It is said that humans use 10% of their brains... is it possible to access the rest? if so, how?

Question

Leonardo Da Vinci was a great man (aside form being gay and a petophile). They said he had a mutation in his brain. That the part of the brain that transmits information back and forth from left hemisphere to the right hemisphere (and vise versa) was, in Leonardo's brain, enlarged! This way information traveled freely back and forth. This enabled him to actually do two separate thngs at the same time. He could with one hand be writing verses from the bible and in the other writing something to about geology. and he'd be doing this at the same time with hit left hand writing backwards. He was a jack of all trades and considered the Renaissance man. The scope and depth of his interest was never rivaled. He studied light, metal work, anatomy, physiology, geology, zoology, engineering, hydrolics, mechanics, and was the first to study optics. He designed the machine gun, tank, and helicopter before we ever had the technology to make them. This man was a genius.

Obviously since he had a brain mutation that allowed information to travel freely between the hemispheres, he must have been using more than 10% of his brain. Would using 100% of the brain increase human physical limits such as running at higher speeds and superhero stuff like that? Or would it just increase mental things such as memory, and the ability to focus on more than one thing? Above all is it possible to increase the percentage you use? If so how would one go about this? Meditation, focus? I’m looking for realistic scientific answers. No religious stuff please (unless it has a factual historical back up). And NO HIPPIE answers that don’t make sense. Sorry it’s just that this has been bugging me so I don’t feel like reading b.s.

Answer 1

sorry to break it to you, but thats not true. we use all of our brains. at least most of us do.

Answer 2

We don't only use 10% of our brains and i'll give you 3 reasons how I know that. 1. Neurologists know that the brain is divided up in to different portions that we use for different things. Some portions help us with our motor skills while others help with critical thinking. 2. If you're a believer, God wouldn't design us with a giant useless glob of cells that do nothing. 3. If you're an evolutionist, well the unused portion of our brain would dissapear over a few generatons giving way for something that was being used.

Answer 3

medicine and science today focuses only on sameness or the average, and in doing statistics - to get "normals", they throw out all the important data - data involving anything not on the bell curve.

so ...anyone too smart or too stupid or too anything is ignored.
There is a group of people who have no blood vessels going up
into the brain - a defect causes only blood vessels from outside the skull to feed the brain, so that the " we know it all" answers about how the brain works are thrown out the window. These people all have higher than normal IQ, and have all gone or will go to university, and have otherwise normal motor skills. SO much for
" this part of the brain does this, and that part of the brain does that" etc. since the entire inside of their brains are DEAD. Only a thin layer of brain tissue around the outside is alive. ie, they really ARE only using 5 or 10 % of the brain - that is all they have.

There are extensive studies showing that mental exercises, avoiding drugs ( coffee, tea, smoking etc. ), eating a healthy diet,
getting proper sleep. and taking certain " Smart Drugs" can literaly increase your brain's ability.

At the moment though, short of near death concussions and other rare occurences, there is no fast cheap way to suddenly become a genius...

look up smart drugs - they are all over the world in smart bars, where they serve chemicals that help your brain, instead of alcohol...

Answer 4

We do use 100% of our brains. When people say we don't, it is because a large portion of our brains are glial cells (and schwann cells too) which are solely for support and nourishment of neurons (the active brain cells). These support cells have a function and are being used, though they are not an active part of our reasoning and "higher" brain functions if you will. So, that is why people use that statistic and that is why it is not technically correct either.

They hypothesize that Leonardo and Einstein may have had larger blood vessels in their brains, which would supply their brains with more oxygen so that it was more efficient or active, but there's no concrete proof for that. Sorry to put a damper on things, I know it's an exciting topic.

Answer 5

That's actually a very common myth about the brain. The brain is specialized such that different areas are used for different functions. Basically, it is true that you use roughly 10% of your brain at any given moment, but that's because if you used it all at once, you'd basically be having a seizure and not be able to accomplish anything. You use 100% of your brain in your lifetime, just not all at once, if you get what I'm saying.

Answer 6

No we use 100% of the brain
Think about it -- if we only used 10% would not you often hear about people who had brain damage and were OK because the damage was in the useless 90%?
In reality even small trauma to Brain will SEVERELY cut down on one's mental powers -- indicating that every little piece is useful and is normally used.
Anyway this is actually a common urban legend, read about at:
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/10percnt.htm

Answer 7

To get the most out of your brain eat healthy foods, take supplements that are enriching to the brain, stay mentally active (read, take classes in new topics,etc.), exercise (which is actually very important for better brain function). I have also read somewhere that to activate other parts of the brain you try using your less dominant hand (use left hand if you are right handed) to do tasks that you would normally use your dominant hand for. Also, swinging the arms when a person walks does something for the brain which is good. Don't smoke, don't drink alcohol. Myself, I highly value my brain, it is a gift.

Answer 8

The actual saying is that most people only live up to 10% of their potential. The human body is too inefficient to support an organ that is 90% dormant.
The areas of the brain have been mapped and there are not great areas where we say, "we don't know what happens here."

Answer 9

You use more than 10% of your brain overall, something like 100%, but it is a question of how much you need at any one period in time, which would be about 10%.

Answer 10

Education!

Answer 11

an average person uses 2% of their brains.
It is possible to use the rest. If we eat healthy and meditate a lot.
Think better.
Trust me education won't help. It's sort of artificial intelligence, or doctrine.
Jesus Christ did use 100% of his brains!