This is totally a myth. We use all of our brains.

I would say that this is correct, but the answer is misleading. Only a small percentage of the brain is actually made up of the cells that do our thinking, that is the neurons. Most of our brain is made up of support material that either help give the brain structure (e.g. glia) or provide the brain with nutrition (e.g. blood vessels). So though you are correct to say humans only use a small percentage of our brains, it is not neccessarily indicative that humans are lazy/incompetent, nor would it really be possible to "use" more of our brains.

this is somewhat true but in reality it is simply how your brain is constructed that limits its percentage of use. we use all of our nuerons but the nuerons are spread through out our brain wich limits the area of our brain we can use. learning to use a higher percentage of your brain isnt known to be possible becuase you would have to creat more nuerons then you have. but making those nuerons faster is possible. to do this it accually takes alot of training. but once they do become faster, thought processing becomes faster.

This answer probably won’t be very popular or widely agreed upon, but it does contain some truths. So, I’ll suffer the bad ratings in order to relay some information. The brain is part of a biological system. It is a body part. It serves a variety of functions within that system of the body. One function of the brain is that it can assist on the communication channels with the body and environment. However, it must be noted that there can be other lines of communication with the body or environment. Like any biological system, you can have degrees of health. For example, good wholesome nutrition and exercise along with a healthy and happy environment plus achieving goals or going towards goals which are beneficial in a majority of areas help to keep this biological system in good tone. One could say that a percentage of use of the brain is on a higher scale. There is more health and invigoration. There are supplements, foods, herbs, etc. which can aid this aspect of the biological system called the brain. Oxygen is one example. Optimize the oxygen supply and the brain tends to do better (as do other body parts). Decrease the oxygen supply to the brain and you lose percentages of use. Here is just a brief list of some supplements or herbs which supposedly can help support this area of the body: Ginkgo biloba (on a cumulative basis), Gotu kola, motherwort, kava kava, rosemary, some of the mints (spearmint, peppermint, etc.), many spices (cinnamon, ginger, basil, cayenne, black pepper, etc.), antioxidants in general, Vitamin C, B vitamins, minerals, Essential Fatty Acids. There are more. In fact, you just can’t shortchange all the variety of nutrients for the body in order to be sure that this particular body part (the brain) is working well. A proper balance is always important. The point here is that this part of the body, the brain, functions better and there is a higher percentage of use when there are healthy aspects in a person’s life. It is not limited to just nutrition, but also includes interactions and activities with others and the environment. Sidenote: Vitamin B1 is very good in times of stress for the human body (and even for plants). A person can burn up a lot of B1 in stressful times, through drugs or alcohol or sugar, and then feel odd anxieties as a result. This Vitamin B1 is a great remedy for nightmares. You may need to balance the supplement with Vitamin C and magnesium. There is more information about some of these things on this website or you can click on my name. Percentage of use of the brain can also be hampered by many things. Toxins and heavy metals and parasites and solvents and synthetic chemicals can inhibit this body part. Many, many so-called medicinal drugs and especially psychiatric drugs can lower the ability of this body part to function at a more optimum level. They inhibit percentages of use in this part of the biological system and often in other parts of the body as well. Percentage of use of the brain can also dwindle if there is not much activity or interactions with the environment and others, or there are few goals of substance. Most often we see the body also deteriorate or slow down as the body becomes inhibited or damaged. The same holds true for this part of the body, the brain. It will deteriorate or slow down as it becomes inhibited or damaged. However, there is often an underlying misconception with the brain. It is often mistaken or identified as “being the individual himself” or believed to be “the mind”. The brain is part of a biological system. It is a body part. This body part has a variety of functions as does the endocrine system or other body parts. The brain is not the only channel of communication with a human being. But a popular misconception is that the brain is “you” or “your mind”…after all, that is what you were taught in school. Repeatedly throughout school and college and in conversations you have probably heard phrases like: “Use your brain.” “You only use 10% of your brain.” “His brain isn’t working right.” “She has only half a brain.” [By the way, there are many cases of people who really do have half a brain, but they still have a mind and function fairly well as an individual with that part of the body missing. (e.g. serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web3/Gu.html or abc.net.au/science/features/brain/ )] There is a difference between the parts to man. There is the body (the brain is part of that biological system). There is the mind which is something other than the brain. It is composed of mental image “pictures” and “machines” (or systems of addressing problems and information). And there is the individual which is “you”. These are the three main parts of a human being -- You, the mind, and the body. These parts have interactions and there are lines of communication between them. When you recall a picture of a time in the past such as that first date, “you” (the individual or soul or life force) are looking at or viewing a mental image of a past incident which is held in the mind (not the brain). Go ahead and recall that first date or a date. You can probably see images and sense body positions, perhaps remember smells or emotions or general tone. It is you, not your brain doing the looking. And what you are looking at are impressions which are held in the mind. These impressions or pictures contain many different perceptics and emotions. A person can be adversely affected by some of these past incidents or mental image pictures. A person can be effected by the mind, especially by those aspects of the mind which are hidden from view. If you recall a time when you lost someone or something, you will probably notice emotional charge come in such as grief or sadness. This is coming from the mind, not the brain. However, the brain or other body parts can be affected by the mind and these mental impressions. The brain or other body parts can also be affected directly by you. The body or parts of the body such as the brain could also have an effect upon you or the mind. This is a brief statement, but the point is that there are some misconceptions about the brain. One part of the problem regarding this confusion is with the medical establishment and especially the psychiatric arena. It focuses only on the body and body system. One aspect is that there are some fixed ideas which prevent learning or being willing “to look”. Remember the story of Columbus? Everybody knew that the world was flat. Institutions taught it, people commonly accepted the idea that the world was flat. Although we consider this idea ridiculous now, you have to keep in mind how thoroughly ingrained throughout society this idea was. All the experts said so. Sailors, the church, the educational system, navigators, mapmakers…until every man on the street would be puzzled and critical if you had said that the world was round. Here’s the rub: No one LOOKED. You have to look, dig, investigate thoroughly, try hard to find out for certain, confront, view, observe, follow through. Psychiatry is not looking for the parts of man, it is trying to “be right” and focus on the brain and man as a piece of meat or mud. How barbaric can you get when you cut out pieces of brain or stick iron rods into the prefrontal lobs of the brain supposedly to better an individual. What kind of sick person would strap down someone and hook electrodes up to their head (or testicles as recently done to a young boy in an institution) and turn on enough juice to shake the body so badly that it needs drugs to keep it from convulsing to death. This isn’t a science where in the name of mental health, psychiatrists and huge drug companies conspire to “alleviate brain sicknesses” by marketing poisonous and inhibiting drugs to little children. Psychiatry in all its cruelty is focused only on addressing a body part, the brain. It is so fixated with the body, that the many, many rapes and inappropriate sexual relations with their patients continue to go on…often reported, but rarely criminally prosecuted. My point here is that we have a so-called “science” which is full of only ideas and theories, but does NOT LOOK as to the true nature of man. This is the main source of “the brain theory”, and the hoax has been played throughout our society. My advice regarding using a higher percentage of the brain, is to have a healthy lifestyle and that will help. (Ha! Not seeing a psychiatrist helps too.) You had asked “how can we learn to use a higher percentage of our brains?” But what I think that you want to know is how to increase your ability and general mental faculties and well-being. Look and search for answers, follow-through with what is true for you personally. As you look, you will discover that there is more than just this idea that a brain determines one’s competence and well-being.

The idea that we only use 10% of our brains is ludicrous and is largely the result of media hype over the last 75 years or so. You can ready a great article about it here: http://www.brainconnection.com/topics/?main=fa/brain-myth And a more in-depth article here: http://www.sci-con.org/articles/20040901.html One the other hand, it has been suggested more recently (and probably more accurately) that what we really only use 10% of is the capabilities of our minds.

Saw a documentary on Discovery or National Geo about Albert Einstein's brain. His science buddies secretly removed and preserved his brain for examination at a future date - when advanced technology would be available. Well, that time came, and a couple of years back, they studied his brain and found an oversizing of certain areas of his brain, as well as incredibly thick connections between these areas (sorry I can't be specific). Of course he was a genius, but did Einstein build those connections or was he just a genetic a freak of nature? I'd like to believe it was a combination of the two. As for learning to use a higher percentage of the brain, meditating with a focus on feeling physical sensations around the body can help us understand the brain and how it works. Try a 10-day Vipassana Meditation course as taught by Goenka (supposedly the same scientific technique discovered by the buddha 2500 years ago) which enables you to sense and understand the atoms in your own body. The first 10-day course is free. Then what's to say we can't meditate on the physical sensations of the brain itself, and say, tell it to heal cancer/ release highly pleasurable hornmones/ tap into similar instincts that allow birds to safely migrate or predict the weather... Indeed, what's to say some of us aren't doing this already...?

The ten percent is a myth. It should be noted on Answerbag many just agree with others who leave comments. Many are unable to understand concepts. Some are in a popularity contest. This results in poor ratings for good and complete responses. For sure, these people use less than ten percent!