conscious thoughts and actions happen in the cerebral cortex. A human brain has a cerebral cortex four times as big as a chim

Health Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep Anatomy of Sleep Sleep Stages Sleep mechanisms How Much Sleep Do You Need? Dreaming The Role of Genes and Neurotransmitters Tracking Sleep Through Smart Technology Tips for Getting a Good Night's Sleep Hope Through Research Where can I get more information? Introduction Sleep is an important part of your daily routine—you spend about one-third of your time doing it.  Quality sleep – and getting enough of it at the right times -- is as essential to survival as food and water.  Without sleep you can’t form or maintain the pathways in your brain that let you learn and create new memories, and it’s harder to concentrate and respond quickly. Sleep is important to a number of brain functions, including how nerve cells (neurons) communicate with each other.  In fact, your brain and body stay remarkably active while you sleep.  Recent findings suggest that sleep plays a housekeeping role that removes toxins in your brain tha