I love the book,  Being A Brain-Wise Therapist, by Bonnie Badenoch;  most of what I’m going to write  today comes from this fascinating book.

1.The adult brain has roughly 100 billion neurons (nerve/neural cells) that connect by synapses to 7,000-10,000 other neurons. This adds up to 2 million miles of neural highways in our brain(Siegel, 1999).

2. The neural cells in the heart and gut work as a little brain; the data sent from these two places has an impact on the autonomic nervous system, as well as the higher cognitive and emotional areas of the brain.

3. Neurons are connected to one another by synapses; it’s been estimated that the brain of a three year old child has about 1,000 trillion synapses!  Many of these cells are pruned (called cell death). The neurons that have not been incorporated into the developing brain structure are eliminated. Another burst of overproduction commences as adolescence begins, followed by more pruning.  The brain finally stabilizes in the mid-twenties.