We can all agree the human body is a magnificent and fascinating machine. Whether your relationship with your body is one of love or hate; It is safe to say we can all appreciate the hard work our body puts in, to keep us in first gear and fit as a fiddle. Although the human anatomy has a plethora of epic super skills; The human body comes with some seriously complex and downright mind – puzzling behaviours. Many of which you likely never knew or noticed before. Would you believe us if we told you it is possible to grow a set of pearly white teeth in your ovaries? If you answered ‘’no’’ to that question, then ladies and gentlemen read this article with caution. Because you are about to discover 10 rather disturbing facts about human body.
10. You might have Mites taking up residence in your eyelashes
If you are one of those people who run through brick walls at the mere sight of creepy crawlies; Then bed bugs or rodents may just be the least of your phobia problems. We hate to break it to you but mites actually can and do live and breed right in the comfort of your pretty long eyelashes. This creepy condition is known as ‘’Demodex’. Which is a genus of tiny mites that live in or around hair follicles. To make matters worse, out of the 65 Demodex species; Demodex folliculorum and Demodex Brevis, commonly live in human hair, eyebrows, and sebaceous glands of the face.
Although the idea of having several 0.4 mm long Mites taking up permanent residence on your body may send you running to the nearest hair removal salon. Let it be of comfort to know your Mite friends are mostly harmless and will not cause you any medical issues. Although they can sometimes cause irritation and, of course, a considerable amount of the ebby jeebies.
9. Got a bone to pick with your feet?
It sounds like it can’t possibly be true. But your feet are the keepers to roughly a quarter of the total amount of bones in your body. That’s right, your otherwise small and fragile-looking feet hold some major weight. When you consider each foot consists of 26 bones, adding up to a quarter of the bones found in the human body.
Considering your feet come in pairs, your trappers have 52 bones, with each foot additionally comprising approximately 30 joints and over 100 ligaments, tendons, and muscles. While the importance of feet may not cross your mind often. One may ask why feet require so many organs to function, and the answer may surprise you. Even though the simple act of walking may come second hand to you by now; Our feet take major strain when you consider the average person takes approximately 10,000 steps per day, which adds up to roughly 115,000 miles. That is equivalent to traveling around the earth’s globe more than 4 times!
8. Your organs move around in your body when you’re on a rollercoaster…
Oh, who does not love a good heart-pumping, thrill-inducing roller coaster ride? The timeless amusement park ride has been the number one choice of adventure fun for centuries. So much so that you would be hard-pressed to meet anyone who has not ridden on and enjoyed the rip-roaring sensations; That only a rollercoaster ride can create. We all know that unique roller coaster feeling. You know how it feels like your insides are being jumbled into a violent food blender just before being sent flying through thin air for every mille-second of the ride?
The reason that your insides feel like they’re being twisted, turned, and tossed around is quite self-explanatory; They are being tossed around! According to Dr. Maged Rizk, a gastroenterologist who wrote an article on this subject for Reader’s Digest, your stomach, brain, and other internal organs move out of place from the hard-core G-force of a rollercoaster ride.
The term G-force is used to measure the intensity of force and acceleration in relation to Earth’s gravity. G-Force affects every living human and species on earth and determines whether we can balance on solid ground. For example, 1G is the acceleration humans feel and it is what keeps our feet firmly planted on the earth’s ground. At 0G you would feel weightless, whereas more than 100G would kill you.
What is G-force?
A normal human body can tolerate up to 4.7 – 5Gs. However, such levels are highly dangerous as the brain will be starved of oxygen and blood; Resulting in light-headedness and mental blackouts. Some of the highest G-Force roller coasters can be found at a few Six Flags parks including; Taz’s Texas Tornado AstroWorld with a G-Force of 6.5. The Batman and Robin Six Flags rollercoaster comes with a G-Force of 5.0. Before you head out to one of these adventure parks, let’s explore how and why rollercoasters shake up more than just your nerves.
The effect of air has an impact on your body. Because your body is not a solid structure; It is composed of many parts. If you accelerate your body, each organ in your body accelerates independently. Therefore on a rollercoaster, when the seat pushes against your back, the muscles and organs in your back push against other organs throughout the rest of your body. That is why you can feel the ride going through you. While gravity may cause organs to press against each other, in a ‘’free-fall’’ environment; Like a rollercoaster ride or a steep downhill drop, little Net Force is acting against your body. Causing your organs to become mostly weightless, making it easier for organs to move in and around your body.
The good news is this side effect is not dangerous and your organs will naturally move back into their original body slot.
7. Your eyes Make A Teaspoon Of Tears Per Hour
Whoever said crying was a sign of weakness? Obviously suffered from a severe dry eye condition. Another disturbing facts about the human body; It works daily to nurture and protect all organs and body parts to ensure maximum physical performance and it seems crying, or producing tears, is vital to developing good eye health. Our eyes make tears primarily for optimum eye health as we need tears to keep our eyes moisturized and nourished. Throughout the day, your eyes consistently produce tears, whether you notice it or not. Based on research by National Geographic Kids, each person typically produces a teaspoon of tears per hour.
6. Babies are boney…
While babies look and are typically fragile little beings one must handle with ultra-soft care. Babies are born with a secret power – they have more bones in their tiny infant bodies than any grown adult! When babies are born, they have more cartilage than bones, and to develop a complete skeleton. Most of their bones fuse together to create 1 single bone structure. At the time of birth, babies have about 300 bones as opposed to fully grown adults who have only 206 bones.
5. Blink…and you will not miss anything
Who knew blinking made up such a large percentage of your day? Blinking is usually an action that is done subconsciously and without much notice. However, according to research by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; People blink their eyes 15 to 20 times per minute, with each blink lasting between 0.1 and 0.4 seconds.
Why is that surprising?
Well, let’s do the math. While you are awake, you blink on average:
- 900 – 1,200 times an hour
- 14,400 – 19,200 times a day
- 100,800 – 134,400 times a week
- All this means you blink 5.2 – 7.1 million times a year.
4. You are the tallest First Thing In The Morning
If you wished you were taller, your wish typically comes true first thing in the morning! You might think you’re the same height all the time, but that’s actually not the case. Did you know we are 1cm taller in the morning than we are at night? How can that be?
As we go through the day, we shrink in size due to compression of the cartilage in our knees and spine. Upon peacful rest, the cartilage has the opportunity to reset back to its normal size. While we are lying down on a mattress; Bodyweight is decreased and the intervertebral discs start to relax. And vertebrae’s become compressed and decrease in thickness, resulting in approximately 1/2 cm decrease in your average height.
3. Your Small Intestine is taller than your whole body
Considering your small intestine is all wrapped up in your lower abdominal section. And it is an organ you literally never see first-hand; It seems mind-boggling that if you stretched out your small intestine, it would be approximately four times longer than you are tall. How about that?
The length of the small intestine can vary between 10 feet (3 meters) to over 16 feet (5 meters). That’s a crazy thought right; Especially when you take into consideration that a standard basketball hoop is only 10 feet tall? Since your intestines are longer than most NBA players. Why then is the small intestine referred to as “small”? The medical terminology refers to the diameter of the small intestine, which is about 1 inch.
2. Your stomach gets embarrassed too…
Who thought those embarrassing moments would be felt right to the gut? Well, your body has a knack for developing reactions towards strong emotions. Did you know that your stomach literally blushes when you do?
When you blush, your sympathetic nervous system reacts and causes blood flow to increase throughout the body. When those embarrassing moments cause that familiar hot-red blushing effect, the sympathetic body excretes a chemical called adrenaline, a hormone that assembles for emotionally upsetting situations. This hormone will increase the blood flow of the body by dilating blood vessels. Causing blood vessels in the body to have more flow of blood and oxygen supply, which makes it seem redder.
1. You smell your age
Though that characteristic “old-person smell” is well-publicized; You might have never thought that other age groups also have a scent. People can identify the age of other people based on their unique age-related body odour. In fact, Johan Lundstrom, a sensory neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center, discovered during his latest research; The ability to smell the age of a human is based on how well you can identify general odour scents.
You know how elderly people tend to have a strong odour, a phenomenon socially known as ‘’old-person smell’’? Well, according to Lundstrom’s findings; It is not elderly seniors who are stinking up the room but rather the strong natural body odor of middle-aged men seems to be less appealing. “The worst-smellers are middle-aged men,” Lundstrom says. “The ones who smelled the most beautiful are middle-aged women”.