The human body consists of complex mechanisms that allow it to function and retain vitality. Even though many functions of the human body are common knowledge, there are other facts about the body that aren’t as well known and may seem strange when learning about them. Some of these strange facts about the body are easily explainable while others are still shrouded in mystery as we await more information from science that may allow us to better use our bodies to their fullest potentials.
Here are 10 strange facts about the human body that are sure to pique your curiosity.
1. Many of the Body’s Organs Aren’t Necessary for Survival
Organs throughout the human body help with functioning, but not all are needed for survival. It’s possible to live without a stomach, spleen or thyroid, however, life would be much more difficult and less enjoyable without these organs. You could also survive with only one lung and kidney and without all your reproductive organs. It’s even possible to survive with most of the intestines and liver missing. Even without many of these organs, however, you might need to take medications that would take over the functions of the missing organs to maintain survival.
2. The Skin Sheds Continuously
You may think that you only shed skin when you notice dead, flaky skin on certain parts of your body, but the skin is renewing itself constantly. Every hour, around 600,000 skin particles are shed, which means that you lose around 1.5 pounds of body weight per year from skin shedding alone. By the age of 70, most people lose approximately 105 pounds due to skin shedding.
3. You’re Taller in the Morning
If you feel a little taller when you first get out of bed, it isn’t just your imagination. On average, people are one centimeter taller in the morning than at the end of the day. The slight increase in height is caused by the soft cartilage between bones that expands while sleeping. As your day progresses, the cartilage gets squashed from walking and performing other daily activities, which makes it more compact in size at the end of the day and shrinks your height slightly.
4. The Number of Bones in the Body Decreases with Age
Most babies have 300 to 305 bones in their bodies when they’re first born. Babies have more separate bones with additional cartilage to make going through the birthing process easier. As babies progress through life, many of their bones become fused into single bones, which reduces the number of bones in the body. This is especially noticeable in a baby’s head, which has more small bones around the “soft spot” that eventually fuse together with age. Once a person reaches adulthood, the number of bones in their body has reduced to around 206.
5. Women Usually Feel More Pain Than Men
In the ever-going battle of the sexes, women win in the category of having a higher pain threshold. The average woman has double the number of pain receptors than a man, but she is built to tolerate pain better even with the increased sensation. Women’s bodies are made to give birth, endure menstruation and go through other processes that men don’t experience, and the higher pain tolerance that women naturally have is needed for their bodies to perform many of these unique functions.
6. Your Tongue is Made Up of Intricate Muscles
You might think of your tongue as being just one muscle, but it’s actually comprised of eight interwoven muscles. The way that the tongue muscles are interwoven in humans is similar to the muscle structures of an elephant’s trunk or octopus’s tentacles. One of your tongue muscles is in charge of holding your tongue to the base of the skull while another is connected to a bone at the back of the throat, and these two specific muscles enable the tongue to move up and down, side to side and from front to back. The rest of the muscles make up the tongue’s body and allow it to roll, flatten, curl and change shapes and postures in other ways.
7. Sweat is Odorless
Contrary to what many people think, sweat doesn’t emit any odor. What gives your body a foul smell is the bacteria on your skin. The moisture from sweat attracts more of the bacteria. The smell is caused specifically by the waste that the bacteria excrete after feasting on and digesting your sweat. Body odor can also be caused by certain foods, such as garlic, onions and red meat.
8. Your Blood Vessels Could Encircle the Earth
If all the blood vessels in your body were laid out, they would stretch to a length of around 60,000 miles. That’s roughly enough to encircle the planet four times at the equator. These vessels also carry around one million barrels of blood in the average person’s lifetime. In case you’re wondering, the largest artery in the human body is the aorta while the inferior vena cava is the largest vein.
9. Hearing May Decrease Temporarily After Eating
You may notice that your hearing is fuzzier after you’ve eaten, and this can happen because of an increase of fluid in the inner ears that eating often causes. Tinnitus, which is a condition that results in ringing in the ears, may especially be more noticeable after eating. Overeating can worsen temporary hearing loss. Sweet or high-sodium foods can worsen hearing loss even further. However, certain foods can actually improve your hearing, and eating more salmon, greens and dark chocolate may have a positive effect.
10. The Sense of Smell is the Closest Link to Memory
Seeing, hearing or touching something can elicit strong memories, but these memories can be made even stronger through your sense of smell. The brain typically forges a stronger link between smell and memory. The brain’s limbic system, which is often characterized as the “emotional brain,” is linked closely with memory and emotional responses. Different smells elicit different memories for a lot of people, but the smells of flowers, coconut and coffee are usually among the best scents for eliciting pleasant memories.
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