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Mind-Blowing Facts About Your Brain

By Sara Butler

Your Brain is a Dreamer

When most people think of chiropractic care, their minds go straight to the spine. While it is true that the chiropractors at The Joint Chiropractic can help resolve joint dysfunctions and restrictions in the joints of the spine, what they’re really after is optimal health for your central nervous system -- which leads to better overall health. In celebration of your incredible central nervous system, here are a few facts about your brain that you might find, well, mind-blowing.

Your Brain Stops You From Acting Out Your Dreams

Remember that time you had that crazy dream about being chased down the street by a horde of magical unicorns? Have you ever wondered why, when a dream is so vivid, you don’t wake up in your PJs outside on your front lawn? You have your brain to thank for that.

Your brain prevents you from actually acting out your dreams. Your eyes may move as if you were watching events unfold before you, but the neurons in your brain are jamming up the signals to your muscles on purpose so that you don’t get up and act out the dream you’re having. Effectively, except for your eyes and the muscles that control breathing, your entire body is immobilized during sleep.

Those dreams where you forgot to wear pants to school on the day of your big presentation? Thanks for the rescue, brain.

Dreams Serve a Purpose

Sure, some dreams may be incredibly strange and leave you scratching your head in the morning, but even the most bizarre dreams serve a purpose: They help you form memories.

Researchers have discovered that dreams are the brain’s way of integrating, processing, and understanding new information. They’re a sign that the sleeping brain is working to commit information to memory on multiple levels.

So sure, you may not be able to put a book under your pillow and receive the information through osmosis, but you can lock down the information you take in during the day when dreaming at night.

Your Brain Needs a Lot of Energy

Your brain only accounts for about 2 percent of your total body weight, but it hogs up to 20 percent of its energy. And it doesn’t seem to matter what you’re doing, it still has the same energy needs whether you’re relaxing on a beach in Bali or learning complicated concepts in a classroom. In fact, researchers have found that there’s no relationship between external actions and the energy your brain needs to function. It’s always doing something, so make sure to feed it.

You Can Change the Brain Through Meditation

It might be time to put on your “ohm” face because there’s some evidence to suggest that meditation can help increase grey matter in the brain. In fact, researchers have found that daily meditation increases the brain matter in the areas of the brain responsible for focus, memory, and compassion while shrinking the area of the brain -- the amygdala -- that’s responsible for your fight or flight response. So, if you want to help your brain (and the rest of you) chill out and deal with stress in a healthy way, it’s time to add a little meditation to your day.

There’s no other brain on the planet like yours, so make sure to take steps to care for it. The chiropractors at The Joint are happy to be your partner in health and want to help your central nervous system work at its very best. But there’s nothing they can do about the going naked to work dreams -- you’ll need to deal with those on your own.

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