The brain , essential for human life, is one of the organs supplied mainly with oxygen but also with neurons, which are small cells that function in relation to the nervous system, but how many neurons do we have and how many die a day?
How many neurons do we have and how many die a day?
In the past, science had calculated that the human brain had about 100 billion neurons. But a more recent study seems to have modified that consideration, which was apparently too round a number. In reality, and after several studies and analyzes, the active population of neurons present in our brain has been revised downwards. For this reason, it is currently considered that on average, we would have around 86 billion neurons at our best, that is, at the time we are born.
It is a huge number of cells, to which must be added glial cells (nutritive support cells) which in humans represent an average weight of 1.5 kg. In women, the brain is slightly lighter: about 1.3 kg although this does not mean that it is less effective.
How are our neurons formed?
These billions of neurons do not appear spontaneously. They must be formed by successive cell divisions . Our body develops its brain at the highest rate between the third and seventh month of pregnancy. At full speed, it generates around 250,000 per minute.
And how many die every day?
Despite being born with billions of neuronal cells, our brain loses them little by little from the first day of life. According to estimates from various studies, the human brain loses 85,000 neurons in the neocortex , or the equivalent of 31 million per year. Or what is the same, almost one neuronal cell per second.
From the moment we are born until we die, we lose neuronal cells and hence our brain is not the same when we are young as when we reach old age, but it is not something that can be stopped. The progressive or constant loss of neurons is somewhat limited by the rate of disappearance . Neurons can live for decades, but those that are not used end up disappearing so that we can get an idea of the many neurons in our brain that we do not use and therefore end up dying.
This phenomenon is also observed as we say with age. So at 80, the brain is only 70% of what it was around 20 or 25.
