Dean recently wrote a post about this and I want to, too. How did this myth start? The idea that humans use only 10% of their brains. The new movie Lucy is based on this premise that normally we use only 10 percent of our brains. Well if that’s true I’m screwed, as are the majority of stroke survivors. I definitely killed way more than 10% percent of my brain when I decided to have a stroke. If I killed some of the 90% of my brain that I wasn’t using then why do I have so many problems? Can anyone answer that? Dean killed a whole lot of his brain in a completely different area than I did and he has issues. No, we use the whole brain. And when some of it is killed off, like for instance when you have a stroke and decide you don’t need some brain matter anymore, other areas of the brain CAN take over for those functions.
Categories: Brain stuff, Health, Recovery, Stroke stuff
mycerebellarstrokerecovery 
Well said!
Thanks!
Exactly!!
Interesting thought: if we use only 10%, why did the stroke hit so much of that little bit? Odds are that it should mostly have hit the parts we DON’T use. And then the stroke would have had no effect. So, is this the reason medical personnel use the “every stroke is different…” Statement? That some people lose more of their unused brain than others? Slippery slope here: is it people with more unused brain who recover more easily, while those who used more of their brain need to do so much more work? Why did I take 12 years of French and study differential equations?
That is very interesting, maybe that’s why everyone in the tribe is so freakin’ smart.
From gapingvoid art. Your Brain is not your friend.
http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=028de8672d5f9a229f15e9edf&id=61a185b827
Come on Amy, I have no issues, I’m perfectly normal for a stroke survivor. My left arm and hand may not work but thats normal for my type of stroke.
Haha I really like that picture!
If my calculations are right, 2 million neurons a minute * 60 minutes* 30 hours = 3.6 billion neurons you killed off. Out of 80 billion that’s not bad. I’m a piker at 171 million. Why do I have stroke issues yet?
Whoa, I killed roughly 3.6 billion neurons. Go me. Top that neurologists!!!!!