How to use 100% of your brain: Is it possible?

A coworker pulls up to your cubicle and asks you for help. They can’t find a file in a shared folder. 

Right away, different parts of your brain begin communicating with one another. From opening the tab on your computer screen, using your finger to guide the cursor, and relaying everything to your coworker, millions of messages are going off in your brain. 

The human brain is infinitely complex. From the mundane, like opening a computer file, to the intricate, like programming a shared folder drive, your brain is your most mysterious and important tool for success.

Neuroscientists, philosophers, and even filmmakers have wondered how to use 100% of your brain. And while consciously using 100% at once might only happen in science fiction, understanding how to stimulate your brain, improve your memory, or increase your brain function can help you get closer to unlocking its full potential. 

How does the brain work?

The human brain contains billions of neurons responsible for relaying messages through the spine and across the body.

Imagine it like a control center. Complex networks of nerve cells work together to send messages to the body to perform all your functions, from breathing to learning new things. This is why although the brain only makes up 2% of your body weight, it takes up 20% of your energy. 

But your brain function is much more powerful and complicated than a switchboard. 

Until recently, neuroscientists thought humans were born with all their neurons. Now they know your body actually continues to build your brain throughout your life, starting at birth and continuing as you age. Over time, your brain cells form and store more memories and feelings, allowing you to create your unique personality traits and sense of self. It’s a complex system with millions of moving parts.

As your brain matures and absorbs new information, it “prunes” your neural connections, altering existing neural networks and generating new ones so different parts of the brain work more efficiently.

This is called neuroplasticity. Whether your environmental stimuli suddenly change or you gain a new experience, your brain's plasticity reorganizes, restructures, and learns to adapt.

Is brainpower infinite?

The short answer is: scientists are unsure. Your brain’s capacity to store information is difficult to calculate. 

But according to an article in Scientific American, the average memory capacity is probably close to 2.5 petabytes (or one million gigabytes). If the human brain really was a computer, it could hold up to three million hours of video. While your brain’s memory capacity may or may not be infinite, a healthy brain has more space than any human being could use up in a lifetime.

The number above is just an estimate of how much the brain can store. Neuroscientists say that the human brain contains about 86–100 billion neurons, and each neuron connects to others with synapses, forming about 1,000 connections.

But these numbers change depending on your age and brain health, increasing or decreasing your ability to store memories and process information, which makes it difficult to truly measure. 

Imagine something as simple as sending a reminder email to your boss. You have to:

• Open your inbox

• Move your fingers

• Follow the text cursor

• Hit the correct buttons

• Transform an idea into the written word

• String a sentence together

• Remember correct grammar and punctuation

• Debate between email greetings like “Hi,” “Dear,” and “Good morning”

• Enter their email address

• Hit send

What may be just three sentences on a computer screen involves dozens of decisions, encouraging neurons to communicate with one another and send your body and mind a list of commands. You do this every day, hundreds of times a day — which is why your brain needs an immeasurable amount of capacity. 

What percentage of your brain do you use?

Although there’s a common myth that you only use 10% of your brain, you actually do use 100% of it. 

This myth originally appeared in a 1907 essay, “The Energies of Men.” Philosopher and psychologist William James argued that humans only used a small percentage of their mental and physical potential. 

This brain myth gained traction in public perception and pop culture, like in the 2014 sci-fi movie Lucy in which a woman suddenly gains all her brainpower, even though neurologists and evolutionary scientists have disproved the hypothesis.

Although all of your brain’s regions aren’t active at every moment, you do use your whole brain throughout the day — just not all at once. 

The left side versus the right side

Neurobiologist Roger Sperry won a Nobel Prize in 1981 for his split-brain research. Sperry found that the human brain possessed specialized functions on the left and right hemispheres. Further studies have proven that the two hemispheres have different cognitive abilities — the left brain processes internal stimuli like language, while the right brain processes external stimuli like visuals. 

In popular culture, “left-brained” individuals are more logical and methodical while “right-brained” individuals are more creative and intuitive.

But the idea that you’re “right-brained” or “left-brained” based on your personality or learning styles is exaggerated — there’s no evidence that one side of your brain is dominant. Nerve fibers connect the two hemispheres and relay information back and forth. 

Although the left and right sides have different functions and strengths, they work in tandem rather than in isolation on the same tasks. If you’re working out your end-of-the-month accounting, both sides help. Your left brain processes the step-by-step equation while your right brain makes creative estimations. 

So if you’re wondering how to use the left side of your brain or how to use the right side of your brain, you’re already doing it. It’s an involuntary process.

10 tips to improve brain function and memory capacity

Your brain naturally changes with age. Typically, the brain performs consistently until age 50 and may begin to show signs of decline after that. But there are ways to improve and maintain cognitive function so you stay sharp longer. 

Here are 10 tips for improving your brain function:

1. Keep learning

Neuroplasticity happens organically, but you can also stimulate the creation of new neural connections by continuously learning. Consider improving your hard skills in the workplace, listening to a mental health podcast, or trying self-directed learning. 

2. Grab a good book

A good book does more than entertain you. Whether you pick up a novel or grab a professional self-help book, regular reading has a laundry list of benefits for the brain. It improves your concentration and attention, helps you develop empathy, and strengthens your ability to detect patterns and draw connections.

So don’t feel bad about that guilty pleasure book you dig into on your lunch break. It’s keeping your mind sharp for when you return to your desk. 

3. Get a good night’s rest 

You constantly switch between and prioritize different tasks throughout your workday. This is called cognitive flexibility: your ability to adapt both to controlled and unexpected situations.

But cognitive flexibility depends greatly on the quality of your sleep. Sleep deprivation and oversleeping both stunt your decision-making, whereas good sleep hygiene improves productivity and concentration. 

4. Spend your free time wisely

Striking a work-life balance is important to pursuing personal development and giving yourself time to rest. Your free time activities can either stimulate learning or keep your mind in a resting state, and pursuing the former can engage your brain and improve neuroplasticity.

Jigsaw puzzles, crosswords, and other brain games require multiple cognitive abilities and can help prevent the deterioration of visuospatial cognition as you age. 

5. Practice positive affirmations

You don’t need to manifest a more powerful mind to activate your brain’s potential. Simply using manifestation methods like positive affirmations increases your brain activity. Regular practice can decrease stress, improve well-being and work performance, and keep you more open to learning and behavioral changes. 

6. Build an exercise routine

Working out your muscles also exercises the mind. A major benefit of regular exercise is that it helps your brain create new neurons and increases the number of synapses that connect brain cells. The result is a more efficient, flexible, and adaptive brain, which can spur stronger performance in your professional life. 

7. Stay active socially 

Even if you’re just joking around with friends at work, your brain is active. Social situations require several different brain functions, including predicting behavior and accessing your memory, concentration, and attention.

The increase in mental activity has the potential to protect your memory as you age. Try joining a club, socializing after work, or keeping in touch with family and friends more often.

8. Be creative

Whether you’re building a new tool at work or painting a picture at home, engaging in creative activities can slow the onset of dementia and help you manage your negative emotions. Even just looking at art can generate new neural connections and ideas.

9. Protect your environment

If you struggle to concentrate, consider your work environment. Is your office crowded and noisy? Do fluorescent lights bother your eyes? Are you constantly receiving notifications for emails, instant messages, and task reminders? 

When there’s too much happening around you, you might feel overwhelmed and experience sensory overload. If this is the case, making small adjustments to your desk or work-from-home setup can ease your mind and let your brain focus on the tasks at hand. 

10. Tap into your ultradian rhythm

An ultradian rhythm is any biological rhythm shorter than 24 hours, and one of these rhythms is the basic rest-activity cycle. Humans cycle from high to low alertness every 90 minutes throughout the day, meaning you have certain periods of higher energy.

If you’re wondering why you can’t power through six straight hours of continuous product development, it’s because your natural cycles simply can’t focus for that long. 

Try breaking up your day into 90-minute intervals to mimic your ultradian rhythm. If that sounds too long, you can also try the shorter Pomodoro Technique, which consists of 25-minute blocks with five-minute breaks.

Whichever method works best for you, setting time aside to concentrate on a task recognizes your mind’s natural restrictions and fosters deeper work. 

To infinity and beyond

If you’re wondering how to use 100% of your brain, you already are. You use every part throughout the day while your brain processes everything from mundane motor reflexes to convoluted work tasks. 

There’s no magic solution to improving your brain function and performance. Mental fitness and longevity require intentional good habits throughout your entire life. So pick up a book, hit the gym, or call your friends. Your mind will be happier and healthier.