Neuroscience: How Well Do You Know Your Brain?

Each month, I will be writing and sharing MIND MATTERS MONTHLY – a space for exploring mental health, wellbeing and the fascinating science behind the way our minds and bodies work. My hope is that what I share feels engaging, accessible and gently informative.

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This Month - Neuroscience: How Well Do You Know Your Brain?

The human brain is often described as the most complex structure in the known universe. It contains around 86 billion nerve cells, forms trillions of connections and works continuously throughout our lives. Yet despite relying on it every moment of every day, most of us know surprisingly little about how it actually works.

Your brain is your life's control centre. It influences how you learn, how you love, how you cope with challenges, how you remember the past and how you imagine the future. It is also remarkably adaptable, capable of changing throughout your life in response to your experiences and the choices you make.

Understanding even a little about how your brain works can help you care for it, protect it and perhaps view yourself, and others, with a little more curiosity and compassion.

Why should we get to know our brain?

Because your brain is you!

Your brain influences every thought you have, every memory you make, every decision you take, every relationship you build and every emotion you experience. Understanding it is, in many ways, understanding yourself.

Because knowledge reduces self-blame!

Many people criticise themselves for forgetting names, becoming overwhelmed, reacting emotionally or struggling to concentrate. Sometimes these experiences are entirely normal responses to stress, ageing or the way our brains are designed to work. Understanding the brain can replace judgement with curiosity and compassion.

Because our brains change throughout life!

Unlike previous generations believed, our brains remain capable of learning and adapting. That means we are not simply fixed versions of ourselves. We can develop new skills, form healthier habits and continue growing throughout our lives.

Because we only get one brain!

We service our cars, insulate our homes, look after our gardens and take our pets to the vet. Yet many of us give very little thought to caring for the organ that makes all of those things possible.

Because our choices matter!

While we can't control everything—such as our age or genetics—we can influence many factors associated with lifelong brain health. Sleep, movement, social connection, learning, managing cardiovascular health, reducing smoking and excessive alcohol, and eating a balanced diet all contribute to supporting a healthy brain.

Because our brains are wired for connection!

Human beings are social by nature. Positive relationships, kindness, purpose and a sense of belonging don't simply make life more enjoyable—they help support our emotional wellbeing, reduce stress and contribute to lifelong brain health.

Because understanding the brain helps us understand others!

Whether it's a child struggling at school, a partner living with stress, a friend experiencing anxiety or a loved one developing dementia, a little knowledge of how the brain works often leads to greater patience, empathy and understanding.

Because brain health is becoming one of the greatest health challenges of our time!

As people live longer, conditions affecting the brain—including dementia—are becoming increasingly common. Understanding how the brain works and what current research tells us about protecting it has never been more relevant.

Because the brain is extraordinary!

It weighs only around 1.4 kilograms, yet it allows us to fall in love, speak different languages, paint pictures, solve problems, remember our childhood, learn new skills and imagine futures that don't yet exist. Few things are more remarkable.

Amazing facts

• It's around 2% of body weight.

• Uses around 20% of our energy.

• Around 86 billion neurons.

• Never truly "switches off."

• Mostly water and fat.

• Generates electrical activity every second.

Your brain never experiences the world directly. Instead, it constantly interprets information received through your senses, drawing on past experiences to predict and make sense of what is happening around you.

A Brief Tour of the Brain (My watercolour painting interpretation of the some fascinating regions!)

Although the brain works as one remarkable organ, it can be helpful to think of it as four major functional systems that work together continuously. Each has a unique role, yet none works in isolation.

Cerebrum – Your Thinking Brain

The cerebrum is the largest part of the brain and is responsible for conscious thought, language, creativity, learning, movement and problem-solving. It allows us to reason, imagine, communicate and make sense of the world around us.

The Limbic System – Your Emotional Brain

Deep within the brain lies the limbic system, a collection of structures that helps us process emotions, form memories, build relationships and recognise what is important to us. It includes the amygdala, our threat detector, and the hippocampus, which plays a vital role in learning and memory.

The Reptilian Brain – Your Survival Brain

Often referred to as the “reptilian brain”, this is a simplified way of describing the older brain structures that help keep us alive. These regions regulate instinctive behaviours and many of our automatic survival responses. Although modern neuroscience recognises that this is a metaphor rather than a precise anatomical term, it remains a useful way of understanding our brain’s remarkable ability to protect us.

Brainstem – Your Life Support Centre

The brainstem connects the brain with the rest of the body and controls many of the functions that keep us alive without conscious thought, including breathing, heart rate, blood pressure, swallowing and the sleep–wake cycle.

Executive Functioning – The Brain’s Conductor

One area of the cerebrum deserves a special mention: the prefrontal cortex, often described as our executive centre.

Executive functioning is rather like the conductor of an orchestra. It doesn’t play every instrument itself, but it helps everything work together harmoniously. It allows us to plan ahead, organise our thoughts, focus our attention, regulate emotions, make decisions, solve problems, resist impulses and adapt when circumstances change.

When we feel calm and safe, these abilities are usually available to us. During times of stress, overwhelm or perceived danger, however, the brain naturally shifts its priorities towards survival, meaning our executive functioning may temporarily become less effective. We’ll explore why this happens shortly.

Why do we sometimes react before we think? 

One of the brain's most important jobs is to keep us alive. To do this, several remarkable regions work together, constantly assessing what is happening both around us and within us.

One of these regions is the amygdala—two small, almond-shaped structures deep within the brain that act as highly efficient threat detectors. The amygdala is continually scanning for anything that might signal danger. If it believes we are at risk, it can initiate a rapid survival response before we have consciously had time to think about the situation.

Working closely alongside it is the hippocampus, a structure essential for learning and memory. The hippocampus helps the brain compare present experiences with past ones, providing context and helping us distinguish between genuine danger and situations that simply resemble previous experiences.

The prefrontal cortex, located just behind the forehead, is often described as our executive centre. It supports planning, reasoning, decision-making, impulse control, empathy and emotional regulation. When we feel safe and calm, the prefrontal cortex helps us respond thoughtfully rather than simply react.

During moments of intense stress or perceived threat, the amygdala can become highly active while the prefrontal cortex becomes temporarily less effective. This is why we may react instinctively before we've had chance to think things through. Our brain is prioritising survival over careful reasoning—a process that has helped humans survive for thousands of years.

These brain regions do not work in isolation. They communicate continuously with the autonomic nervous system, which carries the brain's instructions throughout the body. Within moments, our breathing, heart rate, muscle tension and attention can all change as the body prepares to respond. This may be experienced as fight, flight, freeze, fawn or, in some situations, flop. These responses are automatic, protective and deeply human.

For some people, particularly following prolonged stress or trauma, this system can become more sensitive. The brain may begin detecting danger more readily, even when no immediate threat exists. This is not because the brain is "broken"; rather, it has become exceptionally good at doing the job it believes is necessary to keep us safe.

In a future article, I'll explore the autonomic nervous system in more detail, explaining how the brain and body work together to create these survival responses, why they sometimes become overprotective, and how understanding this remarkable system can help us develop greater self-compassion and resilience.

Neuroplasticity: Your Brain's Remarkable Ability to Change

For many years, scientists believed that once we reached adulthood, the brain was largely fixed. We now know something very different. Throughout our lives, our brains remain capable of adapting, learning and reorganising themselves. This incredible ability is known as neuroplasticity.

Every time we learn a new skill, practise a language, take up a hobby, repeat a behaviour or even change the way we think about a situation, the brain strengthens existing neural pathways or creates new ones. Rather like walking repeatedly across a field, the more often a path is used, the clearer and easier it becomes to follow.

This is one of the reasons why small, consistent actions can be so powerful. In his bestselling book Atomic Habits, James Clear explains that lasting change is rarely the result of one dramatic event. Instead, tiny improvements, repeated consistently over time, gradually become new habits. From a neuroscience perspective, these repeated actions help reinforce the neural pathways that support those behaviours, making them feel more natural with practice.

Neuroplasticity also offers hope for those recovering from trauma. When we experience prolonged or overwhelming stress, the brain naturally becomes highly efficient at recognising danger. This is a protective survival response, not a personal weakness. As a result, some people may find themselves caught in patterns of hypervigilance, anxiety or emotional overwhelm because those pathways have been strengthened through repeated experiences,  rather like the algorithms on our social media feeds. The more we interact with one type of content, the more the platform shows us. Our brains work in a surprisingly similar way.

The encouraging news is that our brains continue to adapt throughout life. While trauma cannot simply be erased, repeated experiences of safety, supportive relationships, therapy, movement, mindfulness, restorative practices such as Yoga Nidra, and other evidence-informed approaches can help the brain develop new pathways alongside the old ones. Over time, these experiences can support greater flexibility, resilience and emotional regulation.

Neuroplasticity reminds us that our brains are not set in stone. We are continually shaped by our experiences, and with patience, repetition and self-compassion, we can continue learning, growing and adapting throughout our lives.

The Chimp, the Human and the Computer

One of my favourite ways of thinking about the brain comes from psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters in The Chimp Paradox. Although it is a simplified model rather than a literal description of how the brain is organised, it offers a wonderfully accessible way of understanding ourselves.

Imagine that within each of us are three different systems working together.

The Chimp represents our emotional, instinctive survival responses. It reacts quickly, wants to protect us from danger, and can sometimes take over before we've had chance to think. It's the part that might snap in frustration, feel overwhelming anxiety, or want to run from a difficult situation.

The Human represents our rational, thoughtful mind. This is where we solve problems, weigh up decisions, empathise with others and choose how we'd like to respond. It often needs a little more time than the Chimp.

The Computer represents everything our brain has learned and stored throughout our lives—our memories, habits, beliefs and automatic responses. Some of these programmes serve us well, while others may have developed during difficult times and no longer reflect who we are today.

The wonderful thing about understanding our brain is that it encourages self-compassion. We begin to realise that our first reaction is not always our final response. With awareness, practice and repeated experiences, we can strengthen the thoughtful part of our mind, update unhelpful patterns and continue learning throughout life.

Perhaps that's one of the most remarkable things about the human brain: it never stops offering us opportunities to grow.

Further Reading

This article has been informed by current neuroscience research and the work of leading clinicians, psychologists and researchers, including:

• Norman Doidge – The Brain That Changes Itself

• Lisa Feldman Barrett – Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain

• Daniel Siegel – The Developing Mind and Mindsight

• Bruce Perry – What Happened to You?

• Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score

• Stephen Porges – Polyvagal Theory

• James Clear – Atomic Habits

• Steve Peters – The Chimp Paradox

I hope something within this has offered a little clarity, reassurance, or a sense of being understood. Whether it has brought new insight, softened self-perception, or simply named an experience that once felt confusing or isolating, you are not alone in it.