Wonders of the Human Body

Take care of your body. It is the only place you have to live.

—Jim Rohn

The human body is 90% water, so basically, we’re just cucumbers with anxiety.

– Paloma Faith.

The human body is a masterpiece of design and functionality. Each heartbeat, every action, every breath, every thought, and every memory is a finely tuned orchestra of organs, tissues, and processes working together in perfect harmony, always hard at work, always carrying us through every nanosecond of every day. Yet, we rarely consider our body’s miraculous efforts until we experience discomfort or disease. Here are just a few examples of our body’s wonders we too often take for granted.

A Galaxy of Cells: The adult human brain is composed of approximately 86 billion neurons, which are specialized cells that transmit information throughout the body. Nerve impulses can travel at speeds over 268 miles per hour, and if you laid all the nerves in your body end to end, they would stretch approximately 45 miles. Stated another way, the brain has about the same number of neurons as there are stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Neuroplasticity: Neuroplasticity is a process that allows the brain to create and reorganize new neural and synaptic connections. Neuroplasticity empowers the brain to learn new skills, recover from injuries, access and store memories, and adapt to new experiences. Neurotransmitters play critical roles in neuroplasticity. They modulate neuronal growth, synaptic strength, and regulate overall brain plasticity.

Even Walt Disney Would Be Amazed: The human eye can distinguish approximately 10 million different colors.

Blue Eyes at Birth: Most babies are born with blue eyes due to the lack of melanin. The eye color can change as they grow older and more melanin develops.

Eye Dominance: Most people have a dominant eye, just like they have a dominant hand.

Ear-ly Entertainment: Around 17% of the population can wiggle their ears thanks to the ear’s surrounding vestigial muscles. While this can be a neat party trick, it serves no other useful purpose.

Say what? No two people hear the same way. The shape of your ear canals and each eardrum’s tension can affect how you perceive sounds.

The Feel of That New Jacket: The sense of touch can adapt to constant stimuli, a phenomenon known as sensory adaptation. For example, you might stop feeling your clothes against your skin after wearing them for a while.

Taste Sensations: There are five primary taste sensations: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (savory). These taste sensations help us discern the flavor of foods and beverages.

Contrary to popular belief, the tongue does not have specific regions for detecting different taste sensations (e.g., sweet at the tip, sour on the sides). Taste receptors for all five taste sensations are distributed across the entire tongue, the roof of the mouth, the back of the throat, and even in the lining of the esophagus.

Tennis Anyone? If the lungs’ surface area were spread out flat, it would cover about 750 square feet, roughly the size of a tennis court.

Tickling: Tickling activates nerve fibers that send signals to the brain, often causing laughter. Interestingly, you can’t tickle yourself, because the brain anticipates the sensation and diminishes the response.

Rocky Mountain High: People living at high altitudes have increased lung capacities and more red blood cells to compensate for lower oxygen levels.

That Important First Breath: At birth, a baby’s lungs are filled with fluid. The first breath—and first cry—are critical because they cause the pulmonary vessels to expand and close the foramen ovale (an opening between the right and left atria in the heart). This redirects blood flow to the lungs and starts the process of gas exchange for oxygenation.

We Got the Beat: Couples in long-term relationships can have synchronized heartbeats. Also, if a group of heart cells are placed together in a petri dish, they will start beating in unison.

Broken Heart Syndrome: Known as “Takotsubo cardiomyopathy,” “broken heart syndrome” can mimic a heart attack but is usually caused by sudden emotional stress.

Strong, but Not the Strongest: Contrary to popular belief, the tongue is not the strongest muscle in the body (even in mother-in-laws). That award goes to the masseter muscle, the primary chewing muscle responsible for lifting the jaw. With all chewing muscles working together, the jaw can close with a force as great as 55 pounds on the incisors or 200 pounds on the molars.

Acid Power: The stomach produces hydrochloric acid and has a pH level between 1.5 and 3.5, which is strong enough to dissolve metal. Thankfully, the stomach has a unique and thick mucous lining that protects it from being digested by its own acid. This lining is renewed continually every few days.

The Scoop on Poop: Feces consists of water, undigested food particles, bacteria, bile pigments, and other waste products. Healthy human poop is usually sausage- shaped, due to its slow movement through the intestines, allowing it to take on this distinctive form. While brown is the most common color for poop (due to bile and bilirubin), it can come in various colors. Diet, medications, health status, and medical conditions can all cause changes in stool color and consistency. For instance, eating beets can make it red, while a diet high in green leafy vegetables can turn it green. Finally, in case you were wondering, the average person produces roughly one pound of poop each day.

A sneeze can expel air from the lungs at speeds of up to 100 miles per hour and helps clear irritants from the respiratory tract.

Laughter is good for your heart and health. It reduces stress and boosts your immune system by increasing oxygen consumption, reducing cortisol levels, and through the activation or deactivation of other neurotransmitters.

Ancient Romans used urine as a bleaching agent.

The Tooth Fairy leaves on average $5.84 per tooth in the United States.

Your salivary glands produce about 0.4 gallons of saliva each day.

On average, people pass gas 13 to 21 times a day.

Semen can travel at a speed of up to 28 miles per hour during ejaculation.

Sperm can live inside the female reproductive tract for up to five days.

Most mammals have a penis bone (baculum), but humans do not. The absence of a baculum in humans is a topic of scientific debate.

You can’t breathe and swallow at the same time.

People’s blood smells differently when they’re scared.

Humans are the only animals that blush.

Your body has more bacteria than human cells.

Humans shed around 40 pounds of skin in their lifetime.